★★★½
There’s a moment towards the end of Annihilation when biologist Lena (Natalie Portman) enters unknown territory to face whatever lies ahead. Everything up to that point has defied everything she had known to be true. Reality has been altered in ways that should be impossible, but nevertheless her senses don’t lie to her. Slowly but surely, we understand just as she does what is happening around her. It’s frightening, yet that urge to know the truth is too strong to overcome. She takes those steps into the unknown because the stakes are too high. To turn away would leave questions unanswered in the short term, and certain extinction in the long term. Great science fiction movies reveal themselves subtly in this way. They build up the story, introduce the possibilities of where it can go, then leave us to discover how it all comes together. If the movie does not betray its internal logic, then that journey is fulfilled.
Lena’s husband Kane disappeared on a military mission and she hasn’t seen him for months. She gets no answers from the government and assumes he is dead. One night he reappears but has no memory of how he got there or where he’s been. Federal agents take both of them into custody, where Dr. Ventress (Jennifer Jason Leigh) explains that he was part of an expedition sent into a void known as the Shimmer. Everything that goes into the Shimmer never comes back out, until Kane returned, the only survivor of his team. Dr. Ventress organizes a new expedition to find out what happened. Lena volunteers to go along.
The inside looks normal at first, until inexplicable moments reveal themselves. The team members can’t communicate with the outside world. Their compass doesn’t work. Plants and animals take on unusual qualities. A giant alligator attacks them. They conclude that everything inside the Shimmer has mutated in some fashion, and with the Shimmer expanding slowly each day, the mutations will not stay confined to this area.
The mutations have a particular effect on living matter. The explanation for this effect, and who or what started it, drives the rest of the film. Lena and Dr. Ventress, along with Anya (Gina Rodriguez), Josie (Tessa Thompson) and Cass (Tuva Novotny), venture deeper into the Shimmer, where they will discover just how problematic their situation is. They find clues left behind by the previous expedition. Lena not only searches for the truth about the Shimmer, but about Kane as well. As the story progresses, the cause of his amnesia is still unknown and its reveal will become apparent once we understand the full extent of the Shimmer. The movie effectively builds up to its climax, so that when Lena takes those steps into the unknown, we know the truth will be something that’s going to pack a punch.
Director Alex Garland is well equipped to tackle Annihilation, based on the first book of a trilogy written by Jeff VanderMeer. Garland wrote the scripts for 28 Days Later, Sunshine and Never Let Me Go. All three films begin with a complex concept and manage to take them to the next level, to push them into directions both logical and overwhelming. He accomplishes the same with Annihilation, establishing early on that the Shimmer could expand to the point of taking over the entire planet, yet if that isn’t enough, he goes further by giving us a glimpse of how it might appear. It’s an idea that’s completely original, and undesirable.
© 2018 Silver Screen Reviews
Lena’s husband Kane disappeared on a military mission and she hasn’t seen him for months. She gets no answers from the government and assumes he is dead. One night he reappears but has no memory of how he got there or where he’s been. Federal agents take both of them into custody, where Dr. Ventress (Jennifer Jason Leigh) explains that he was part of an expedition sent into a void known as the Shimmer. Everything that goes into the Shimmer never comes back out, until Kane returned, the only survivor of his team. Dr. Ventress organizes a new expedition to find out what happened. Lena volunteers to go along.
The inside looks normal at first, until inexplicable moments reveal themselves. The team members can’t communicate with the outside world. Their compass doesn’t work. Plants and animals take on unusual qualities. A giant alligator attacks them. They conclude that everything inside the Shimmer has mutated in some fashion, and with the Shimmer expanding slowly each day, the mutations will not stay confined to this area.
The mutations have a particular effect on living matter. The explanation for this effect, and who or what started it, drives the rest of the film. Lena and Dr. Ventress, along with Anya (Gina Rodriguez), Josie (Tessa Thompson) and Cass (Tuva Novotny), venture deeper into the Shimmer, where they will discover just how problematic their situation is. They find clues left behind by the previous expedition. Lena not only searches for the truth about the Shimmer, but about Kane as well. As the story progresses, the cause of his amnesia is still unknown and its reveal will become apparent once we understand the full extent of the Shimmer. The movie effectively builds up to its climax, so that when Lena takes those steps into the unknown, we know the truth will be something that’s going to pack a punch.
Director Alex Garland is well equipped to tackle Annihilation, based on the first book of a trilogy written by Jeff VanderMeer. Garland wrote the scripts for 28 Days Later, Sunshine and Never Let Me Go. All three films begin with a complex concept and manage to take them to the next level, to push them into directions both logical and overwhelming. He accomplishes the same with Annihilation, establishing early on that the Shimmer could expand to the point of taking over the entire planet, yet if that isn’t enough, he goes further by giving us a glimpse of how it might appear. It’s an idea that’s completely original, and undesirable.
© 2018 Silver Screen Reviews
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