ANNIHILATION (2018) Ending Explained + Anaylsis
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 พ.ค. 2024
- Ending Explained + in depth Analysis of ANNIHILATION, the new sci-fi film from Alex Garland (Ex-Machina, Dredd). Learn about the shimmer's properties, the themes of the film, and what the ending means.
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Annihilation is the kind of movie where you know what’s going on but you also don’t know what’s going on
Exactly!
Exactly what the copy of yourself would say.
@@Sirpushyou Is This Reply To Me?
PMD15 not originally, but now I don’t who to trust.
@@Sirpushyou Ok Then I Thought You Replied To Me
Its those damn 5G towers i tell ya
Now u mention it u might be on something...🧑🦽
LOL
😂😂😂
This movie hurt my head😂😂
jen soni goddamn kids and their technology
If y’all look carefully on the side of the bears skull
There is a human skull fused into it.....
It didn’t kill her........
It ABSORBED HER..
Was about to say that. The only eye it has is the eye in the human skull.
In its screaming you can hear "Help me Mom" or something like that if you listen close
I mean...it did kill her
@@duckyjoel5373 I believe her conscious was still aware inside of the beast though. Other stories of similar creatures has the person still conscious and aware and able to see through the beasts eyes, but unable to control it or do anything, just watch what it does through its eyes. I believe if they were going with one of these creatures as they appeared to, she is still aware and conscious in that bears head.
@@gundamgunpla4685 oh fuck thats terrifying imagine watching that thing kill your friends unable to do anything to stop it as it uses your voice to trick them
I don’t even wanna imagine what’s in the ocean that’s part of the shimmer 😖
Vampire mermaids!
I am the most afraid of human minds in which we create the imagination of those monster
@@alfonsogarcia1519 I’m 14 and this is deep
@@alfonsogarcia1519 lmao🚲
I do!! I would love a Shimmer 2. Into the *shimmering* Water.
Is it just me, or does the skull-bear thing look like the monsters from temple run
Omg yeah!
😐😶😯😲🧐🙂🙃😄😁🥳😎
John Doe really? i didn’t know the yao guai could imitate screams
PolerVrize how did you find out!?!
It actually does look like it!
they should have done a separate movie where it showcases what’s going on in the ocean
Narrated by Morgan freeman
Ikr!
Black Scythe narrated by David Attenborough*
*OCEAN MAN*
Bioshock?
"it would be able to expand continuously without ever dying"
That's cancer
Yes. That's the intended implication. Ventress says to Lena, of Kane's decision to go into the shimmer knowing he wouldn't come back, "don't confuse suicide with self-destruction." And she's right. We're programmed to self-destruct, our very cells are programmed to stop dividing after a certain limit. What this alien is, at its core, is a cancer to the very planet itself.
I thought the same thing when she said that!
Alse Ventress had cancer and was strangely drawn to the lighthouse. Was she looking for a cure? Or perhaps cancer was left behing on the planet from previous contacts with alien life forms? And Ventress was drawn to it by the nature of her cancer?
@@moonnightwalk I think she went to the lighthouse simply because that's where the crash happened and the shimmer originated. But I like your interpretation; it's elegant.
Bruh that's every virus in the world without treatment too lmao
I’m going to have to disagree on what happened to Ventris. I believe she was already a doppelgänger shifting into final form when Lina walks through the portal and sees her sitting which is why she didn’t have eyes when we first see her, but by the time she turns, her face is fully formed. But she has cancer, so the shimmer didn’t want her form or cells and left her body in the flash of light after it saw Lina there. Then it took Lina as the form to return from the shimmer.
Love your take on this. Still trying to wrap my head around the ending!
no you were wrong and just see the scene again it was not the clone but Ventris herself, In the scene Ventris says that she found the shimmer and it entered its body and had integrated with her and later disintegrated or were absorbed by the shimmer
@@arghyagupta No, you’re wrong. Your words don’t even make an intelligible sentence.
Lol just drink a bucket of milk to remove The effect
Lmao 😂😂😂
There is a difference between Minecraft and a movie idoit....
WAIT
The only problem I find with this comment is that you didn’t spell idiot right
MINECRAFT REFERENCE
Random Gamer21 now that is a epic gamer move
That freaking bear is easily the one of the scariest things I’ve seen in movies.
I thought it was freaking cow
Agree
Heelp... Meee...
Yeah it freaked me out esp when it screamed help me out right from its mouth of the bone chilling scene indeed
Yeah, that creature is nightmare incarnate by how it acts and looks.
Ikr I have been a fan of horror movies so long, that scene scared the heck outta me.
It’s just so weird to see Padme and Poe Dameron together like that.
Ohhhh, I knew I’ve seen them from somewhere
And, Jane Foster and En Sabah Nur, and Valkyrie turning to a female groot lol
What the fuck is Poe dameron
@@hoodyhoo1004 Pilot dude from the newer Star Wars
Ikr...
The reasons for each person entering the shimmer changed their outcomes. josie- someone who engaged in self-harm to feel alive. when she arrived at the flower fields she was able to see beauty which gave her the feeling she was seeking; she then became the flowers that gave her that feeling. ventress- a woman with cancer who was resigned to her fate. She was determined to finish the mission as she knew her time was limited. when she finished the mission of getting to the lighthouse she was able to let go and die. she took fate into her own hands instead of shrivling up due to cancer. katie- a person with addiction and drug issues. her mind was her downfall. she was the first to lose her sanity which is indicative of her mental state as an ex drug addict. lena was able to leave the shimmer because she needed to live for kane. kane was unable to leave because he was in the shimmer too long and lost his mind, so he sent a duplicate of himself to re-unite with lena. sheppard's fate was the most tragic. she entered the shimmer because her child died from leukemia; something she had no control of which left her feeling empty. she died from a wild animal which reflects that lack of control of her own life.
Wow amazing!!
this is a great analysis
You have the right concept.
Great
Wow you seem to have got it who are you? I would love to have some conversation ❤
The bear scene chilled me to the bone, it was fantastic and hearing that slowed tormented scream emanate from such a horrible creature was horrifying
I couldn't sleep for like the next two days because of that scene. Everything else was okay , but that messed me up... it was insanely unsettling.
Everytime the bear opened his mouth I couldn't stop laughing, it was really funny scene!
“...To the bone,”
*Seinfeld theme*
That scene gave me nightmares
Yeah the only part that stood out for me. Awesomely nightmarish.
That deep trumpet's sound gives me the chills everytime.
What time stamp?
@@McGowanForge not in the video, see the movie
I don’t think it’s a trumpet, it’s just a bassy synth patch. I think the guy who did it played keyboards for Portishead; it has the same surreal sound as that band.
Jmv Almonte trump gives me chills every time too
Andrew trump is a trumpet
I was so sad when Josie "died" cause she knew it was coming and wanted to embrace it so she could go out happily rather than in fear like Sheppard and Anya did.
right but it was so so beautiful :(
Isn't that a happy thing?
This movie needs a sequels and a few prequels. Like honestly, I would love to see what happen in the ocean and what happened to many of the previous teams.
The movie is based on the Southern Reach trilogy. Annihilation is based on the first novel, then there’s Authority & Acceptance.
the books do go there. fun fact, the psychologist was the director of the whole administration. the reason her actress's performance was weird was bc the character herself was putting on an act & wasn't good at it
The movie does need sequels, I agree. But the sequels would have to be closer to the books, and given the changes made between the book and this film, it would make it difficult to create coherent sequels. The books are excellent, though, in and of themselves.
my theory is everybody is high
That's probably it
A reason not to do drugs
On meth
@@rccola6779 meth is a drug
J
“Quarantined” *starts slowly crying*
"entanglement" will starts crying
World War 2 flashbacks
"Apple" *starts slowly crying*
9 months ago haha
@@supflame2263 yeah *starts slowly crying*
The sloth bear tracking the others is one of the saddest things ever. As Josie describes the bear as taking on part of shepherd's mind (not just voice,) the bear tracked them not to emulate the voice and lure out "prey" but was literally calling out for help and looking for its (shepherds) friends. That is why it didn't attack, it was nuzzling the tied up crew based on shepherds need to be with them.
It bit her shoulder thoug and was only stopped by eventual gunfire.
@@eccomi21 No. It lightly bit Josie on the shoulder yes but it let go n stood there for a while until Anya went in guns blazing provoking it too attack
I like your interpretation, it's a very cool idea but at the very least the bear's conscienceness isn't only Shepherd. The bear eventually bites one of the scientists on the shoulder and you can hear her start screaming. Her scream gets louder over the course of a few seconds as the camera shot changes which implies that the bear is biting softly and then harder and harder even though we don't see it directly. So unlike Syrus Angi suggesting that the bear wasn't trying to hurt the scientist by biting her, I think the bear and Shepherd were sharing a conscienceness. Even though the Shepherd part wanted to find her friends and maybe comfort them with a soft bite, the bear part takes over and tries to consume them.
That is _so_ much worse than it just being an integrated lure for hunting. I... I have maybe only heard of such a thing maybe twice before, and once it was in Lovecraftian horror.
It's was a grizzly bear, not a sloth bear.
The metallic clone is purposefully burning everything down, it is not an accident. If you watch it again you can clearly see that it intentionally touches everything to burn it all down, so it means the alien acquired Lena's conscience and is acting self-destructively as a result.
Oh wowwww
Because the movie is talking about human destruction and refracting. What if the being refracted Lena’s human “self destruction” and fell victim to it
This was my impression as well! Especially in the almost tender way that it touched Kane’s face
This was my interpretation as well!
Is it just me who’s not usually scared by horror films but actually got really creeped out by this film
NoShowCr0w 鴉 stop self promoting my man
do you fart this was one month ago...
@@jewelsong nah I'm sorry that shit was scary af
Ye
I get super scared of horror movies, i basically can't even watch them. But this movie became an instant favorite for me
As Lena said, the shimmer doesn't destroy -- it makes something new. Kane and Lena are not destroyed, but they are not what they were.
Actually, Lena is still in the same body and mine and its proven because she didnt bleed when drinking the water.
Squeeker NATION it's not proven, he isn't bleeding anymore either because they external shimmer doesn't exist anymore and is now contained inside of them. Lena thought if she destroyed her clone she could get out, but the clone was inside her because her and the shimmer and alien were all already one and the same at that point. She was the original and the clone, it was mirroring her, by so extension she would mirror it, that's the entire theme of the movie, constant duality, diverging paths turning out to be one and the same. She's definitely not the original human Lena anymore, even though she is, she's also the shimmer clone. It's confusing as fuck.
@@KaiInMotion you're saying they're one in the same so she's basically both?
It's made pretty clear by the movie that she destroyed her clone, whereas the original Kane killed himself.
@@squamish4244 But her eyes shimmering with Kane at the end suggests she didn't come back entirely as she came in, that's the point @Yvonne is making.
Ending explained? I NEED THE WHOLE DAMN MOVIE EXPLAINED!
well he did explain the whole movie
@@iamacat9400 no he just did a fucking re-count of it it’s not an actual explanation is it.
@@iamacat9400 it’s more of a summary
Gina Rodriguez’s death was GNARLY. I don’t think I’ve ever heard such a scary/realistic death on film.
Kane:O alien of the shimmer find my wife
Alien:I got you homie
Kane still thinks about her despite she cheated
General Kenobi
What a cop out way to spell Caine
@@sage7149 8:47 it says cane. So please dont correct someone if youre gonna be wrong too. I think its probably a spelling mistake but i dont care i find someone being named after an object hilarious
@@tntcake6327 I’m sorry my sarcastic joke about a kinda niche tabletop role playing universe wasn’t understood. I in fact wasn’t correcting but was referencing the first vampire in the Vampire the Masquerade tabletop game series, which is part of the greater lore of the World of Darkness setting. I apologise for ruffling any feathers with my niche and very indie reference. My form of sarcasm doesn’t translate well IRL so it can’t be expected to translate over a TH-cam comment.
the water isnt mutating holy shit why does everyone say that, the surface tension of the water on the glass causes that, and it looks like a mirror image. its symbolism for the whole movie
demon212 I was really confused when he said that because I was not seeing anything about the water other than bringing the wedding ring into focus and the difference that Kane bled into his water before and she does not.
The water is there to show that it is her. Unlike her “husband” who started bleeding because he’s never had water. A non planetary host who found a host who already mutated billions of years on earth. What a perfect combination.
THANK YOU! Who doesn't see that?
Yeah I never thought this had anything to do with water mutating lol. Not sure why so many try to see that, when it's clearly just a bit of symbolism (Water is the genesis of life after all). But above all, it was a trow back to the scene where Kane drank the water and there was blood in it. This was simply her checking if she was like Kane or not. A doppleganger.
I don't even think that Kane got sick because he was away from the prism. He got sick the moment he drank the water. He was trying to mimic human behavior, but his body probably didn't know how to ingest water which triggered multiple organ failures. Again, the doppleganger is not a perfect copy. It keeps evolving and adapting and it tries to learn from the original.
I think drinking the water triggered his sickness.
Hence her reaction when she drank the water. If she was a doppleganger, her body would probably have reacted the same way.
Kane's alien doppleganger is part human, while she is a human with parts of the alien mutation within her. In a way, they both complete each other.
Water doesn't have any DNA for mutation.
Anyone else notice Lena's thick plot armour when when she got attacked by the bear? Anya was absolutely ripped to shit but Lena got a few nose boops 😂
that's because darth vader was protecting her using the force
anya got killed by the bear bc of who she was. it didn't kill anyone else bc it wasn't a reflection of anyone else
@@tabula_rosa Interesting theory! Could you elaborate?
I have read or listened to most of Lovecraft's stories, wishing in vain for years that someone could finally manage to make an adaptation of his ideas that didn't totally suck. Event Horizon was amazing, but this movie is the closest I've come yet to seeing Lovecraftian weirdness correctly adapted to the big screen.
And it's absolutely incredible.
Check out the film adaption of ‘Colour Out Of Space’ basically the same premise as this film and executed really well. I give this a 6.5/10 and Colour a 7/10
There is also The Endless.
Wh couldn’t they just fly above the shimmer until they find the lighthouse then they skydive there?
Ive been looking for someone like you lol that's what I was thinking
Just got done watching it and was thinking same shit! Lol I know I'm late.
because plot.
or why didn't they get there from the sea?
Dude.. Because it won't work their inside... Technology and signals won't work
I thought I was on acid during this movie tbh
Ajax same.
I watched it while stoned and it fucked me up
wish I did the same
The movie reminded me of a VERY bad trip I had once (we're talking writhing around on a hospital bed at 2 AM) and should have come with a trigger warning label for a "Bad psychoactive substance experience". LOL
Best movie to watch stoned lol
The snake tattoo is called an oroboros. It’s a symbol of death and rejuvenation and a constant balance
yea they use those kind of symbols in horros movies like the new conjuring movie
Came for the ending
Got the full story
Lmao same
You're forgetting that in the beginning when Kane drank the water blood came out, but when Lena drank it nothing happened. Imo this was to show that Lena was the real Lena, whereas Kane was the mutation.
Matt P. No I think the reason why she didn’t have blood coming out from drinking was because the shimmer was already collapsed. Don’t forget that Kane also got better after the shimmer is down. When the shimmer is down, it stops cloning and all the effects. The clone Kane was bleeding and the was probably because the outside world environment is completely different than in the shimmer.
Yes it shows you that the Kane that returned was the mutation. Lena was also the mutation as her body is being refracted so one is still a human mutation and one is the copy. This is the way I saw it does not mean i am right lol
Gotta disagree. I think it just confirms that it was the Shimmer's continual, accelerated refraction that was making Kane ill.
I mean if the doppelgangers have a water intolerance, kane would've died (or at least have still been sick) as he was hooked up to fluids.
Her eyes did change at the end
He said that he kane was bleeding because he was there too long than her wife
There are a few things I think you got wrong. The book covers some of these in greater detail.
#1. Ventress didn't go in because she thought something inside would help her, she went inside because she knew she had cancer and was going to die anyway, so taking a suicide mission was fine.
#2. Anya's tattoo doesn't resemble "self-destruction", it resembles an infinite life cycle. The snake is in a figure 8 and it's chasing its tail. If you watch a snake do that in real life, you'll be there forever.
#3. Before they passed through the shimmer, Ventress put all of them into hypnosis, this is the reason they don't remember setting up camp. The fact that Ventress didn't pull them out of hypnosis for 3 days is the clue you missed.
#4. Time doesn't power a compass.
#5. Things in Area X aren't evolving, they're mixing. The moment they walk in and noticed the growths on the walls they comment that it looks "malignant" which was a reference to the cancer Ventress has. When they walked into the shimmer, all their cells began mixing with everything else. This is also why Lena gains the tattoo from Anya, or why the bear can talk, or why people became plants, or how the animals have plants growing from their bodies. The cells of every living creature in the area are bounced around the entire area mixing with everything and vice-versa.
#6. When Lena finds the source of the shimmer and her blood mixes with it, it creates a copy of her. The copy wasn't learning from Lena just because it copied her movements, it IS Lena, it knows everything she knows and moves like her because they share the same brain and knows how she will move. Even when their backs are to each other they move the same. If the copy was learning from her, how can it predict her movement while blind?
#7. The water wasn't mutating.
When he got to the "water mutating" part, my girlfriend and I looked at each other confused because that's just water being water.
I think a snake can eat itself if it tried.
why did the copy hold the flash grenade if it also had all the same thoughts and memories, it would know what was going to happen next. wouldn't it at least sense the danger or know what the device is and its propose???
*purpose
@@manican4620 Not really, snakes eat things whole than digest over time, they dont chew so the snakes own body type prevents it from eating itself.
They grab prey in their jaws and use the muscles to work it down their throat while moving the the body forward.
this movie did so much right were many before failed.
- putting in a full female cast and don´t make a big thing about it
- cosmic horror at its best
- movie monsters done right
- perfect music score
I really appreciated that
The whole movie i just wondered why they sent those 5 bitches there instead of actual male soldiers&scientists
"Annihilation ending explained"
*Doesn't explain the ending, just summarizes it*
I kinda understand it now, he did explain why Lena's eyes glowed like that
Apparently even the book leaves you like *wtf is going on* doesn’t explain shit and is written in journal form. I think this just got away from everyone. The author, the producers, everybody.
That’s all of the “ending explained” video
I personally don't think the clone was trying to replicate the fire. I believe the clone had absorbed enough of Lena that they even shared the same mind at that point. That's why afterwards she touches the ships and the weird vein like structures setting it all ablaze because she knows it must be done. This act further pushes the theme of self destruction. It also explains why she touches the corpse of Kane in an almost consoling manner as she has Lena's memories and therefore cares for Kane. Everything affected by the shimmer is then destroyed except for Lena and Kane for some reason. Perhaps Lena got out before everything was annihilated and anything outside the shimmer manages to survive.
Came in here to say the same thing.
Bill Marion yeah I still don’t understand why the doppelgänger Kane couldn’t exist outside of the Shimmer. And once the shimmer was destroyed he was fine..?
it didn't have the same memories just the same body. Two different things. It was trying to learn from her but mirroring it. It's just like her holusbands doppelganger. He told his double her name and that's how it found her, it didn't know much about her and was confused because it hadn't had any memories of its experiences with her because it only just got born. It only knew what it was told and it was told to find her and her name, which it did. So in the case of the grenade I believe it was trying to learn by handling it. It didn't see it as a two function device because she held it and didn't go up in flames so it didn't even know about what the object did. No shared memories.
-1990skelly
What if at the end the lena they were interviewing was infact the alien that was lying at the end cuz when the alien kane asked are you lena? She didn't answer and after they hugged both of their eyes glowed. So they made it past the shimmer and they will start annihilation now.
I've read the books and you're right
Idc what anyone says this movie was absolutely beautiful and unique
0 58 Too creepy and cerebral to be a mainstream success. Too bad.
I mean not caring doesnt make your opinion fact. It's a really good movie though.
It was garbage.
It was amazing.
Also a movie that would make you go, "wtf?"
i just couldn't stand the cliches and the predictability.
unique: yes
Original: no
its funny how time and time again fire solves everything
Yak 141 Freestyle Rock Paper Scissors, Fire, Earth, Water basically
I think the movie/shimmer represent depression or loss/change of some kind. The 5 characters represent the 5 paths one can take when battling depression and loss. One, Cassie: she lets her loss define her and when she is taken by the bear the thing that remains is her scream, her loss. She lets it take over. Ventress: she wants her end to come and she welcomes it, in a way she gives up. Gina: she lets it drive her crazy and loses herself completely, similar to how Kane lost his identity and decided to give up. Natalie Portman: sorry forgot her name lol, she arguably goes through all the stages but she is the one that fights the most, she’s the warrior that was changed by this battle. Cass: cass decides to embrace the loss and almost become at peace with her loss/depression and changes
Now that's just boring
After watching this, a second ending analysis, I’m convinced no one knows what the hell happened in this movie, probably not even the movie makers.
I know I should read the book for an explanation but I don't want to end the mistery
I have a feeling it's so confusing because it's all not the actual story of what occurred in the shimmer, it's being told my lena technialy but it's either her clone or an altered version of her so the thing could be telling something that's not the truth to ensure the humans don't know what's happening
Like Donnie Darko, it's left better up to interpretation of the viewer and isn't meant to have any one specific meaning.
@@katg7623 She's also an unreliable narrator because she admits to memory loss and lost time.
@@agravemisunderstanding9668 the book is COMPLETELY different from the movie and wouldn't spoil anything about the mystery. I watched the movie, then read the book, then rewatched the movie and only the barebones concepts are the same
Just finished watching the film with my mother. Here is my very detailed and relatable thoughts after it:
*wtf?*
Same. Just finished. What the fuck.... that's all I've got to say.
@@diamondkivi4721 lol
It's a viral cosmic horror flick. Black Mountain Side is great as well.
Wtf same i watched it with my mom too! Like 10 minutes ago?
lmfao same me and my mom were speechless
I felt like I was having a fever dream the whole time
This movie was visually FANTASTIC.
The shimmer and the shimmer creations were beautiful, especially the colorful flora AND the ice trees by the beach. I just loved that so much.
Also the screaming bear was TERRIFYING.
Me 30 min into an acid trip: “these tabs ain’t shit”
10 minutes later: Annihilation☠️
Yooo same I just watched this movie on acid
Here is my theory.
The glass of water at the end of the film wasn’t mutating, it was a foreshadowing that she was a reflection of the original Lena the same way the image of her hand is reversed through the glass of water. An identical shot at the start of the film involved Cane’s hand, foreshadowing his true identity.
Now as far as the whole Shimmer Lena goes. I think the switch happens earlier in the scene, when “Lena” tries to escape the cave and sees the being suddenly in front of her, whom I believe is the Real Lena as seen by Shimmer Lena. This makes sense a because while the audience is lead to believe the Shimmer Lena somehow teleported ahead, this is actually all from Shimmer Lena’s point of view, chasing after Real Lena. Real Lena tries to prevent Shimmer Lena from escaping, which results in a brief fight. Once it’s obvious none will get the upper hand, Shimmer Lena gives Real Lena a grenade who then resigns herself to her fate.
The reason I believe this has to do with Lena feeling indebted to Cane because of her infidelity. The film establishes that Real Cane calmly commits suicide (self-destruction), meaning Real Lena has no reason to survive the journey anymore since the man who came to her house at the start of the film wasn’t her husband. This is reinforced by how the metallic doppelgänger, whilst peacefully dying by fire, tenderly caresses Real Cane’s charred remains before destroying the lighthouse, in essence Real Lena dying at her husbands side.
It could be wrong, but this makes the most sense to me.
Nice theory but I would count on it if we're talking about the source material.
This theory makes the most sense
Pretty sure Lena didn't drop blood in the water like Cane did. Cane being the doppelganger bleeds into the water and nearly dies from it where as Lena easily accepts the water. I do believe the glass of water does have a double meaning, you're right that they are refracted from their old selves, both different than their former selves.
There;s no way, notice how the grenade instantly killed kane? She would as well where the copy obviously lasted longer. The rest I have no clue but being human she would not have lasted that long.
@@DjPolarMusic That is also true, but keep in mind that Kane's clone also got a lot better instantly as soon as The Shimmer was destroyed.
That could indicate that with The Shimmer being gone, the two of them can adapt to Earth's surroundings and live normally among the regular humans.
Bruh I just watched the film, I don't need you to go in detail over the entire plot.. I came for ANSWERS
You new here? That's what he does with every movie he "explains."
One theory I liked about why Lena’s double just willingly died in the Lighthouse was because that was her wish. An it seems the Shimmer or whatever was controlling it, is trying to understand humans in their final moments with wishes of some sort . Or at least the doppelgängers are. This can be seen in three instances. The first when during Joesie death. Right before she died, she went off about not wanting to fight the coming changes to her body and instead welcomed it. Joesie gave up and chose to be apart of the environment in the Shimmer. Second instance being that Kane’s wanted his double to find Lena after he’s gone. It’s assumed Kane’s double was told or communicated this wish to after both Kane and his double came into some sort physical contact. The reason it has to be physical contact is because when Lena hands her double the grenade, during that form of physical contact, the double got the sense of Lena’s wish. That wish being that Lena wanted the shimmer and everything in it destroyed. The theory’s interpretation was that Lena never actually tricked her double, and instead to fulfill her wish.
This doesn’t really answer much else other than giving more explanation to how the doubles worked and function. Probably and more than likely is, alot of holes in this theory. However, I kinda liked it ngl. Idk, this movie didn’t make much sense to me anyway so reading this theory in another comment section kinda helped or at least gave me one way to view the movie
You know a character's evil if they're named "Ventress"
asaj ventress u say?
Any name with the letter "S" at the end is a Villain's name. (No Offense to people with an "S" at the end of their name)
I’m guessing “Ventress” was derived form the Latin word “ventris”, which means “body, belly, or abdomen”. It makes perfect sense when you see what happens to Dr. Ventress at the climax of the film 🙂
Asajj ventress
@@cat157 honestly that's a fucking cool name
this is why we need the SCP Foundation
I wonder if that Southern Reach was their 'foundation'
This is very *[DATA EXPUNGED]*
Exactly!👍🏽
Yes
Not even they could contain this shit
Every time I see your videos I remember how much I love your videos. Thanks for explaining everything in the most exciting and enthusiastic way
This channel has great taste in films , every last film they've covered here I would put in my library. The sci Fi and horror thriller stuff is the best. Many thx and blessings to this addiction I love so very much.
The one thing I still don't understand is how tf did the Kane doppelganger get out of Area X and travel all the way to Lena's house without any complication whatsoever, despite all the military and scientists surrounding the area monitoring it 24/7.
Best comment here finally someone with a brain... only thing I can think of is whatever this thing is.. it’s beyond our comprehension, time , matter , space, and etc. and has some type of intelligence.. bc went back to get wife and now there is a man and woman at end.. I guess it teleported there. So that just shows it is not stuck just to that field of whatever, idk. If this is making since. But just seems strategic.. and pretty much it created it’s own Adam and Eve at the end.
It's implied they can teleport. Kane's doppelganger says in the beginning "I was at your door" with no idea how he got there. Then we see Lena's alien teleport from the underground area to the lighthouse.
@Conal Wheeldon [Student] 8 read the entire trilogy, and I'm still not sure what on earth it's about. Lena sure has one heck of a different fate, though.
I wondered that too but decided I'd throw it in the "suspension of disbelief" file and ignore it. I find it best not to question Hollywood creations too deeply. 😉
Remember in the film that entity possess the ability to teleport. So maybe it teleported.
My theory is that when they forget the first 3 days they've actually all been duplicated already and the real ones died of radiation
Maybe, pretty out there but at the same time not really
AJames Barlow yeah well your wrong
Mate the whole movie was “pretty out there but not really”
@@emerys2665 the theory is pretty out there in terms of narrative, not reality
It could have been their bodies at the lighthouse
I’m confused, y didn’t Jane just call thor and have him deal with it? I can guarantee the shimmer doesn’t stand a chance against the god of Thunder😤
Why* Use actual words.
@@englishatheart boooo
I've watched so many videos about this movie. But this is the best one. It has helped me a lot to understand this movie that I love so much. Thanks 😊
FYI, the Shimmer isn’t another dimension. It’s more like a bubble that rests upon the Earth and has been expanding ever since it landed on Earth. The alien lands, the physical Shimmer wall expands, and everything inside it begins to mutate. When they cross over the Shimmer Wall, they aren’t entering another dimension, they are entering an altered portion of the planet, a mutated forest that exists physically on Earth.
@Black Santo Nino Time distortion is just memory loss from the mutation. You could say the body adapted to the point where their memory worked again or that she just doesn't remember their entire time in the bubble. From a movie point of view, we see everything in sequence but there may be big gaps in between that she simply doesn't remember.
@Black Santo Nino I think it was more-so their concept of time being distorted than time itself. Time was still going by as it normally would, but how the team perceived time was altered and manipulated by the shimmer.
Black Santo Nino . Time is relative and like others have said it’s their perception of time that’s distorted
@Black Santo Nino Time is not distorted. People with Alzheimer's just can't remember but thier cells are being changed. And as for the shimmer, think of it as an EMF of a different frequency that Earth's lifeforms are altered and the alien itself is looking for a host. This scene was nicely done by the way.
Simon Dimock, I compared it to Chernobyl. Everything within a radius of the destroyed nuclear power plant was altered by its radio active effect. Similarly here, all the genes in the vicinity of the crash site were affected by the alien genes which they then carried farther and farther causing the area to grow.
So in 3 years no one tried fire?one thing we are known for, setting sh*t on fire.
Love this comment 😂😂😂
Specifically a phosphorus grenade though. Extremely difficult to put out the fire
They probably never managed to get to the lighthouse
did you see what the grenade did?? it didn’t *exactly* work but...eh
Time to bring napalm back lol
Just watched it for a second time and here I am, rewatching your video. Thank you, long time follower.
18:41 not a mutation, that's literally just surface tension applying to the liquid...
This was a beautiful movie but the ending definitely had me scratching my head. I was able to follow along the whole film until like the last 20 mins
Just imagine Cancer cells, as Aliens. That's the movie in a nutshell.
Earth = Human body
Cancer = Aliens
It might even be a direct movie metaphor, but that's unconfirmed, so it's mostly just as a comparison.
Same
same
Except Lena essentially purged the cancer - her 'Shadow side', thematically, by not running from it but facing it. So perhaps she is only left with beneficial effects of the Shimmer.
@@squamish4244
You could say she has integrated her shadow.It's the opposite for Kane; he has been devoured by his self-destructive tendencies and is now a husk of his former self.
Their reunion is pretty tragic from that perspective.Essentially, Lena is forced to accept and live with the fact she became her husband's undoing.
Watched this movie high as shit, damn near made my head explode lmao. Wish there were more out there like it tbh.
watch Color Out of Space if you haven't already! It has very similar vibes to this.
Watch "The Void"
@@joeyblaze2509 that movie was something else. Still nice to watch if you like body dysmorphic beasts with alien.
Watch Arrival too
Stop getting high... or get high and watch this : th-cam.com/video/X3cZBR0NN2M/w-d-xo.html
The way you explain the way the movie, makes the movie even more enjoyable and makes it make more sense. Keep up the good work, great channel.
This is a fun concept, especially with the forever evolving flora and fawna
The scene at the dinner table where Lina slowly pulls her hand back from Kane’s and you can only see their fingers in the glass is foreshadowing. You can’t really tell where one’s fingers end and the others begin. The glass and the water are REFRACTING the light (the very image/appearance) of their hands, foreshadowing the fact that the shimmer is also a prism that refracts, blends, and corrupts light (but also DNA, geometry, memories, time, and basically anything that follows a discernable pattern/plan).
Insightful
thats exactly what the shimmer is. Its existence is to refract everything that is inside of its aura. Can't really define it as an entity, its more like its a wormhole or a blackhole.
That's exactly what the author tried to develop. I'm a geologist, mineralogy specialist, so I have my deal with crystallography and when they started talking about refraction, the implications of the shimmering acting as a reality refractor, the same way an anisotropic material difracts light, were pretty clear. The fact is, it's sort of hard science fiction, because without optical physics knowledge people just talk about mutations, evolution, DNA and other biology-related processes which are clearly not what is happening in the shimmer.
Thank you! I saw that and was like “this has to be a metaphor for something”
You write to much for a comments
This whole movie was just a straight dmt trip
That's entirely possible
**Joe rogan enters the chat**
DMT trips make this movie look like a public library in comparison. forgetting you ever lived as a human while being out in the endless space of your brain and its creations is by far the most insane thing i think a human can witness besides death. i saw colors that do not exists in our visible spectrum and cant remember what they look like once i come out, the Geometry and symmetry of the visions are also beyond comprehension. you forget the moment you come back, you have it for a moment and it fades by the second since brain not on DMT cant comprehend what you saw. seeing with your mind instead of your eyeballs is the craziest thing ever. no matter how many times you do it you cant prepare yourself to forget. every dmt trip that takes me to eternity/the void i completely forget ever living while im there. im just content with being there for eternity. it feels like i have always been there and will be for ETERNITY and actually grasping how long that is. full comprehension of infinity and being content with it. no human in normal human brain state would be ok with that, i give the stongest of minds 500 years tops before they would want out. but DMT brain you IS there for eternity and is just cool with it. all that comes there with me is my energy, not my name not my body. whatever make me who i am is what goes to the void on a dmt trip. and that part of you can endure eternity and embrace it. you need really pure stuff and have to inject it to get that effect i think. blasting off when i smoked it was insane but i tested injecting it because a chemist made it who showed me his degree and his looked different than any other dmt i ever saw. not opaque dust, it was transparent to an extent with a crystal structure and it was white but under a microscope it was like milky white mini crystals (chem guy had a cool microscope with a screen) and could not be in sunlight and had to be kept in a freezer or it would rapidly decay in purity he said. my boy stuck it in my foot vein because it comes on so fast had i done it myself ide have been gone with that thing still in my foot and probably rolled around. im terrified of needles so it was an experiment. but it was unexplainable/cannot be remembered vividly at all/ and when i came back it was like seeing earth for the first time but as a grown man and not a baby. i WOULD NOT recommend it to anyone unless it was made by a chemist that legit spent years upon years doing nothing but studying chemistry at a university. i could make dmt but it would be yellow powder looking stuff, and it wouldnt take very long, for whatever reason DR, chemist took 5 weeks to make what went in my foot, and it came with a free mini ice cooler stored in some weird glass vial thing surrounded by ice. again would not recommend unless you want to forget you ever lived...meaning that five minutes or however long it was does feel like infinity. also you hear sounds so loud that they would deafen you but since its just your brain and not actual sound it just vibrates you down to your soul. idk imagine a nuclear bomb going off inside your brain. thats what happens when you do what i did. to say i was humbled or scared or happy are all understatements. you feel the most powerful emotion you can possibly tolerate and that emotion is also forgotten after you return.
my names mike and that's how DMT feels when you inject it in your foot and it was made by a chemist. the best way i think to help someone understand is to ask them describe how the color green or red look to a blind man. explain a color to a blind man. it cannot be done youll just keeping saying the colors name, or name objects that are that color. but you cant explain what it looks like. that's how DMT works, but you're the blind man and dmt can explain it perfectly.
@@sidology1.0 omg i waa gonna type that😂
@@therealboomhauer69 lmao bruh🤣😂🤣😂
I just watched it immediately came here
Absolutely loved this movie. Seen it several times. Wish there were more like it. Great vid 👍
There’s not a single person who watched this movie without watching an explanation video
Wallace I thought I understood but then watched this just to be clear and GOD was I wrong!😂
Not even wendslydale?
G -Man I’m afraid not
*THIS EVENT SHOULD BE HANDLED BY THE SCP FOUNDATION THEY HAVE EXPERIENCE WITH THESE TYPE OF EVENTS*
the scp foundation would do the same, sending in d class members with a go pro probably connected to their head or even a camera that is producing live footage. they wouldnt really approach very differently
Actually they would, in this instance, find a way to prevent its spreading.
@@silverbro13 Yes... after sending in D class to observe and learn about it... Have you ever read any of the SCP's when they encounter location-based anomalies? Standard procedure.
@@jeremiahgrimm928 i agree
I wonder If we could send Cain in there cuz life around him withers and dies when he's around
I'm so happy that you were able to make sense of the events of this film. It seems comprised of many very unique and interesting ideas but are executed in a way that's very difficult to decipher. Thank you so much for making sense of it all. 😊🏆
Dude, I really feel you didn't explained a thing, you just did a summary telling whats happening in the movie step by step, not adding anything from yourself untill the theory of Lena and Kane expanding shimmer by having a baby.
And how the hell water could mutate? It's not even organic. What happens in the glass is a normal effect of water viscosity (or however its called in english, the effect of water being pulled together by its particles)
I’m guessing the guy with the moving intestines had a tapeworm, or some kind of parasite, that led to his mutation.
I didn’t think of it like that but that would make complete sense
Could we even say for example if I swallowed a plant seed from a watermelon before I went in the shimmer. do y’all think it would also grow within me as well ?
@@vickg9218 You'd be like kool-aid man but watermelon-aid-man.
@Noise Pollution oh no
What's her face said her fingerprints and skin were moving. I think it was just his intestines moving around
"But what if there's a cell that doesn't have this fault?" Cancer. Literally cancer.
Cancer is the same thing as the shimmer, it literally expands infinitly even if the host is dead the cancer will spread. People don't think about that part, but yeah cancer still spreads unless you burn it like the process of cremation.
Yeah, that what bugged me too. Cell death does lead to aging, but it's necessary, otherwise every cell would be cancerous. So this, along with other themes made this film jumbled and self-contradictory
This is actually a theme in the book, where more people have returned from area X. These people die of multiple cancers, as all their cells start to behave like cancercells. It is explained that the mortality of cells is actually necessary. I don't think the movie explains this so well. It takes a lot of left turns from the books in many aspects, and not always for the best.
Renée Timmermans thanks for the explanation!
That's not how cancer works. Cancer is caused because the genetic limit in the cell that stops them from reproducing too much, has been damaged or altered. Causing the cell to divide uncontrollably. A cell that does not age but continues to divide at a controlled rate just like in normal life will not be the same as cancer.
An unaging cell is still just a cell.
A genetically damaged cell is a cancer cell.
That's the key difference.
My mom is currently watching this as I watch u explain it. Beauty at its finest.
How’d she like it?
@@massivecowbreakout7555 she thought it was good! But she hates horror so the bear did a number, hehe.
I'm usually really good with movies like this but this one was difficult for me to understand, which translated to me not really appreciating it. After watching this I feel so dumb, it all makes sense and it is a genuinely great Cosmic Horror story. Thank you for your Analysis/Ending Explanation!
The bear with shepherd’s voice was just horrific but badass at the same time
I'm starting to really like these semi-realistic sci-fi movies. I loved Arrival and Interstellar, and I really liked this movie
Yes, Arrival immediately came to mind. Upstream Color, Solaris and 2001 also come to mind. But the plot seemed loosely close to "The Invasion", where supernatural dna mixed with ours and evolved us into different beings.
Omg agreed
Scapeezian Twitch I thought they didn’t fire as to not potentially kill their buddy. But I also had your same thought.
I couldn't understand annihilation .. its ending is so confusing
captaintaco2345 arrival and interstellar were awesome
I didn't take away the same thing you did in the incindiary scene. The entity didn't try to duplicate the grenade, it simply dropped it. Fire has no DNA to duplicate, dude. It's really obvious that it just dropped the grenade.
Lena was very much suicidal when she entered the Shimmer, and when the alien became her fully, Lena's suicidal mind was refracted into it, just like Cass' did into the bear. The alien didn't touch Kane's body out of confusion, but affection. It recognizes him, now. Then it crawled back into where it came, presumably for comfort as the only place it truly knew in its short existence. We don't know if it intended to destroy The Shimmer or not, but it definitely chose to die.
The ending, I think I agree with you: that Lena IS still her, at least, she's still the original, not the doppelganger. However, she doesn't answer the Kane alien (Kalien?) when he asks if she's still her, as she is clearly not herself anymore, having been irreversibly changed not just by the mutations to her DNA, but by what she's experienced. As for the water glass, the shot was to show _refraction._ I don't see anything weird about the water, I went back and watched that bit several times, it's just normal water. That's just how water behaves in a glass. Again, just like the flash grenade, water has no DNA to mutate. I honestly don't understand how so many people don't know how water behaves. You people need to drink more water, apparently y'all have never seen water in a glass before.
Very good synopsis and explanation! Thank you for sharing!
I found this theory in Reddit hope you guys like it.
"Here's my (admittedly unfocused) pseudo-theory. I should also point out that I have not read the novels; but I think Alex Garland took his own path for the messages and ideas.
Kane told his doppelganger to find Lena. He went back to the house, but he didn't ask, "Are you Lena?" until the end of the film. Lena, up to that point, was a product of self-destruction. Only after her change inside the shimmer, only after facing her doppelganger and realizing she did not want to self-destruct anymore, was she now "Lena." Kane, unfortunately, did not have that strength. It was the better of each of the two that made it out.
The entity needs Lena to fully integrate into its new world. Much like Josie experienced, acceptance of what is happening can create beauty. Fighting against it creates something horrible. Lena needed a Kane that didn't have the destruction and deterioration that their marriage had. A fresh start, if you will. It became a symbiotic pairing.
Cass needed to be a part of something again after her daughter died. So she became a part of the creature. Anya needed to know the truth. She found it. Ventress needed to see what was at the center. She became one with it. Josie needed to feel life. She became a part of the same flora as an entire town. Lena needed to save Kane. So she became the Lena he went out in the world to find. It didn't destroy. It made something new. I think what the Shimmer did is it took out the part of our genetic makeup that was predisposed to self-destruct. Annihilation of the human condition."
Fairly great theory they posted. I like this idea a lot
Mmccc .
A.C. Slater so... if I wanted to escape the shimmer and have it destroyed... would I escape and destroy the shimmer?
I agree with you. In physics Annihilation doesn't mean to destroy necessarily. It is the act of making something new out of old materials, the old materials are destroyed in the process but it's more about creation rather than destruction.
What about Shepherd getting her throat ripped out?
That trumpet/synth music was creepy yet somewhat calming.
That was exactly my thought too
Yeah, I loved that wub-wub..
The music during the mirror scenes were extremely unnerving
The thing about the bear that is so freaky is that it's not mimicking Shepard, that *is* Shepard, or at least a part of her. The Shimmer fused her and the bear at the moment she was mauled, so there is still some fragment of her mind trapped inside it constantly screaming for help.
the ouroboros is often called “the self-eating snake,” used as learned term or metaphor for infinity, cyclicality, or some other kinds of loop phenomena, often self-destructive in nature. The ouroboros is also a popular tattoo and internet icon as personal symbol for rebirth.
Southern Reach Team: *hits blunt* What if we just like... sent girls instead of guys... that could work... right?
well it kinda worked
I could be misremembering but I thought they said female cell structure could be more resistant to the Shimmer?
(major secret/spoiler) In the book they sent hundreds of expeditions, and changed the variables each time to see what changed. Its how they know not to take technology into the shimmer, evolution isn’t done through passing genes to offspring, but by merging side by side with whatever’s in area X
@@noname-cq9iy there’s a book?!
@@SkyButt3r Yup, Annihilation, Authority and Acceptance.
10:18 I always thought these were plants that had grown as humans
I think both are valid. As Josie clearly is turning full on plant. And it was stated that the 'town' they were in was being evacuated; I think both statements are true
i thought they took dna from dead things (humans) and the plants used it to form the structure but josie ended up getting the plants
When I heard about the ocean, I thought in my head “Sharks with legs”
Guys, the books are crazy. Annihilation is the first book out of 3. The second is Lena (the biologist) being found and the inner workings of the Southern Reach. I can’t reveal what the third is about without spoiling anything, but it’s worth the read.
"What if we nuke the town?"
-Thermite R6
I play R6
You have to nuke the site from orbit, its the only way to be sure...
@@Thunderkat65 Dangit, Ripley was right the whole time.
Yeah lets spread it faster. Lets by giving it more radiation and energy xD
me: *points* yes inquisitor, that area right there.
Inquisitor: *pushes exterminatus button*.
Inquisitor: EXTERMINATUS!
this was going through my mind the entire movie.....
I don't think the water that she drunk from in the interrogation mutated, it was a close up to show you she wasn't in the same state as her husband. When he drank from a glass of water you saw his blood in the water.
I had the same feeling. I want more in-depth analysis as to why it's thought otherwise. It seemed obvious that it was a recreation of her husband drinking water
I think the focus was on the reversed image seen through the water, further reiterating the prism theme. This indicates either she has changed, or she is a copy of the original. Much like the reversed image of her husband's doppleganger through the glass of water, when he was sitting at the table.
Anthony Hayes yes. I think it also had another purpose for the character. It was her way of making sure she was still human. When Kane drank water, there were blood drops in it. So maybe the close up was to show that there is no blood in her water therefore she's ok AND uses the refraction of her hand to indicate that she's changed nonetheless.
As I said in the previous thread above, I believe the water at the end was to remind us of an earlier scene when she gives her (shimmer) husband a glass of water and they zoom in on the glass, showing their hands refracted and undefined, similar to how the shimmer refracts cells.
Jad Dawkins wassup
Edit: I subscribed
This is the closest we've gotten to getting a SCP Foundation Exploration Log movie..
When I saw this movie with my little brother we both had really opposite directions. My brother absolutely hated it and thought it was a 2-hour waste of time. I thought it was absolutely brilliant. While I think I really loved the 'Try to figure out what this means' attitude of the movie, my brother expected a more traditional sci-fi movie probably. Thanks for the amazing video.
That bear was super spooky
Craw 3 Teddy bear you wanna try again?
Bro scariest part of the movie
looked like a cow
I was watching with my parents and didn’t know it had horror elements and that scene scared me to bad
🐻
The soundtrack to the last major scene was fucking FANTASTIC
The solider in the pool that mutated also had the same tattoo on the left arm
Lena is the narrator, she could've lied about being the original one who came out of the lighthouse. That's why her eyes show the shimmer much like Kane's at the end.
That Bear scene in the house was amazing. Never seen anything like it
You might like the movie called The Thing
UK man loves goddesses hell nah that movie hella scary
lol i agree!
Anymore monster movie to recommend?
The Ring left me psychologically scarred so i don't watch them any more
I think the whole point of that shot with Lena drinking water at the end is actually brilliant. I dont think it has anything to do with blood or showing it was the real lena, but if you look at the shot cinematically, The water on the glass after she takes a drink visually resembles the image of cells dividing or replicating (as you notice the imagry of a cell splitting is heavily used in the movie) and its used to foreshadow that Kane is actually not himself but the "replicated" version of himself. Its honestly such fucking cool shot and it was like a cherry on top of the whole movie. Go back and watch that scene and look at how the water sticks to the glass after she drinks it
i thought the same thing !
Love this
i peeped that too
thank goodness for this channel
i tried watching this movie whilst absolutely knackered and i kept drifting off, have never been more confused in my life ,, thank u sm for explaining it