Baker Dill is working as a fishing boat captain and leading tours on the island he is living on. His life is then changed when his ex-wife Karen shows up and needs his help against her violent husband, using their son Patrick as bait to get him to agree to her deadly plan.
This is a very strange and odd film from start to finish. I don't mean that in a good way either, especially as the plot twist was so obvious from quite an early moment. Maybe, just maybe if that had been later then it would have been slightly better? I am clutching really in hope that it could be the case.
The film has a lot of well unnecessary sex scenes that could easily be removed and the film would still flow in the same way. I lost count of how many times we get to see Matthew McConaughey's arse. I mean should I be complaining about that? But it just seemed forced and put in for effect rather than actually relevance to the story.
If I can even claim that the film has a story. The basic plot is pretty much the whole thing really. The abusive relationship between Frank and Karen creates some very difficult to watch moments, which I guess are meant to make us feel sorry for Karen. Very physical with the abuse, then flashbacks to Patrick hiding in his room on his computer all the time as an escape. Some of the events seem even more messed up when the twist you have already guessed is revealed at the end. I guess that is the very best way to describe this film, messed up. Or very messed up that is!
I cannot really even say the performances were impressive as I felt it was all just so disappointing. Matthew McConaughey who usually oozes charm did not have it for this role, and was well rather boring to be totally honest. Anne Hathaway was nowhere near her best, which was a shame really as this is a slightly different role to what we have usually seen from her. Jason Clarke who has enjoyed a lot of success in recent years was a horrible character and did it pretty well. Such a shame really that a very talented cast was wasted in this manner, especially when you add Diane Lane and Djimon Hounsou into the mix.
Steven Knight is a very good writer who has an impressive back catalogue of both film and TV and has now directed a couple of films as well, including the very impressive Locke. Such a shame that this one didn't really work out in a good way. This is an original from Sky Cinema who have started to try to compete with the streaming services who are putting out films. It doesn't really seem to have gotten off to the greatest of starts with this one following Life Itself (which I didn't even finish watching) so hopefully things can only get better!
