Annihilation
Starring: Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gina Rodriguez, Oscar Isaac, Tessa Thompson
Directed by: Alex Garland
Rated: R
What if you put Arrival, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and Alien in a movie blender, threw in some LSD, and left gaping holes in the plot? We don't have to wonder any more because that has happened and it's called Annihilation!
Annihilation follows Lena (Natalie Portman), a biologist who specializes in studying cell development. When her soldier husband (Oscar Isaac) returns home from a mysterious mission, he is noticeably different. He quickly becomes ill. Lena finds herself in a government center where she finds out her husband was on a mission in a mysterious environmental anomaly called "The Shimmer" that is slowly spreading through the country. Lena and a team get together and agree to venture into the dangerous area to find out what's causing this strange occurrence and put an end to it before it becomes any worse.
I'm a big fan of director Alex Garland's last film, Ex Machina, so I went into Annihilation with high expectations. I expected a great, thought-provoking sci-fi movie. Unfortunately, I left the theater disappointed (and a little scared to go to sleep.) In Annihilation, Garland presents the audience with a sci-fi horror film with several ideas that never come together cohesively.
To start with, the film never finds a clear theme. Is it all symbolism for humanity's tendency to self-destruct? Is it societal commentary on the dangers of cross breeding? Who knows? There are so many themes presented throughout the film, but I walked away unsure of what it was trying to say.
The ending doesn't help matters either. I don't mind an ambiguous ending. But you have to earn your ending. We're never given enough information throughout Annihilation for the ending we get. (What is the purpose of the Annihilation? The science behind it?) Occasionally the movie tries to throw a few science terms at us, but the explanations don't feel very strong.
Speaking of bad science, I cannot forgive that 5 scientists walk into a highly dangerous and toxic zone without masks or gloves on. WHY?! YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE SCIENTISTS. One day before their mission, they see a man convulsing and throwing up blood because he was exposed to the elements in "The Shimmer". You're telling me that they're just gonna walk into that same area completely exposed? No. Shame on everyone involved in writing that scene.
They may not practice the correct scientific protocol, but we can talk about the actors who portray the team. Natalie Portman is the lead in the film. As usual, she does a good job here. She ventures into "The Shimmer" to help her husband, but there's more to her backstory. There are frequent flashbacks that tell us about a specific event that went on in her past and it felt so unnecessary. Her character has so much going on already. She's exploring a toxic area, trying to help her husband, and she's a biology professor at a college...we didn't need the flashbacks too.
Jennifer Jason Leigh plays Dr. Ventress, a psychologist and the leader of the expedition. I know Jennifer Jason Leigh can act well because I've seen it, but this was such a strange performance. The whole time it felt like her character was strung out on Valium. She talks without inflection for the entirety of the movie. I truly think she was told to act that way by the director which, if true, was a very bad decision.
The rest of the crew is played by Gina Rodriguez, Tessa Thompson, and Tuva Novotny. Each actress gives a good performance and I appreciated that they all had individual characterization that set them apart from one another. Every member of the crew had a different reason for being in The Shimmer, a different career path, and a different background in life. It made their story more interesting.
I have to admit "The Shimmer" is a very unique juxtaposition. The whole atmosphere of the area is one of the most interesting parts of the movie. It's both a beautiful and terrifying place. It's filmed very well. There are moments where it looks like a floral paradise with beautiful plant life and serene deer roaming its woods. However, things turn quickly as it becomes a dark place full of vicious creatures. The further the team goes into The Shimmer, the more things descend into chaos. A lot of the imagery near the end of this film truly disturbed me. I found the lighthouse sequence to be especially haunting.
Although it may look cool, the more I think about Annihilation, the less sense it makes. There were several topics brought up that would have lead to helpful conclusions, only to find they were never discussed again. It's endlessly frustrating and leads to a (big surprise) ambiguous conclusion. I'm all for a good challenging sci-fi film, but could you at least settle on a theme for the movie before you decide to make the audience decide what the ending means?
My Rating: 5/10