SERENITY (2019)

Written & Directed By: Steven Knight 
Cinematography By: Jess Hall 
Editor: Laura Jennings 


Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jason Clarke, Dijmon Hounsou, Diane Lane, Jeremy Strong 


A fishing boat captain juggles facing his mysterious past and finding himself ensnared in a reality where nothing is what it seems.

It’s a film at odds with itself. As this film starts out as a testy thrill yet takes out all the explosive elements. As the film goes along you wonder is this going to be a basic thriller or where are they going to throw in the curves.

As soon as Anne Hathaway comes onto the film with her style and the way the Sanders begins to move around her it immediately feels artificial. When so far the film has been a bit grand in it’s visuals of the islands scenic backgrounds yet so far feels like a down and dirty thriller that seems to well cast with a genuine movie star at It’s Center.

It’s too clean to be down and dirty and too dirty to be too much of an audience pleaser. Watching it and knowing the twists and turns you know what to look for and the clues. Where as this film might seem smart from a screenwriting point of view but on the screen it starts out predictable but makes you question it for what it feels too familiar and there must be a reason for it’s creation and it’s cast.

So when the narrative comes to a third act you understand the pedigree yet it still feels like a cop out that might have been planned from the beginning but still feels like the reaction of an story being backed into a corner and needing an ending to get the characters out of trouble.

The problem is that when it comes to Anne Hathaway and Jason Clarke’s Character they try to be tawdry cliches but they feel like they are coming from a different film as they make this film feel more like a production. As they feel like they are performing and not actual people or characters. Which in going with the end might have been the plan. As it tips off the audience not to mention might be how the director makes sense of it all.

Even Jason Clarke’s wardrobe makes no sense as he is in the tropics and still wearing bright exotic suits that look heat inducing. No To mention does nothing but continuously drink and throw his money around and have everything about him be repulsive.

The film is so bad it’s not good but a fun watch. As ridiculous as it is.

The film would be a down and out tawdry thriller that thrived in the 80’s and 90’s, but because of the third act the sex and nudity factor is more hinted at rather then displayed that films of this type revel in. Except for a brief scene that seems allowed as they were once married and ex lovers and the culmination of a plan. And maybe this is what the audience.

The clues also are hardly subtle yet go overboard to hammer home. That Anne Hathaway keeps Hinting at like she is technical support. Though that character comes along eventually. Where you wonder how these two threads will come together and when they do it comes together but in a way that still seems a bit far and out of touch.

Though the ending a product of an abused child dealing with his situation. It can easily be seen as a M. Night Shamalayan type twist that is also a metaphor for creativity and writing a story or film and letting the characters know that is exactly what they are and giving them the freedom to make their own choices in the end. A kind of meta Charlie Kaufman situation only made to seem not as out there as films he retorted tend to be.

If this was a kind of TOTAL RECALL situation where we wonder if this is real or some made up delusion would have made for a more compelling film. Thought after introducing that twist the film tries to introduce that idea but it also seems to indicate that the film and it’s characters are trying to right the character. After he is dead set in his plans. As the third act is supposed to be thrilling. Yet feels monotonous and overblown. Then becomes rather obvious.

Though a film where a child is the god and in charge seems about right as the film then discusses itself and It’s Situation. A narrative to keep himself alive in his mind and memory as well as be the hero he was in life.

The film just feels like the type of script that a first time screenwriter would write to get noticed or that a screenwriter really wants to believe they are smarter then the audience and really wants to show off.

Especially when a shot near the end reminds us of the effects of the Johnny Depp Starring movie TRANSENDENCE.


Grade: D