After watching Annihilation yesterday, I am still torn about how I feel about it. It was filmed beautifully with amazing special effects and set designs It was very well acted and, for at least 3/4 of it, very well written. However, it left me with some questions…well, actually…a LOT of questions. Also, the last act of it felt like it was written and directed by a completely different person than the one who wrote the rest of it. While the last act carried forth the premise and the ideas brought up throughout the movie, it just seemed to have a completely different tone from the rest of the film. It’s also the part that gave me all the following questions.
Now, I completely understand the whole premise of the Shimmer “refracting” everything, including DNA and even personalities. Yes…literally EVERYTHING. I also think that part was actually beautifully, and quite subtly, done…with Lena getting the other lady’s tattoo, Kane getting one of his squad member’s accent, and so on and so forth. Due to this, I fully understand that the Lena that came out of the Shimmer was now a different one than the one that went in, because of the “refraction.” And while I completely understand that the Kane that cane out of the Shimmer was an entirely different and new Kane, I don’t actually understand what he is and where he came from.
Is he a DNA Duplicate/Ghost they spoke of, like the “deers” Lena witnessed?
Was he an alien that went from mirroring his movements to actually becoming a copy of him (like the one tried to do with Lena)?
Either way, how did he get out of the Shimmer and back to the house undetected?
Why did his organs start failing and he start dying after being out of the Shimmer?
Why did he stop dying and go back to perfect health when the alien shut down the Shimmer?
Why did his eyes and Lena’s eyes do the same alien thing at the end if he was a creation of the Shimmer and she was just a “refracted” human?
Speaking of the alien shutting down the Shimmer…that also made question some things. Obviously, the phosphorus grenade did not kill the alien, at least initially, as we saw how fast it worked with Kane. So…id it actually kill the alien at all?
Did the alien accidentally set its “creations” on fire as it burned…or did it do it intentionally?
Like, did the fact of Lena trying to kill it with the grenade make it realize its actions weren’t welcome and it just ended its “experiment” and left?
Why did its fire take out the tendrils in the lighthouse and those beautiful glass trees, but nothing else?
Shouldn’t almost everything in the Shimmer it caused have burnt as well…including Lena and Kane?
And since Lena and Kane are fine and dandy, with their weird eyes, what about everything else in the Shimmer?
Does Earth now have to deal with a new ecosystem and new, crazy animal mutations that can now freely roam past the Shimmer?
Especially any of what was in the ocean part of the Shimmer? (And dammit, why didn’t we get to see any of that?)
Now, I realize this was actually based off of a book, and that there were two sequel books written…so maybe those hold the answers to some, or all, of my questions. And maybe it will do well enough that sequel movies will be made that can provide answers as well. If you have any thoughts or possible answers, let me know below!!