A Missed Opportunity

Rating: 6/10 (11 May 2018)

Collin Farrell knows exactly how to deliver his lines (with a satisfying native Irish accent) in The Lobster. Writer/Director Ygoros Lanthimos must've been giddy behind the camera, as his world of strangeness and deadpan humor was captured. A very promising future is set for the both of them. (See: The Killing of a Sacred Deer. Also see: my coming critique.)
It's very refreshing to get a tone of weird, absurdest humor out of otherwise dull language. The way he writes his dialogue in repetitive, robotic flow makes for an intriguing study of the human condition.
This is the movie's strongest aspect. Unfortunately, it becomes exhaustive and stretched well passed its welcoming universe.
About the halfway mark, we leave the setting that promised obscure and terrifying things to take place, and instead the writer seems to go out of his way to make a more structured message on love. You will find such a message, but it's beaten and kicked to death, leaving the viewer a bit insulted that no confidence was held in him earlier to find it himself.
Strange and uncomfortable movies are what I get most revved up about and this certainly had that charm, albeit for a shorter time than its 2 hour running. What really upsets me and irks is the useless interfacing between pointless characters
and a reaching climax that rehashes themes attempting to really hone in the message.
In my opinion, Farrel, the dark hotel of lonliness and the animal conversion machine could have been cultivated toward a truly shocking
twist and utter devastation that would have shaken the audience.
Instead, its interesting rhythm fizzles, and we're left with what feels like a pretentious artist sticking with the flat-line tone he should have shed in the second act.