My interest in this movie was aroused when I first saw the trailer and was preparing to see it at the theatre only to find it pop up on Netflix. Apparently, it flopped so badly in the US that they didn’t bother to release it commercially here in Australia. So with this in mind, I had no expectations of what to expect. It is made by Alex Garland who is responsible for Ex -Machina.
The plot revolves around an event that is of an alien nature that impacts a small area of unpopulated coastal America. A curtain rises around the area, known as the Shimmer, that allows people to enter but not return. Kane, played by Oscar Issac, is a member of a military special ops team that leaves for a mission but never returns to his wife Lena, Natalie Portman. After a year of believing that he is missing in action, Kane returns to the home but is not well. Lena rushes him to the hospital but on route, they are intercepted by members of an agency and taken to a facility near the Shimmer where Kane’s condition is getting worse.
Lena is told of the Shimmer and that they are planning to send another team to discover its secrets. However rather than a military team, they are sending in a group of women with scientific and medical backgrounds, including characters played by Jennifer Jason Leigh and Gina Rodriguez. Lena is recognised not only as a former army officer but also as a biologist and wants to find out what happened to her husband she agrees to join the project team. As they enter they lose radio contact with the outside, their compasses don’t work and it doesn’t appear that they are able to keep track of time. As they travel closer to the genesis of the Shimmer they come across stranger anomalies and personal threats.
With about 1/2 hour to go, it turns all ‘Twilight Zone’ with very surreal imagery that I feel I have seen before but I can’t remember if it was pictures of modern art or another movie. The presence of the alien, what it wants to do and whether it achieves it are the questions asked but I still am not sure of what the answers were.
So why am I reviewing a movie that was so badly panned it skipped directly to Netflix. I am not sure exactly, but I know that while I was watching the story unfold I found something in the story telling that captured me even if the story may not have been that good. Am I starting to sound like one of those pretentious movie reviewers I have rebelled against? If you have time to kill and access to Netflix, give it a try and let me know what you think.
I’m not counting this as an official review or giving it a rating. This one is more like an FYI.