ANNIHILATION REVIEW
by David Curry
Feb 17, 2018
There are plenty of routes to go down in the sci-fi genre, but more often than not, filmmakers will start with an alien species landing on Earth and then immediately dive into a fierce conflict between humans and aliens, which usually ends with the humans winning.
So, for someone that doesn’t enjoy all those shooty-shooty alien flicks, Annihilation seemed right up my alley. Directed by Alex Garland, who also directed
Ex Machina, it stars Natalie Portman as Lena, a biologist who is struggling to cope with the loss of her husband, Kane.
Kane, played by Oscar Isaac returns from a mission after a year but is elusive to the details. Soon after, Lena is transported to a military base, where a shimmering wall is devouring the country and seemingly killing anyone that enters.
Lena joins a team of four female scientists who believe that science may defeat this thing, where soldiers have failed before. As Lena ventures further into the shimmer, she and the team start to learn more about this alien and the effects it may have on the planet.
The movie plays a bit like Ex Machina, dancing around the unknown and allowing time for the story to breathe and the characters to develop. By the time the story feels confident enough to divulge some of the details, the characters are fleshed out, we’ve seen their fears, weaknesses and their reasons for coming on the mission.
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Alongside Ex Machina, Annihilation also reminds me of Arrival, the 2016 sci-fi film, where humans attempt to make contact with an alien race through language. It makes the alien feel truly alien and makes you question its motives; if it has any.
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The last 30 minutes are truly spectacular, all of the tension inside the shimmer and the mystery of the previous teams that have entered, bundle into a smart conclusion that neatly ties into the overarching storyline, about cancer and mutation.
For all of its mystery and apparent critical acclaim on Rotten Tomatoes, Skydance Media and Paramount Pictures appear to have ditched this film from day one. It decided to put it straight to Netflix, our generation’s equivalent of direct-to-DVD, in all markets apart from North America.
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Regardless, Annihilation is a fantastic film and well worth checking out, if you are into sci-fi, especially 70s and 80s sci-fi films which tended to have more heart and less action.
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You can see it for less than the average movie ticket on Netflix, available now.