But there’s an honesty to it that I found endearing. It’s not for everybody, even if there’s an in-universe explanation for the hackneyed writing and performances. Look, this kind of plays out like a confused Black Mirror episode. Like, the opening where Dill threatens customers because they won’t let him fish for tuna is so over the top that you have to click something is up here. It’s meant to feel overwhelmingly angry and confused. It doesn’t feel real, but it’s not meant to. But it says a lot about the comfort we can find in video games and in trite, obvious stories that match our melodramatic emotions. In order to buy into this story, you need to believe that a pre-teen programmed a game so ridiculously complex the characters become self-aware. A lot of the acting is over the top and the story is rote as hell, but of course, it is. Dill has a “psychic link” to his son, everything’s generic and repetitive, there are anachronistic scenes and costumes, etc. While my description makes that twist seems really sudden and out of nowhere, there are hints throughout. Nearly everything in this story is a game designed by a 13-year old to deal with both the pent up rage and trauma caused by his abusive stepfather and longing to stay connected to his dead hero father. The businessman and other characters is the original programming trying to prevent the grisly redesign from taking place. This is when he decides to reprogram the game to be a thriller as a way to psyche himself up to murder his real-life stepfather. It started out as a benign fishing simulator as a way to escape the abuse he and his mother were getting from his stepfather. We find out that Patrick based Dill on his father, who was KIA whilst serving in the army. We finally find out why more than two thirds into the film: everything in this story you have been following is a game programmed by Patrick, Dill’s “son”. While Dill struggles with this decision, he’s followed by a mysterious man in a business suit played by Jeremy Strong who constantly misses him. She requests Dill to take him out to sea and murder him. She informs him that her new husband Frank (Jason Clarke) is abusing her and their son Patrick (Rafael Sayegh). His routine is suddenly interrupted by his ex-wife Karen Zariakas, played by Anne Hathaway. He makes his trade shipping tourists around the coast and harbours an Ahab-like obsession with a massive tuna fish he names “Justice”. Serenity focuses on a fisherman named Baker Dill (McConaughey) who lives on a small island named Plymouth. If you have any interest in seeing this film, do not read on. I’m going to give an overview of the plot, spoilers inclusive. Trust me, even if you know something’s odd with this movie, you won’t guess what the reveal is. However, I think there’s a lot more to this than it's given credit for.īefore I go further, a big spoiler warning. You’ve only got yourself to blame for holding up expectations. Being offended over Razzie noms is like being offended over Adam Sandler using a movie as an excuse to take his mates on holiday. I wouldn’t get sore if it got nominated for Razzies, because they’re a joke. There are some really strange implications in the writing and some impressive scenery chewing, especially from Matthew McConaughey. It’s awkward as hell, the ideas are not implemented with the greatest sense of fluidity. If people come up to and say they hated the entire experience, I wouldn’t get defensive. Because I think the anti-hype surrounding it is a little overblown?ĭon’t get me wrong it’s horrendously flawed. I figured now’s a good time to chat about it as it's been out for a while. A lot of the ire revolves around a massive twist that’s not revealed more than halfway through. It’s gotten a severe critical mauling and is already considered to be up for a Razzie next year. And hoo-boy, are you never, ever going to make that mix-up, ever, because this movie tanked. Serenity, in this case at least, is the 2019 neo-noir thriller written and directed by Steven Knight. Serenity is not the 2005 film which was a follow up to beloved cult sci-fi series Firefly.
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