Baker Dill is a fishing boat captain who leads tours off of the tranquil enclave of Plymouth Island. However, his peaceful life is shattered when his ex-wife tracks him down and begs him to save her and their young son from her abusive husband. Thrust back into a life he wanted to forget, Baker now finds himself struggling between right and wrong.
Written and directed by Steven Knight, Serenity is sure to be the most bizarre thing shown at the multiplex all year. I was drawn into seeing it purely out of curiosity upon learning there was a ludicrous twist at the film's center (I'll eventually elaborate on this in a clearly marked spoiler section of the review) but walked in entirely unaware of what would soon occur. While I'll quickly detail why I believe you shouldn't waste your money seeing Serenity in cinemas, going in blind is the proper way to best experience this head-scratcher of a movie. Knowing absolutely nothing about it aside from the talent involved with the project honestly made the experience all the more interesting as I was perplexed to wonder why in the world this project wasn't scrapped at the scripting stage. At the outset, the story seemed to be a modern take on Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea, but it then became a thriller of sorts before eventually evolving into something else entirely. I'd say Serenity has an identity crisis, but that's not quite the case.
It knows what it is, but Knight doesn't reveal what Serenity's actually about until the end. I've heard it said plot-twists can make or break a movie but never seen a late revelation neuter its narrative quite like this. A bonkers twist turns the entire thing on its head and makes you re-evaluate everything you just watched, but not in a good way. Ultimately, this discovery calls the whole plot into question. So what is this game-changer of a twist you ask? I'm happy to tell you.
**Spoiler Warning for Serenity**
When Dill's ex-wife Karen finds Dill, she asks him to take her husband Frank out fishing and push Frank overboard to be eaten by sharks. She requests this of him because she and their son are abused by this man. Dill contemplates the deed over the course of the film but declines several times before eventually agreeing. Meanwhile, there's a character named Reid Miller who's been trying to speak with Dill but regularly misses him by mere minutes. It quickly becomes a recurring gag as the story progresses. Towards the end, Reid finally reaches Dill and shadily tries to give him free product (a fish finder and other materials to help him fish). Dill sees through the deception when Reid accidentally tells Dill that he knows of the murder plot, so Dill demands Reid tell him what's really going on. The audience then learns that everything in Serenity is happening inside of a video game created by Dill's son Patrick in real life.
We learn Dill actually died in the Iraq War and that Patrick coded the game as a way of connecting with his lost father. It's a form of escapism from his troubled life which enables him to "fish with his father again." However, as Patrick's focus shifts from fishing with his dad to murdering his step-father, the game follows suit, and a fantasy scenario ensues where his father can "save him" in the virtual world. It's quite literally wish fulfillment for the young boy, and the game is representative of Patrick's inner thought process. There are some subtle hints towards this, but the twist comes entirely out of left field and renders everything else to follow as inconsequential. Essentially, Dill becomes self-aware of the fabricated reality without realizing it, but Reid's revelation helps him see it the following day for himself.
The focus is then once again drawn to whether Dill will kill Frank or not, but the conflict immediately becomes superficial because the illusion of choice for this character is gone. He's not the one making the decision. He's a video game avatar. His sentience is left largely unclear, but since his dilemma is symbolic of Patrick's struggle, you'd assume Patrick's the one in control. Anyways, the non-playable characters (NPCs) populating the game try to convince Dill he shouldn't kill Frank, but nothing they say dissuades him. In fact, the game and the NPCs sabotage this plot somehow by sending gang members to break Frank's hand so he can't fish. This plot point is incredibly confusing because the audience is aware Patrick is in control of the game, so did Patrick willingly put this obstacle in his own path? That question's never really answered, but it's implied the game did this on its own? Very confusing, I know. Despite this obstacle and many others, Dill ends up embarking on the fishing voyage with Frank and Karen (who comes along to help Frank fish). Another character somehow sneaks onboard and shows up out-of-nowhere as an attempt to adding further weight to this choice. It's treated as though Dill will be punished for following through with the murder, but the audience already knows this is all taking place inside a video game, rendering the stakes meaningless.
I mentioned earlier that The Old Man and the Sea came to mind while I watched this insane production, and here's why... In the very beginning, there's a specific fish called "Justice" that Dill is desperately trying to catch. Nevertheless, the fish eludes him time-and-time again. So to bring things full circle, they catch Justice on the fishing line and hand the rod to Frank. The fish is putting up a fight, so Frank ends up at the edge of the boat. Anne and Dill release Frank, he falls overboard and is dragged to the depths of the sea to drown. Then, we see Patrick from the computer monitor's perspective. He's holding a knife and contemplating something. He gets up and leaves the room to go LITERALLY kill his step-father. The film has lost ALL subtlety at this point. It's shown that Patrick went to some sort of facility or mental institution. However, we then see the ending from Dill's perspective inside the game. He speaks to Patrick in real life via a payphone somehow... Whatever... At this point, I'd already questioned so much... Patrick tells him they can be together again and the world dissolves before reforming, bringing Patrick into the game. This ending's fairly ambiguous with a wide range of possible implications, but it just seemed like a strange way to end such a sadistic story.
It's a happy ending which effectively condones violence with virtually no consequences. The characters get what they want, but at no cost in spite of their heinous actions. Imagine if there was a happily ever after for all the characters in Breaking Bad, that's how out-of-sorts this seemed. Not to mention how confused I was by the pivotal twist...
**End of spoilers**
Regarding positives, I'd say the cinematography offers up idyllic imagery. I think I've gone on enough regarding the writing and direction, but elsewhere, the score rarely matched the tone of what was happening onscreen and the acting was less than stellar for this A-List line-up of Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jason Clarke, and Diane Lane.
Aside from its bonkers twist, Serenity is a dull expedition which capsizes after encountering some troubled waters...
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