Miss: When a movie starts with the one surviving character then having to recap on what become of the other characters in flashbacks. It makes it difficult to connect with the other characters now knowing they won't make it to the end.
Real Talk: The movie shows flashbacks of Lena before and after her husband goes into the Shimmer. They really don't amount to anything with the main plot in my opinion so I won't be mentioning them.
Miss: The previous teams sent into the Shimmer were mostly military and (besides Kane) never came back out. How's a team of five scientists gonna fair any better? It be one thing the movie establishes that there's something unique/special about this team in particular. But it doesn't seem to play out that way, especially when it's already spoiled that (except for Lena) the team doesn't make it.
Miss: Also since they have lack of hard data on what goes on in the Shimmer. They might as well be carrying a neon sign reading "OH YEAH, WE DONE SCREWED OURSELVES".
Real Talk: Lena talking to Ventress: "Why are you going into the Shimmer?" Ventress: "The mission statement is to reach the supposed source of the Shimmer, the lighthouse. Enter and acquire data and return." Given how no team has ever returned with any acquired data I considered that mission statement a bust.
Miss: No offense to Jennifer Jason Leigh's acting but she sounds really bored in this movie.
Miss: *Lena and the team enters the Shimmer with no type of hazmat protection.* What is it with certain sci-if horror films having a group of characters exploring an alien environment with next to no protective suits? It didn't worked so well with the characters of Alien Covenant.
Hit: *Lena takes down a mutating alligator with an M-16.* The way how Natalie Portman held the gun clearly shows she's been training for this scene. Unlike some other movie where she didn't train for a certain character and the studio just gave her CGI muscles.
Hit: *Lena looks over the dead alligator.* Credit for the prosthetic work on the alligator.
Real Talk: Cass explains to Lena that they're all "damaged goods". Anya is a former addict, Josie hides her self-harm scares on her forearms and Cass lost her daughter from Leukemia. As much as this is really heartbreaking, I'm reminded that these characters won't survive to the end. And it's not like their personal demons will come into affect within the Shimmer.
Hit: *The group watches a video recording of Kane cutting open a soldier to find his insides moving like eels.* OK...that was a really gruesome effect.
Miss: *Anya denies what happened in the video and claims the soldiers went crazy and killed themselves.* I hate that one character in most movies/shows who's the skeptic of the bunch despite the weird things that've been happening so far. We the audience know what just happened and the movie doesn't attempt to makes us see/think otherwise. So it just comes off one sided therefore not fully agreeing with Anya. Oculus done something similar but did it right; the two characters arguing of remembering things wrong/differently. And the movie shows this from the two characters perspective rather then being one sided.
Hit: *Ventress and the others find the remains of the soldier now all molded/reshaped to the wall of an empty pool.* This is like a wet dream of H.P. Lovecraft and H.R. Geiger.
Miss: Now how did this big ass bear managed stealthy napped Cass just like that?
Real Talk: There's really nothing stopping/preventing the group from leaving from the Shimmer. (Except for Ventress who has cancer so she really doesn't care by this point. And Lena lied to Anya and Josie into continuing deeper in the Shimmer.) It's not like they're being threaten or blackmailed or some eldritch entity is keeping them from leaving. I mean yeah Lena wants to know what happened to Kane but is it worth having your DNA in constant mutation by the Shimmer? I'm just failing to see any motivations to keep moving forward with zero chance of survival. So many teams went into the Shimmer and never seen again, by that point it's a lost cause. Utterly no further reason to investigate the Shimmer.
Hit: *As Lena, Ventress and Josie are tied up by Anya. The mutated bear that killed Cass enters the house and roars with Cass's voice repeating "help me".* If that's not the perfect nightmare fuel I don't know what is.
Miss: *This one bear maws Anya to death within seconds but merely baby taps Lena until Josie kills it.* Well that's definitely plot armor....
Miss: Lena talking to Ventress: "What are you doing?" Ventress: "I'm leaving..." Lena: "Now? It's not even light yet." Ventress: "I don't have time to wait. We are disintegrating. Our bodies as fast as our minds. Can't you feel it? It's like an onset of dementia. If I don't reach the lighthouse soon... The person that started this journey won't be the person that ends it. I won't be the one that ends it." Again nothing's stopping you from leaving the Shimmer knowing damn well what's happening to your body. An alien phenomenon that continuously mutates all DNA should be enough acquired data to go by. But OK just keep going because reasons. I'm sure the novel has some explanations that are missing from this movie.
Hit: Josie having roots growing from her self-harm scars is quite unsettling.
Miss: When Lena finally arrives at the lighthouse, one question crossed my mind. If getting to the lighthouse was the objective than why not just airdrop close to it? Kinda a waste of time taking the long way getting to the source of the phenomenon.
Hit: Oscar Isaac's performance when Lena finds a video of Kane talking to his doppelganger before killing himself.
Hit: *When Lena finds Ventress at the source, her face is of dark greyish and eyeless. But goes back to normal when Lena calls her name.*
Miss: *Earlier Kane's doppelganger was slowly dying but when the Shimmer got destroyed he's fully stablized.* Well that's convenient.
