Spoiler warning: Nothing too big, but there are some minor spoilers ahead.
When the reviews for Annihilation started coming out, I knew I was screwed. I had basically backed myself into a corner by writing about the movie from its inception, so I couldn’t exactly wimp out and not go see it. The fact that is has a nearly all-female cast was pushed very hard and is a definite plus right now, when projects with women at the forefront are being championed. The accolades calling it a modern sci-fi masterpiece were encouraging, but the warnings that it was terrifying made my stomach sink. I don’t normally see movies like that. At all. I decided I owed it to the ladies to be brave and see this thing through. It couldn’t really be as scary as the trailer made it look, right?Very, very wrong. The alligator with shark teeth shown in the early promo photos and trailers ends up being small potatoes.
This scary monster shot is part of a scene that will haunt me forever, and that wasn’t even the worst of it for some people in my audience. After one particularly disturbing shot about a dozen people literally got up and left because they couldn’t take it. The entire film left me feeling unsettled, and every night since I’ve seen it I’ve had not quite nightmares, but strange and vivid dreams. When I got home after seeing it I stepped down onto a crunchy leaf that I had dragged into the house and let out a scream. I’m a huge wuss though, so keep that in mind.
Lena (Natalie Portman), a biology professor and former soldier, is still mourning the loss of her husband Kane (Oscar Isaac), who left for a top secret military mission a year ago and never came back. But wait! He magically reappears! Hooray! For about 10 seconds, until it becomes clear that he is very much not okay. They are taken to a government facility where phycologist Dr. Ventress (Jennifer Jason Leigh) explains to Lena that her husband, now in a coma, volunteered to go into The Shimmer, a paranormal environmental event that nobody understands. Not one person who has gone in has come back out, with the exception of Kane. Since The Shimmer is expanding and sending in military teams has been unsuccessful, this time a team of scientists is going in. Lena volunteers to be a part of the team with the hope that she can save her husband. She joins Dr. Ventress, physicist Josie (Tessa Thompson), geologist Cass (Tuva Novotny), and paramedic Anya (Gina Rodriguez, who was a real standout).
We are told early on in Annihilation the fate of each member of the team, but that doesn’t lessen the sense of mystery and tension in the slightest. Relatively sound scientific explanations are given for what transpires in The Shimmer, but everything isn’t wrapped up in a neat little bow. When the movie ends with many questions left unanswered— questions like “What does that mean?” and “Why does Oscar Isaac have a Southern accent for literally one scene and then never again?”— everyone will interpret what they’ve seen in their own way. I’ve been running this movie over in my mind since I’ve seen it, and I’m still not entirely sure what to make of it.
It’s a little bit about the environment, a little bit about cancer, and a whole lot about self destruction. It’s also about the characters as much as the plot. One of the more unique aspects of this story that I appreciated is that The Shimmer is a natural phenomenon, not an alien invasion. There’s no spaceship, but a meteor instead. Therefore, despite being asked what it “wants,” Lena has to tell them that The Shimmer doesn’t really want anything. It just exists. As Natalie Portman explained in an interview, a tornado has no ill intent when it rips through a town.
It’s truly a shame that the US, Canada, and China and the only countries where this movie is getting a theatrical release. If you can handle it, this is definitely a movie worth seeing on a big screen. The visuals are stunning. Life inside The Shimmer is like a strange mix of Tim Burton, Dr. Seuss, and something else entirely. Fearing that this isn’t a movie for the masses (which is probably true, and that’s a shame for moviemaking) the studio sold off most of the international rights to Netflix, and I have to imagine it’s not going to have quite the same impact in that format.
I always appreciate when a film tries to do something interesting and out of the ordinary, and Annihilation is fascinating. It was worth being scared to be able to see it. If you’re particularly squeamish or easily frustrated with ambiguous endings, this won’t be your cup of tea. But if you’re a big sci-fi fan, this is an absolute must-see. Director Alex Garland has done amazing things with this genre first with Ex Machina and now with this, and is becoming a director whose new movies I’ll rush to see.
