Heady and gorgeous sci-fi

Rating: 8/10 (27 February 2018)

The science fiction thriller from Alex Garland and adapted from the novel by Jeff VanderMeer is a gorgeous cinematic experience with an exciting plot. Lena (Natalie Portman) is an army veteran and biologist whose husband Kane (Oscar Isaac) has been missing for a year after he left on a mysterious military mission. When he reappears at their house, he is different. His body starts to break down but on their way to the hospital, the ambulance is stopped by government vehicles and Lena is drugged. She wakes up in a prison cell with the psychologist Dr. Ventress (Jennifer Jason Leigh) watching her. Ventress explains the situation to her and why her husband is acting strangely. She also shows her the odd phenomenon that they are calling the Shimmer.
With Kane on a ventilator to survive, Ventress allows Lena to stay at Area X, the compound just outside the Shimmer. She meets the crew that is going in next comprised of a geologist Cass Sheppard (Tuva Novotny), a paramedic Anya Thorensen (Gina Rodriguez), and a physicist Josie Radek (Tessa Thompson). Lena begs Ventress to let her come along and the psychologist agrees. The group enters into the Shimmer with the knowledge that no one has come back before. They wake up three days later with no knowledge of what happened after they entered. Once they orient themselves with the sun and their watches, they head towards the lighthouse, the center of the alien impact and the spread of the Shimmer. The flowers grow oddly crossing species. Upon exploring an abandoned house, an alligator attacks Josie and the group until Lena shoots it. They discover that the gator has the same teeth as a shark though Lena is skeptical that this could happen.
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