(Self)destruction.

Rating: 7/10 (5 June 2018)

Natalie Portman is on a mission to enter the glimmer. A strange area that deforms nature, from which no one returns, except her husband who is changed. Now Portman goes in, to search for the extra terrestial cause and to stop the expansion of the area until it covers everything, and changes everything, including her.
The movie works in an abstract way, but if you look past the visuals, the message is simple. Total destruction, by self destruction. If nature doesn't kill mankind, than humans will. This becomes obvious when the alien object starts copying people's looks and behaviour. It copies movements, including attacks. Which means that it attacks humans, not by choise, but merely by copying human attacks at it. Eventually, when the transformation is almost complete, the alien even self destructs by "accidentally" setting everything on fire, destroying the glimmer and the cause.
Every act of horor in this movie (except for a few mutated animals) can be brought back to human behaviour. Even the alien who starts copying human behaviour has a human cause of destruction. In that way, this is a rather pessimistic movie, with an almost realistic message, in a beautiful package that makes the message looks more attractive than it really is. And the acting by Natalie Portman and Oscar Isaac is near flawless.