ANNIHILATION is a
beautiful film. Early on, I was reminded of an obscure 2011 film called MELANCHOLIA. Not for the pacing, as ANNIHILATION moves along at a fairly
decent clip and the aforementioned Lars von Tier indie sometimes makes SOLARIS
(1971) seem fast-paced. Rather, the two share a similar sense of introspection
and building wonder at a universe, or one small aspect of it, we have yet to
see.
Throughout ANNIHILATION,
there is a growing sense that we’re going to step into something wondrously
unique and frightening, dreamlike in its promised alien landscape. The film
delivers this, at times brilliantly, though in contained bursts. The filmmakers
hold a tight leash on the otherworldliness being delivered; enough to prolong
the wonder of the story, but not so much as to make the experience so cryptic we
are never grounded enough in the familiar to enjoy ourselves. Personally, I
think writer/director Alex Garland (EX
MACHINA, 2014) could have swung a bit more often towards the odd, but even
so some visuals in the film will stay with me for a long time. Their delivery
was sheer perfection.
So, there’s my poetic opening. I’ll put the quill down for a
moment and explain, briefly, what the movie is about.
Lena (Natalie Portman, BLACK
SWAN, 2010, THOR, 2011) is a
biologist and professor mourning the loss of her husband Kane, a serviceman who
disappeared on a mission a year earlier. That is, until Kane (Oscar Isaac, EX MACHINA, 2014, and the newest STAR WARS trilogy, 2015 - 2019) shows
up at home, confused and very ill. The army rushes the couple to a secret
location called Area X, where for four years they have been monitoring and
exploring an ever-growing region of swampland and coastline quarantined from
the public. The region is surrounded by a colorful, shimmering haze (which
gives the region its nickname: the Shimmer). Inside the Shimmer is … something
really weird. What, exactly, no one is sure except that a lighthouse is at its
apex (which we, as the audience, earlier watched something from space crash
into). Strange phenomena, twists in the laws of physics, are afoot in the
Shimmer. Thus far every man and woman, military and scientific, venturing
inside has not returned. Until now. After stepping through the Shimmer’s
boundary a year earlier, Lena’s husband Kane is back, and uncertain what
happened to him while he was there.
Wanting to help him, and being a trained biologist herself,
Lena joins the newest expedition of four other women, all scientists (though
some with a military background like herself). In the opening scenes we learn Lena eventually
makes it out alive, since throughout the movie she is being interrogated by someone
in a hazmat suit (Benedict Wong, DOCTOR
STRANGE, 2016) trying to determine what happened. The movie is Lena
relaying the story of what happened, at least as much as she can remember.
Portman does well in her role, even if Lena is a similar
type of character as her other films - quiet, doe-eyed, introspective. It works
here (as it has in most others not counting the poorly- written character of
Padme of the STAR WARS prequels).
Here, Portman shows us a tough-guy side, since Lena previously served in the
Army for 7 years she knows how to handle a gun.
The rest of cast is stellar and, in some cases, play roles
quite different from what they have historically done. Jennifer Jason Leigh (THE HATEFUL EIGHT, 2015, DOLORES CLAIBORNE, 1995) is Dr
Ventress, the sad (for good reason, we learn later) work-obsessed leader of the
expedition, moving forward into the Shimmer regardless of what they encounter
along the way. She has nothing to lose. Gina Rodriquez of JANE THE VIRGIN TV fame is Anya, all muscle and excess energy and seemingly
always on the edge of a fight. Rodriquez channels Jenette Goldstein’s Private
Vasquez (ALIENS, 1986) throughout, a
major break from the sweetness and light of the television character which
made her famous. She’s excellent, even later when her character truly does
snap.
Another break in character stereotype is Tessa Thompson (CREED, 2015) as quiet brainiac Josie Radek.
I’d first seen (or at least noticed) the actor as Valkyrie in THOR: RAGNAROK (2017): a hard drinking,
butt-kicking warrior from the god of thunder’s home world. Here, she’s a shy
but brilliant astrophysicist whose fear of the unknown is far outweighed by her
scientific curiosity.
More of a newcomer to me, Tuva Novotny (EAT PRAY LOVE, 2010) as Cass Sheppard truly shines in one of the
more understated but powerful roles in the movie. In many ways, Sheppard is the
true leader of the group, emotionally. There is a critical bit of dialogue where
she reveals to Lena the back story of each character (“we’re all broken in some
way,” she says – I’m paraphrasing). Every character steps into the Shimmer with
nothing much to lose, already messed up in their own personal way. How many of
us gravitate towards self-destruction is a subtle but critical thread woven carefully
throughout this story.
When these people finally step into the Shimmer, what do
they see? The deeper the crew travel towards its heart, the more everything
(animals, plants) has transformed – or are in the process of doing so – into
something else. Colorful new plant-life, especially, which as their travels
continue, one wonders what they are, or used to be. The crew discover that the
transformation around them is a merging of the DNA of all living things with whatever
is “infecting” them. Everything around them is now sharing DNA with everything
else. Plants are growing into human shapes. One wonders if these are a new kind
of plant, or something that once was human itself.
Much of the details should be left for the viewer to
experience themselves, and I highly recommend ANNIHILATION to anyone with a taste for smart, beautiful sci-fi
films which don’t spell everything out for their audiences (but also don’t make
everything so cryptic one can’t follow along). There are a few stand-outs,
visually and emotionally, worth mentioning.
Halfway through their journey they discover a video tape, shot
by the previous expedition of an ad-hoc surgery on one of their own, while he
is awake. They carve open his stomach to reveal a living, writhing – snake,
serpent? – inside him. This is disturbing enough, then a little later they discover
the man’s remains in the bottom of an empty swimming pool, having transformed
into something else, half plant, half alien growing out of his severed human
torso. Some parts still look human, though spread dozens of feet along surreal
vines growing from the body. The scene is very H.R. Giger-like in its
horrifying beauty.
Much later, one of their numbers is snatched away by what
they think is a bear (it’s dark at the time). We do not see much of it (in
fact, my daughter Audrey thought it was a rather poor effect, and I agreed…
little did we know, however, what was coming). Later, the beast returns, a
combination of bear and badger, with a unique hunting trick I will leave for you
to discover. This scene, which puts everyone
in peril, is one of the most intense, frightening movie moments I’ve watched in
a long time.
Looking back, I’m not certain how much of this scene is CGI versus
done with models or puppets. It’s a very cool aspect of ANNIHILATION. Although obviously CGI effects are necessary for some
of the amorphous scenery (a constant glowing mist with rainbow-like colors
dancing around them), much of the close-up effects – I think – are physical,
not computer generated. When there is an obvious CGI rendering, such as two
deer-like creatures with flowering branches as antlers, the visual seems less
“there” than others, and can be jarring (in a bad way). If I watch ANNIHILATION again (a distinct
possibility), I’ll watch this monster bear/badger scene with a keener eye since
I won’t be as frightened, to ascertain how they did this so well.
There is a scene at the end I will avoid describing, which
could have been done using CGI but instead was put together with well-crafted
sets and costumes. Much credit goes to a few EX MACHINA alums whom the director brought with him to the project:
cinematographer Rob Hardy (MISSION
IMPOSSIBLE – FALLOUT), production designer Mark Digby and art directors
Lauren Doss and Gareth Cousins.
One quirky observation which feels deliberately done by
director Garland – and which no character comments on - is that Anya
(Rodriquez) and Lena (Portman) share the same tattoo. Literally. Sometimes this
ink of a snake eating its tail is quite prominent on Lena’s left arm, at other
times her arm is tattoo-free. When she does not have it, Anya does. Neither woman notices or cares, and the filmmakers do not explain, leaving one
to wonder if this is another anomaly of the alien landscape around them.
The soundtrack by Geoff Barrow and Ben Salisbury is as beautiful as the cinematography, with mostly bluesy guitar riffs (with an occasional Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young song) that enhance the scenes so powerfully the impact of this film would be far less without it. It builds
subtly, enhancing the quiet, introspective mood rather than try to simulate
emotion with sudden jolts. There are other moments where it is almost non-existent - meaning early on, as
Lena learns what is happening, and sometimes during their exploration inside the
Shimmer, I was certain something was playing, a prolonged
tone or chord. Physically I heard nothing, at least not consciously. Listening to the soundtrack later, the various tracks being so quietly they're nearly silent. As events unfold, the music takes
more of a front seat, more a part of what is happening without being overbearing.
It sets the mood as a constant emotional metronome.All of this is exactly what a soundtrack should do
No spoilers, promise, but I will say I was satisfied with
the ending, though it left questions drifting in the air for the viewer. This ending wasn’t as impactful as the rest of the film, but there is
an ending and it’s pretty clear. The what and why of what happens is
open to interpretation. I could posture intellectually and write my theories,
but I promised a spoiler-free ending to this review. It satisfies on a purely visual level, and continues to feed the viewer long
after with the questions it plants in your brain, like an alien virus playing
around with your DNA.
Science fiction can be a thinking person’s genre if you let it. There are no laser beams or explosions in space here. ANNIHILATION is sci-fi as it should be, and all too rarely
converted for us onto the big screen. Perhaps the success of this and others
like ARRIVAL (2016) will give the
suits in back offices more courage to trust that viewers have enough smarts.
There are three books in Jeff VanderMeer’s series, the first
of which was the basis for this film. I’m looking forward to reading them myself
soon. Series or not, ANNIHILATION is
a complete package, but I would love to return to the world it creates again.
I happily give it four
and a half scary bear-badgers out of five.