I caught all the things you mentioned, and I understand why all that works but I still think it could have been written differently and drawn down to a tighter focus and still have worked without those characters.
The last film that was that big of an event for me (film-wise) was The Signal (2007) which I didn't see until 2011, but I bet I watched that movie 6 or 7 days in a row after I bought it on Blu-Ray.
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