Serenity Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		5.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.5

Serenity Blu-ray Movie Review

There is no Justice.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman April 25, 2019

Serenity begins like a modern day take on Moby Dick but quickly turns into something out of a certain popular Sci-Fi franchise that will not be named so as to avoid spoilers. For those unfamiliar with Serenity, or who do not wish to read a spoiler-filled review (which the movie really demands), that's as far as that avenue of commentary will go. Needless to say the movie is unique if it's anything, a film with sometimes desperate aspirations to blend together high concept narrative delivery with grounded human emotion and heart. The film often fails miserably but at the same time spectacularly in its efforts to find some middle ground between its artistic endeavors and its storytelling desires. Director Steven Knight (Locke) works too hard to bring it together, trying to balance too many, and perhaps too disparate, ideas in one film.

Baker Dill (Matthew McConaughey) is a modern day Ahab, a man with a singular obsession to catch a massive tuna he has named “Justice.” The pursuit not only costs him business and his increasingly reluctant first mate (Djimon Hounsou) but also his very soul. One day, he is approached by his ex-wife, Karen (Anne Hathaway), who has since remarried a spiteful, angry, abusive man named Frank (Jason Clarke) who badly mistreats both Karen and her, and Baker’s, son Patrick (Rafael Sayegh). Karen offers Baker ten million dollars to take Frank out to sea, throw him overboard, and leave him to die. As Baker weighs the offer, he slowly comes to realize a terrible truth about himself, the small island he inhabits, and the reality of Frank’s relationship with Karen and Patrick.

The film is at its best at its best in its first 20 minutes, when it’s following a man with a dark past and a singular obsession. It’s tightly woven, handsomely photographed, and the content draws the viewer into the world. But Karen’s arrival is the first of many tonally odd and narratively muddy moments. For her introduction, Knight takes an odd stab at classic overacted and overwritten noir, upsetting the established cadence and not for the only time. As the film moves forward, through jarringly odd transitions and strange styles and unique but very unrefined story beats, it grows increasingly bizarre and distant, yet there remains a certain draw to it. As it becomes more absurd, there’s an almost macabre allure to sticking with it and seeing where it’s headed, and maybe even why.

The film does introduce and explore some good and reliable and, at least in their raw state in Serenity, well-meaning and would-be emotionally deep themes about loss, remembrance, pain, and escape, and from two very unique perspectives. One of the would-be draws to the film comes by way of the psychological consequences of how the revelations reshape the main character. There are some thought-provoking concepts and ideas and themes for the film to unpack, but they are fumbled so badly that all of the groundwork is ultimately for naught. Serenity is so concerned with matching the rhythmic cadence of the story with visuals and tone of equal aplomb that the film falls apart under its own burdens. There’s very likely a good or even terrific film here, but a strong open ultimately gives way to a borderline incoherent exercise in how to not make a movie.

One can almost feel the frustration flowing from the cast. Nobody turns in a bad performance, but the performances are certainly stymied by the odd tonal shifts and a narrative that is not so much unclear as it is uncertain. McConaughey delivers an admirably involved performance. As his world comes crumbling down as truth rises to the surface, he delivers an outward expression of his inward destruction with commendable depth and detail. Clarke is fairly good as the film's representation of evil incarnate, a slimy, fully unlikeable character who is performed with scene-chewing gusto. Djimon Hounsou, playing the most prominent secondary character, probably has the easiest road of it. He delivers another stalwart performance as something of a voice of reason. He is at his best early in the film, coincidentally or not when the film is also at its best and its story is at its most gripping.

Serenity Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The 1080p video presentation is exceptional. Serenity is a very colorful film, and one can only wonder how a UHD with HDR colors might have improved upon even this wonderful color display, beginning with a variety of richly deep and visually agreeable blues (blue accents on the boat, bright blue ocean water, the blue sky above) and moving forward to include an incredibly bold, vibrant display of color goodness. Contrast is excellent with little push to warm the colors or push to boost depth beyond reasonable levels. Details are exemplary. The digitally shot image is very clear and clean. Facial features appear effortlessly complex and intricately revealing. Clothes, the boat, and various locations around Plymouth are wonderfully realized, full of clearly visible and practically tactile textures. The Blu-ray certainly gets the most out of the film's impressive locations and set designs. Skin tones appear accurate and black levels perfectly deep and pure. Source noise is kept to a bare minimum, even in low light, and no other source or encode anomalies are apparent. This is a terrific Blu-ray image from Universal.

Serenity Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack is worryingly shallow over the opening studio logos. The track gains a little more volume as the proceedings begin but rather quickly seems to round into a more stable, as-expected sonic experience. The film's opening sequence presents quality underwater depth and immersion with a well-rounded musical presentation that is mostly the property of the fronts but that does fold in the rears for a little immersion work. Much the same holds true for the duration. Elemental clarity is good, whether considering music, dialogue (also well prioritized and naturally positioned), or ambient effects on the water or around Plymouth. Driving rain and other stormy effects prove decently immersive as well. The track is not concerned with sonic excess but rather balance of its various components. It sounds quite good from start to end.

Serenity Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This Blu-ray release of Serenity contains no supplemental content. The main menu offers only selections for "Play," "Chapters," and "Setup." The release does include a DVD copy of the film and a Movies Anywhere digital copy voucher. It also ships with an embossed slipcover.

Serenity Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Serenity opens strongly but crumbles once the tones shift, the story's details come into focus, and the reality of what the film is, where it's headed, and the zigzagging roads it takes to get there overburden it. There's unquestionably a strong start and a very good movie buried deep somewhere inside, but Knight cannot get anywhere close to its best, despite what is obviously an admirable effort to do so. Universal's featureless Blu-ray does deliver first-class video and very good lossless audio. Rent it for the curiosity factor.