Annihilation has traveled a strange road to release. This adaptation of Jeff VanderMeer’s novel was picked up by the very worthy hands of Alex Garland, writer of 28 Days Later, Never Let Me Go and Sunshine. He also directed the second best movie of 2015 with Ex Machina. I’m not sure how Garland was able to get financing for this nearly unfilmable story, but early this year Paramount Pictures started getting cold feet about it bombing at the box office. They did this out of fear that nothing outside of a comic book movie could make its money back. In the end, they’ve decided to (thankfully) give it a wide release here in the States, but sell it to Netflix streaming for its international release.
Studios getting gun-shy about original science fiction makes me sad for the future of the genre. Many of these films need to be seen on the big screen and not at home, while you’re on your phone.
Annihilation stars Natalie Portman as Lena, a biologist whose husband (Oscar Isaac) has undergone something incredibly strange. A series of quick events leads her to a secret facility that is attempting to find the reason behind a growing atmosphere that seems to be alien in nature. She soon joins a team led by experts in their fields (played by Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gina Rodriguez, Tessa Thompson, and Tuva Novotny) who all journey past the wall to discover what’s wrong with the environment before the world reaches a slow moving end.
Right out of the gate, audiences should know that Annihilation veers into methodical science fiction territory. In regards to the type of patience many viewers will need, consider you’re seeing a mix of Arrival and 2001: A Space Odyssey. This film is nearly two hours, but is constantly fascinating. Much of that fascination is built on some shocking events, like mutated beasts, for example. There’s a horrific scene of a mutated bear that I won’t soon shake from my memory.
If anything, I wish they went a little deeper. The movie already has the strong potential from turning off half of its audience. Why not explore more of the characters and make it a half hour longer? Outside of Portman’s role, the only great development is that of Gina Rodriguez’s tough-as-nails Anya. I truly wanted to see more of Thompson, Novotny and Leigh and how this strange new world personally and slowly affected them.
There’s so much within this sci-fi thriller that it’s hard to pack into a two hour movie. I can only imagine how bizarre the novel gets and what was cut to make it palatable for general audiences. If anyone has the potential to create an original cinematic representation of that, it’s Alex Garland. I can’t wait to see what he creates in the future.
Annihilation is definitely not for everyone. It’s not a standard Friday night flick that allows you to turn your brain off. Instead, it forces you to turn your brain up, and even then, has you walking out feeling a bit ambiguous about what actually happened. Serious science fiction junkie who don’t mind a side of thrills, you’ll eat this up. B
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