Great director fails hard with bad story and horrible male lead.

Rating: 2/10 (9 December 2017)

Well. That was a bad movie.
So I'm a big fan of Mr. Aronowskis work. And I love the genres of mystery, drama and surrealism. Alone and in combination. In this case however, it doesn't work. Maybe Mr. Aronowski has been abducted by aliens and replaced by a clone? This is so far off his other work.
Even though the story is meant allegorically and is presented in a somewhat surrealist way, it's set up in an inept way. It doesn't know what it wants. Whether to be realistic or confusing or surreal. It breaks suspension of disbelief. Many of the lines don't work, don't fit. The dialogue seems out of place, like everyone is just monologuing.
Javier Bardem is a huge disappointing. The is no chemistry between him and Jennifer Lawrence. He is unsympathetic and feels misplaced in the movie. The relationship between them never feels real at any time. His attitude is just not something you want to see for two hours. Maybe as a supporting cast he would have been OK. And wow is that guy ugly. Jennifer Lawrence, Ed Harris and Michelle Pfeiffer do a good job of acting, but constantly seem at odds with the movie and the dialogue written for them.
The production value, sound, set etc is OK, but everything looks bland. The coloring of the movie is somewhat boring and does not resonate with the story.
The resolution and ending makes sense in some way, but feels odd. I think if you for some strange reason find the movie appealing, you will probably feel that the end is satisfying, but Bardem really tries hard to make it as unpleasant as possible.