Overview: A dramatic thriller directed by Academy Award® winner Tom McCarthy and starring Matt Damon, Stillwater follows an American roughneck from Oklahoma who travels to Marseille to visit his estranged daughter in prison for a murder she claims she did not commit.

Confronted with language barriers, cultural differences, and a complicated legal system, Bill Baker builds a new life for himself in France as he makes it his personal mission to exonerate his daughter.

Blu-ray Verdict: In the film, Bill Baker (Matt Damon) travels from Oklahoma to Marseille to visit his daughter Alison (Abigail Breslin) in prison. She is incarcerated as the prime suspect in a murder case, but claims to be innocent.

Bill decides against her will to prove her innocence, but for this he is confronted by a language barrier and cultural differences. Despite these obstacles, Bill tries to do everything he can to prove Alison’s innocence and find the real culprit.

Instead of a CIA agent, in this film, an American redneck goes to France to try to save his daughter. This way you get more of a crime drama than a crime action movie.

Despite the fact that the film is promoted a bit too much as an action film, the main character does more research than he really fights with enemy French.

In contrast to his Oscar-winning film Spotlight, Tom McCarthy also chooses to have only one character researched. These choices quickly transform the film’s story into a predictable and tedious standard detective crime film where the main character travels from place to place to find evidence, but many places are otherwise of little importance.

The script writers should have kept many of these unnecessary journeys out of the film and only bring out the more important things. Thus the film would then have been shorter with a better tempo, in my humble opinion.

The film also doesn’t really have a clear start, because in the beginning of the film too much has already happened with the daughter without you getting to see this story aspect.

They also choose not to portray other aspects of the story, which can give the viewer the feeling that something is missing when the film is finished.

This film is also loosely based on the true story of Amanda Knox, who actually wholly disagreed that they used her name and story for this film without deliberation.

Regardless of the story, Tom McCarthy and photography director Masanobu Takayanagi manage to portray the film beautifully. In this way they convey the different cultures from Marseille well.

The overall acting is top notch by the film cast, especially since Matt Damon has played only minor roles in movies or had some cameos since 2015. But with this role, he seems to be trying again to come back as a lead actor in a movie and yes, it is working for him.

Apart from the lesser script, he does indeed come across as an American redneck, who tries to do everything in his own way. Together with Abigail Breslin, they come across as a father and daughter who have become estranged from each other. The film only misses moments to show that their relationship is back to normal.

For me Matt Damon has better chemistry with French Virginie (Camille Cottin), who tries to help him along with her young daughter Maya (Lilou Siauvaud). Because this chemistry is more apparent, the chemistry between father and daughter is somewhat overshadowed.

Also, for Lilou Siauvaud this was only her first film role, which she manages to portray in a good and appropriate way and showcases her perfectly for the future.

In closing, the film ultimately shows that a father will go to any lengths for their baby girl and Breslin and Damon deliver in portraying that bond in a convincing manner to the audiences.

A real-life story of a father’s quest to free his daughter, told with reverence and impact by the talented Tom McCarthy, Stillwater is engrossing entertainment and I cannot wait to see what the director does next. This is a Widescreen Presentation (2.39:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs and comes with the Special Features of:

An Alchemy of Viewpoints
An American in Marseilles: The Locations of Stillwater
With Curiosity & Compassion: Director Tom McCarthy

A mesmerizing and emotionally powerful suspense film starring Academy Award® winner Matt Damon (Bourne franchise) and directed by Academy Award® winner Tom McCarthy (Spotlight), STILLWATER is available to own for the first time on Digital October 12, 2021 and on Blu-ray™ and DVD October 26, 2021 from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment.

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