Annihilation Review

Much like the subject matter of the film, director Alex Garland's film Annihilation has come to us in various different forms around the world. In the US it was deemed that the average American could handle its topics from the comfort of a plush cinema seat, whereas us plebs in other countries were deemed too dense to delve into its depravities outside the comfort of our beds and sofas, binging the film on Netflix.

By way of an introductory rant, whilst I applaud Netflix for picking up this gem of a film, it is a worrying trend that big studios were not willing to front up and back a brave, unique, twisted, and weird sci-fi film, and stick it on the big screen. Although the film is great irregardless of its confines on your laptop, tv, tablet, phone (select applicable Netflix providing gadget) I can't help but feel the impact of the film would have only been heightened seeing it on a big screen.

But anyway, I digress...Annihilation is Alex Garland's second feature film, having previously made the Oscar winning (and Oscar Isaac staring) Ex Machina, as well as a long line of writing credits including Danny Boyle's Sunshine and 28 Days Later, Pete Travis' Dredd (although Dredd himself, Karl Urban would suggest Garland actually directed it), and many more.

Annihilation is a fairly loose adaptation in terms of structure but close in tone to Jeff VanderMeer's book of the same name, and first in his Southern Reach trilogy (well worth reading if you like weird fiction). Natalie Portman stars as Lena, a biologist and former soldier, whose partner, Kane (a potential reference to John Hurt's Kane in Alien?), played by Oscar Isaac, another soldier has been missing for over a year after leaving for work on a shady op. Thinking he is KIA, Lena is shocked to see her husband show back up at her door, a ghost of his former self, with little memory of what has happened to him in the intervening year.

Suddenly, a secretive organisation swoops in and reveals the truth: Kane led a team of soldiers into an alien area in a vast jungle landscape known as the Shimmer due to its shimmering bubble like outer wall. The Shimmer suddenly appeared some time ago and various teams have gone in to investigate, but none have come out. Desperate to find out what happened to her husband, Lena volunteers to lead another team, an all female team (which is incidental in the film but has an interesting quirk behind that composition in the book) into the Shimmer to find out more. And as is tradition, bad things happen.

First off, and linked to my opening rant, Annihilation looks fantastic. The designs of the weirdness lurking inside the Shimmer come across as a less mechanical, more biological H.R Giger designs at times, and at other times like trippy yet haunting nature mashups. To say that the wildlife inside the Shimmer has "adapted" to its surroundings would be playing coy but for fear of spoiling too much, let's just say things inside have changed.



Where CGI is used it is, for the most part used well, one particular set piece midway through is a real standout of uncanniness and horror, seamlessly blending what appears to be a mix of CGI and potentially animatronics. In the cinema, I can imagine that particular scene being potentially too tense and unsettling but my advice is to grin and bear it for the climax is mind alteringly bizarre and brave (although the CGI in that section is a bit rough around the edges).

In terms of the score, on first listen, to me the music was a little bit too acoustic to truly gel with the onscreen concotions. However, like everything in Annihilation it begins to evolve and twist and turn before morphing into a crunchy throbbing electronic hum as the film reaches its uncanny climax. 

Whilst I enjoyed Alien Covenant, flawed as it may be, I couldn't help but thinking throughout watching Annihilation, that this is what Alien Covenant should have been: patient, methodical, philosophical, laced with a true sense of when to play subtle and unnerving, and when to break into body horror bleakness. The aforementioned scene of horror is a true masterclass in making something that would seem absurd when said aloud into something truly skin crawling. Annihilation therefore finds the balance between the fear found in concepts and ideas, like the unsettling revelation the team discovers almost immediately upon setting foot through the Shimmer (those who've seen the film may quibble at the use of the word "immediately" here), and the heart in mouth visceral set piece frights.

Unlike Alien Covenant, and instead more like the original Alien, the film makes the right choice to keep the primary character count low and well defined, lest you forget who just hit the deck (although, ironically, due to one scene being particularly dark I did have trouble identifying one character when a crucial event happened). As to be expected, Natalie Portman is strong in her role, playing an at times hard and vulnerable character, who, like her squad mates, undergoes a transformative arc throughout the film. Also unlike Alien Covenant, bar one scene, I can't think of any silly "let's split up/walk alone into the woods of dangerous killers" moments which helps keep you locked into the drama rather than second guessing it.

Again, without spoiling the film, apart from all the composite parts mentioned above, the strong through line of plot relating to what it means to interact with others and our environment and the fact that we are products of all our experiences, emerging from transformative events often changed irreparably for better or worse, is what will really stick with you, germinating inside you, working your brain over, and will remain shimmering in your eyes long after the film ends.