I have written before about this hot mess; my thoughts are the same, but Matthew is worth experiencing again as well.
Serenity
Grade: B-
Director: Steven Knight (Locke)
Screenplay: Knight
Cast: Matthew McConaughey (Mud), Anne Hathaway (Les Miserables)
Rating: R
Runtime: 1h 46m
By: John DeSando
Serenity is anything but tranquil considering the always frenetic Matthew McConaughey plays dissolute boat captain Baker Dill, an ex-war veteran. While the tuna-and- shark fisherman with a questionable past is caught in a noir tangle with his ex-wife, Karen (Anne Hathaway), other nightmarish activities make this a challenging thriller and a head scratcher right to the end.
In an unknown seaside island in some ocean near Miami, Dill pursues a large tuna regularly, in Ahab fashion. Meanwhile he also takes out fat cats like Karen's abusive husband, Frank (Jason Clarke); she is going to pay Dill dearly to let Frank sink into the sea sodden and surly.
The plot convolutes as the background of the motivations veers wildly, including Dill's son, Patrick (Rafael Sayegh), who becomes more of an influence over the action as the story progresses. As in most film noir, not all pasts are forgotten and not much is as it seems.
The sun and sea are hypnotic, the characters nutty, and the plot overwrought. Themes come in and out like a school of fish: how much does Dill’s Vietnam PTSD compromise reality; a lost child may never exit the consciousness of parent; how have computers and their ubiquitous games affected the minds of young whizzes? Is an obsession (big whale anyone?) simply a metaphor for unfulfilled dreams? And so many more. Christopher Nolan makes more with his mind-bending thrillers than writer-director Steven Knight does with this puzzle.
That fertile world of the off-kilter, obsessed mind doesn’t necessarily translate easily for the aud. However, a derailed Matthew McConaughey is a pleasure to watch—swilling rum, bedding ladies, and screaming at the fates are easily in his wheelhouse. As for femme fatale Hathaway, she’s a better Fantine.
Nevertheless, you could do much worse in this pandemic-weary time. I liked it enough to stay through the credits, where I discovered the movie was filmed in the Republic of Mauritius. I'm going there!
John DeSando, a Los Angeles Press Club first-place winner for National Entertainment Journalism, hosts WCBE’s It’s Movie Time and co-hosts Cinema Classics. Contact him at JohnDeSando62@gmail.com.
