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SgtRicko Since: Jul, 2009
#26: Mar 20th 2018 at 10:36:47 PM

[up][up]I thought that was just the bear vocally parroting whatever creature it killed last in hopes of luring any of it's fellow pack members in for another meal. Never struck me as Sheperd's essence being absorbed.

artfulscruff Since: Apr, 2010
#27: Mar 21st 2018 at 9:44:35 AM

I didn't get the sense that there was any intelligence behind its vocalisations, my impression was just that it had absorbed that particular aspect of its victim, and that was its 'default' vocalisation now.

googlebot Herald of Endless Research. from The misty Albion Since: Nov, 2011 Relationship Status: I'm just high on the world
Herald of Endless Research.
#28: Mar 21st 2018 at 3:18:23 PM

Just saw it. I don't know what to think of itnote .

edited 21st Mar '18 11:30:48 PM by googlebot

“You can’t be an important and life-changing presence for some people without also being a joke and embarrassment to others.” -Mark Manson.
MrMallard Since: Oct, 2010
#29: Mar 26th 2018 at 7:04:38 PM

I saw this when it first came out. My friend wanted to watch it on Netflix, and I wasn't too fussed - not interested, because I'm just sort of over mediocre Hollywood movies (shock-value sci-fi, flat Rambo soldier characters, "The <everyday word or object>") etc. I went in not giving a crap. And I ended up really loving it, because those expectations were shattered by the performance of the main cast.

A couple of thoughts:

  • My interpretation of The Shimmer is that it just exists. It doesn't "want" anything, it's like a cell or a virus - it reproduces, it spreads, it lives. It makes decisions like replicating Oscar Isaac, and it shows curiosity in the world though controlling that clone. But it has no motive or plan. If it wants anything, it wants to live and explore like any basic living organism. All the shapes and stuff it makes, like the flower deer and the branch people, is a function of its radiation - it lives and controls through that radiation somewhat, but I don't think it was actively experimenting. I just thought that the radiation affected everyone in different ways due to different exposures, or maybe due to personal experiences, stress and whatnot, affecting how the radiation affected people.
  • At the end when Natalie Portman and Oscar Isaac are both in quarantine, I think that Natalie Portman's character is real and Oscar Isaac's character is fake. The dead Kane absorbed his squadmate's mannerisms though being in close contact with them, hence the accent at the end, and his fractured state of mind led to insanity and suicide, believing that his Shimmer copy would be able to better carry out his own life than he could at that point. Natalie Portman's character fries her double, leaves the Shimmer and goes on to frame the movie. But her DNA is still heavily altered by the Shimmer - we see the real Natalie Portman taking blood tests throughout the whole flick, and there's a point where we see that her cells are all rainbow and fluctuating because of the Shimmer. I think she's the real person, but her experiences with the Shimmer and the duplicate led to her internalising and learning about the Shimmer's feelings and curiosity. In that sense, I propose this conclusion - Oscar Isaac and Natalie Portman are mirrors of each other in this movie. The real Kane gave up and died, giving his life to the Shimmer copy, but Natalie Portman killed her copy. Instead of the Shimmer taking up her appearance and life, she feels solidarity with it and takes up its cause after killing the larger phenomena.

To me, these two characters are what's left of the Shimmer, at least in human beings. They are the Shimmer - one character born from it, the other altered by it beyond any hope of repair.

  • The affair subplot was indeed the weakest part of the movie.
  • The bear attack is one of the weirdest and scariest things I've ever seen, and I loved it.
  • Paramount made a massive mistake releasing this on Netflix. They didn't believe in it, so they shuffled it off to other countries where the movie would get a pittance per view, ensuring that the movie doesn't do as well as it might have done in the box office. If they waited a few weeks, it wouldn't have gone up against Black Panther - it would have been able to get something of a showing in other countries like Australia, and it could have made more bank. But Paramount screwed the timeslot and screwed the movie by essentially releasing it for free. Annihilation deserved better.

Engweri Since: May, 2016
#30: Mar 27th 2018 at 4:31:58 PM

The movie def deserved better, Alex Garland will be in high demand for his next movie and I doubt he'll work with Paramount again. When his next movie kills it at the bpx office they'll be so mad

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