Based on tropical Plymouth Island, Baker Dill earned a living by taking tourists on fishing tours on his boat Serenity. One day, his ex-wife Karen paid him a visit to tell Baker that her present husband Frank had been abusive to her, She wanted Baker to help her murder him. Baker was not interested despite the hefty price Karen offered for the deed. When he learned that his son with Karen, Patrick, was also being abused by Frank, Baker began to reconsider doing the crime. Will he?
With its tropical heat, duplicitous wife and incipient crime, "Serenity" possessed an old-fashioned film noir set-up. The best examples of this genre were "The Big Sleep" and "Double Indemnity" both from the 1940s, when this type of films were the rage in Hollywood. After "Chinatown" (1974) and "Body Heat" (1981) however, one would be hard-pressed to name another successful one in more recent years. "Serenity" tried going that route, but no, it won't be joining the list of these classics.
The first problem was its star Matthew McConaughey, As Baker Dill, he was back to his old pre-Oscar exaggerated acting style in this obnoxious character. From its very first scene on the fishing boat, he made known his obsession to catch Justice, his dream giant tuna. He also enjoyed a friends-with-benefits relationship with a matron Constance (a wasted Diane Lane). He was naked in many scenes, and was not shy to show off his 50-year old glutes.
Anne Hathaway played Baker's ex-wife Karen, who was trapped in an abusive second marriage. Her acting was supposed to be sexy and sultry, but they come across as oddly stilted and somehow funny. Jason Clarke played Karen's current husband, a violent loudmouth of a man. He projects that sinister sense of danger about him, but because Karen was also so annoying, we don't really feel sorry or anything about her condition.
The weirdest character was that of a nerdy but persistent salesman Reid Miller who stalked Baker to offer him a complementary fish tracking equipment. When he finally got to talk with Baker, he was completely intelligible referring to some game he kept on talking about. Only at the very end do we realize what he was talking about, but then by then some people may have already tuned out of what he meant in the first place.
Even if you already knew the ending, you still cannot see how everything fit in. The gratuitous inclusion of 90s style erotic scenes was also mind-boggling. I understand that they were going for something heart-warming -- some sort of a connection between a son misssing his estranged father. The concept was not bad in that sense, but the execution by writer-director Steven Knight of that idea was simply too bizarre and illogical. 3/10.
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