I came across this movie because it had Natalie Portman in it. I've watched several movies with her in it and have always been impressed. Black Swan. Star Wars I, II, and III. Anyways, because I was familiar with her, I figured I'd give this one a go.
The first thing I want noted, was the chronology of the way it showed things. The story line was starting off fine, but it was doing a lot of bopping from past, present, and future. Or present, past, and further past, depending on how you look at it. I wish it had showed them interrogating Lena (Natalie Portman) all at one time either at the beginning or later on, rather than spread out like they did.
On the other hand, memory loss, like what they experienced upon entering the shimmer is always intriguing. Wondering what they've been up to. Wondering whether they were still acting like themselves during that time or not.
I've gotta say, there were definitely some disconcerting scenes, which I'm all for. It wouldn't be much of a horror movie if it was easy to watch. And the scenes where people were mutating in gross ways definitely classified.
When it showed the skeleton in the lighthouse, I wondered if Lena was thinking 'at least you died a human'. I assumed it was someone who died at the start of the event, until it showed the footage and revealed that her husband blew himself up with a flash grenade even though he had returned at the beginning of the movie.
I guessed that creepy faceless creature was going to morph to mimic Lena's appearance, though it took longer than I expected. Though I think looking like an actual person would've made the scene a bit less creepy.
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| Lena vs. the faceless creature |
I think the ending was brilliant. How Lena asked the man who turned out not to be Lena's husband, if he was Kane, and he said 'I don't think so.' Then he asked her 'Are you Lena?' She didn't answer, but it showed her eyes change, suggesting she had changed while she was in there. It leaves you wondering whether or not the main character actually survived or not.
Overall, I would give it a 4 out of 5 stars. The jumping between time frames was the only thing I didn't care for, and even then it didn't get in the way of following the story line. But there was as great plot, great characters, and horror that required more skill than just putting a blender on someone's head and spewing blood everywhere.
