Serenity

SERENITY (15)

D: Steven Knight

Aviron/Global Road/Nebulastar/Starlings/Showbox (Greg Shapiro, Guy Heeley & Steven Knight)

US 2019

106 mins

Mystery/Thriller/Science Fiction

W: Steven Knight

DP: Jess Hall

Ed: Laura Jennings

Mus: Benjamin Wallfisch

Matthew McConaughey (Baker Dill / John Mason), Anne Hathaway (Karen Zariakas), Jason Clarke (Frank Zariakas), Djimon Hounsou (Duke), Diane Lane (Constance), Jeremy Strong (Reid Miller)

***SPOILERS***

Not a remake of the 2005 movie, but a rather strange murder mystery thriller with a twist that really won't be appreciated by everyone.

Baker Dill (McConaughey) is a fishing boat captain living in an idyllic island community  who is approached by his ex-partner and mother of his son, Karen, who wants him to murder her abusive husband when he takes him on a fishing trip, but things turn out to not be as they seem as he begins to question reality and his own existence.

I'll always have a fondness for films which try to do things a little differently and allow a subject of discourse for the audience to discover afterwards, but this is just a little too weird, not particularly helped by a final act which just seems far too ridiculous, not helped by performances which fail to convince (Anne Hathaway particularly miscast).

Writer-director Steven Knight had a gamble with this movie, which can be commended, unfortunately it just didn't pay off with me.

4/10