dig a bit deep into this movie

Rating: 9/10 (18 March 2018)

I didn't read the book, but Let us dig deep into movie and bring some interpretations to the squad members:
All 5 female squad members want to end their life problems in the Shimmer.
The psychologist has cancer, she treats death indifferently but she can't eliminate fear of death. Alien entity decomposes her into something like flying particles or a pure energy form.
The physicist has a self-injury and suicidal tendency, she does not want to be turned into a mutated creature or killed by one when she is alive, so chooses death with dignity is her best choice.

The paramedic(an addict may live in torture of mania) and anthropologist(who lost her daughter, doesn't feel like living anymore ) can't bear their fears or sorrows. Both of them are finished by a mutated bear(that bear first kills the anthropologist and absorbs her near-death memory full of horrible pains and desperate fears, which makes the bear more terrifying, it echoes "help me", traps and kills the paramedic later. )
The biologist suffers from a moral dilemma. She has an affair because of marriage problem. She might still love(or feel guilty on cheating) her husband. She decides to enter the Shimmer to get back their marriage. At last part of film, she fights with her duplication/alien entity which is a manifestation of her living will and saves herself.
If people can't control their dark side well, it will devour them, make them self-destruct and hurt other people. Human can't get rid of dark side, they have to learn how to live with it and maintain balance. Killing by a mutated monster is a metaphor for killing by own dark sides in some ways.
Biologist's husband knows his partner's infidelity. His pain of losing her prompts him to join in previous suicide mission. He reaches the lighthouse, alien entity gives him a copy of himself. He tells his duplication to go back home, and kills himself to end his pain. Ironically, he finds a solution that he can love the biologist without pain.
Now bring an interpretation to alien entity in this movie:
Alien entity appears as a small multi-dimensional alien space, the front part is a shining hole. Alien entity is not causing annihilating, it's purpose is beyond understanding.
Alien entity is a mirror of creatures living in the Shimmer. What it reflects is the meaning of everything behind their existence by a unique way, which is to understand the intention or purpose of these creatures including human through condensing very-long-time evolving process into an instant completion one.
How can it do this? From plot in movie, alien entity has a power beyond time, space and our knowledge of physical rules.
Due to this incredible power, assume that it "knows" the truth, "knows" everything happened, happening and will happen in future.
So alien entity shows fate of creatures as easy as showing a reflection of an object in an ordinary mirror. It's resonance or response is equivalent to the actual fate of creatures it mirrors.
Ex., alligator may want another row of powerful teeth. Flowering tree may want a human shape. Stone may want to evolve into a silicon-based life... all these stuff in the Shimmer are reflections of that mirror.
Alien entity reacts to every squad member in different ways in terms of:
1) intentions, faults that have already hardcoded in their genes.
2) their choices from their mind states and behaviors.
In sum alien entity not only provides representation of new life forms, but manifestation of inner desires of creatures by understanding intentions. inclinations buried in genes and by their choices. The only survivor- biologist who shows her will to life in front of mirror gets back.
Further, It's also reasonable to assume that alien entity is a super computer comes from a super civilization that can immediately decompose, duplicate, blend and create creatures and nonliving objects on different planets in different universe.
We just don't have any clues if an entity/civilization is beyond our power of understanding. It's impossible to seek a nice logic in a sci-fi movie. it is wise that the writer or director leave this to audiences.
If we dig deeper into a sci-fiction film, it inevitably leads to paradoxes or philosophical debate, such as metaphysics or agnosticism. A consistent system can't tackle completeness within itself.
So It is wise to stop here.