Review of Serenity (2019) by Lcamoviereviews — 18 Apr 2019

Where to begin on this one. That is the question, Well, let me first begin by saying I saw the trailer for this film a few months back and found it to be very intriguing. The premise looked interesting.

It had McConaughey and Hathaway. I expected a nicely crafted thriller. Sadly, that’s not what we got. The film begins with fisherman, Baker Dill, on a fishing venture with drunks looking for some tuna.

All of a sudden, a big catch presents itself and Baker goes nuts for it. He wants this big catch because he is chasing this imp-articular fish. I was thinking there was something in his past that was causing this.

Not the case. Anyway, he is so obsessed with getting it that he points his knife at his customers and goes out with the intent everyday to get his catch, no matter what it takes to get the money for gas and lures to do it.

Even sleeping with a local woman, Constance, played by Diane Lane. Things get more mysterious when Baker’s ex wife, Karen, played by a wasted Anne Hathaway, shows up and wants him to take her current husband on a fishing trip to kill him because of his abusive ways.

From the sounds of all this, it seems like a straight ford story that could have some twists along the way. That is what initially sold me. Unfortunately, that’s not what we get. There is a twist but a very poor one with a disappointing explanation.

Before I get into the why, let’s talk about the cast. McConaughey plays the role just fine. He pulls off the drunken and disturbed, Baker Dill, with conviction and purpose. He fit the role well and his portrayal had be curious as to what was going on until the poor twist near the middle of the film.

Anne Hathaway is just wasted here. It is almost like she is too good for this role and it shows. She is used here as no more then a sex puppet and goes around just seducing both men and comes off just too much like eye candy.

The reason I say she is wasted is because this character does not have many layers to it. I thought when we had the scene with her new husband showing up and abusing her that more layers were to come but it never did.

Diane Lane is just OK here. She is not given much to do other than to have sex with Baker to give him money, watch him through a window, and tell him about her missing Cat. Everybody else in the film feels more filler and along for the ride.

Without me going too far into spoiler territory, there is a scene in the middle of the film where a businessman following Baker around finally gets to talk to him. We are told he is selling him fishing equipment for him to try but he knows what Baker’s plan is for killing Karen’s husband the next day.

Something is off about him and this is where the problem is and where the film officially lost me. His reasoning and the explanation for the whole film sounds crazy and that’s because it is. It provides the whole driving force of the third act and becomes wholly predictable.

At this point, I lost interest in the film because it was so ridiculous, I no longer cared to what was going to happen. The ending makes sense but the issue remains that the whole film just feels odd, the story wasted, and a weak payoff with no peaking point.

The only positive thing I can take away from the film is McConaughey’s performance. All in all, this film was just too disappointing for me to recommend. The story and resolve are just too odd and I can’t forgive how much Hathaway is wasted because she is just too good of an actress for this.