Atmospheric, moody, with the potential to be a great psychological thriller, but sadly degenerates into two men yelling at each other and drinking a seemingly inexhaustable supply of grog.
Without much back story for these dishevelled lighthouse keepers in a craggy outcrop set in 1801 it's hard to get emotionally invested in their plight when things start to go wrong. As it progressed I just wanted it to end. Plot holes appear very quickly and the timeline gets a little muddled. Initially they have a Kings banquet of food stores yet a mere month in they are down to rashuns. But always well stocked with grog...
A brutal storm rages outside while inside the brooding characters quickly become bitter enemies fighting each other and their own inner demons. One uses his religion as solace while the other ridicules him constantly for using God as strength, an embittered atheist who becomes a very unlikeable character. And in a darkened atmosphere the descent into madness begins. And drags on. The night seems endless and here the movie descends into a frustrating mishmash of illusions and delusions and self loathing. And always the grog...
It had potential to be good, and will always be compared to the 2019 version which was superior in most ways, so this will be forever be the lesser of the two 'Lighthouse' movies. I scored it mostly for the set and atmosphere. The weak story and unlikeable characters added little to this overly long movie for me.
