Confusing story with too many loose ends anchored by amazing special effects

Rating: 5/10 (27 February 2018)

I'm surprised both by people who think this movie was THE BEST EVER and also those who thought it was a heaping pile. In my view, it's right in the middle. It's worth seeing in theatres, but just don't expect the storyline to be the primary source of enjoyment.
As film fans, it goes without saying that we have to Suspend our Disbelief -- in other words, don't nitpick too much. You can always find a few inconsistencies to point out if you want to be the annoying friend, but in this case, the entire basis for the plot is illogical and frustratingly stupid.
The movie starts with Ms. Portman's character being kidnapped along with her husband, after his inexplicable return home. She is able to convince the head honcho to let her in on all this classified alien craziness by simply saying "I'm a biologist, I can help" -- as if in 3 years of studying this thing they never thought to bring a biologist? Plus the lady running the show is a psychologist, and there does not appear to be any other decision makers (military?) anywhere. They spend three years sending in troops that don't return, and all of a sudden shift to 4 scientists with no military background? Did it occur to anyone to send troops AND scientists? My head is hurting at this point....
As the movie progresses, more questions are raised about what is going on inside the Shimmer, but 95% of them do not come remotely close to being answered. Sure, a few open-ended questions can effectively add to the mystery of a film, but in this case I just found myself continually looking around the theatre at other people, asking "WTF is going on right now?". For me, that lack of coherence is not a good thing.
Then towards the end, everyone is dead but Portman and the psychologist. The Psych disappears inexplicably, yet Portman doesn't really seem to notice.
I could call out more negatives, but there were several positives as well. The special effects were simply beautiful to see. Additionally, the design of the world inside the Shimmer was incredibly inventive. Finally, though it mostly posed questions and left them unanswered, the film did make the viewer ponder about extraterrestrial life, what it might be composed of, and what it might desire.
Apparently there is a book that makes the movie seem a lot more logical, so maybe read that before seeing the movie. Personally, I was very excited for this film, but was let down by numerous, basic plot holes and lack of coherence.