ANNIHILATION: REVIEW

I don’t think I understand this film yet. I saw it 2 hours ago and I’m either confused, still processing or my mind has been destroyed and can no longer compute. But here we go.

Annihilation is a 2018 film directed by Alex Garland and based on the first book in the Southern Reach Trilogy written by Jeff VanderMeer. It’s a science fiction movie that uses the basic premise of something strange has come to our planet and let’s send a team of characters to discover what this might be. That is as far it stays to normal ideas and ideas we can relate to because while that is the basic sense of it, it branches off in different ways and the narrative story seeming makes its own path within this genre. The cast is well likeable and that is what keeps you interested in this movie while the plot twists and turns. From Jennifer Jason Leigh to Tessa Thompson, there are interesting characters that you want to know more about but this film isn’t really about that. What we get is a focus on Natalie Portman‘s character Lena and we see and learn about this new discovery through her lens. It’s an interesting science fiction movie for how it uses the tropes and stomps new ground for it to walk upon. There are some interesting themes touched upon that truly ground the narrative in a heartfelt world (I think explaining more may or may not spoil the movie so head to the bottom) and allows for a truly immersive trip into this beautiful world.

Images via Paramount Pictures

The music in this film is one of those really cool experiences that just keep working on so many different levels. Created by Geoff Barrow and Ben Salisbury, it takes on this atmospheric feeling of unease. As seen in the trailers, there are these strange visuals that are unexplainable and they use various sound techniques to truly fill out the world. One of the interesting things they use in many sections of the score is distortion. What a casual viewer may think as the speakers making weird noises because they are broken but in the music, it is artfully woven in to give the idea that the sounds in this environment are inexplicable and unhearable. What can be seen as the equivalence of film grain to picture is added to many recordings to give different textures to what you are hearing. I know it’s strange to think of a hearing experience having a tactile experience but it truly lends itself to developing the world we are travelling through. What is very experimental and industrial sounding matches well with the orchestral side and combines with the visuals for a wholesome experience of a true oddity.

7/10 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Let’s say spoilers from here on because watching this movie fresh is probably the best idea.

****** SPOILERS ******

Images via Paramount Pictures

Damn Alex Garland. This movie has me working on many different levels. As I sat in the theatre as the end credits were kaleidoscoping by. I had the feeling of unease, my fingers strummed against my thigh and I was in a place of utter bewilderment and astonishment. As the rainbow of colours washed over me, I eventually got up and left but what lingered for me is the statement this movie is trying to make. I don’t know what that is. Now let me see if I can figure out some sort of meaning.

Natalie Portman and Director Alex Garland on the set of Annihilation from Paramount Pictures and Skydance.

I think the most important idea that I got is the idea of cell division. It plays from the opening few minutes and many times throughout the movie. The image of a cell dividing, literally the simplest and most complex thing that happens in our reality and here the film is questioning that. What does it mean when something changes from the original? Is this then a film about growing older and the generation gap that has defined the last 50 years in our society. The notion that you may know where you come from but you are so different from your origin and parents that you are often making your own ground and way in the world. We are an immigrant society and maybe the movie is making a comment about that. The aliens if I can even call it that come to our planet and are seemingly terra-forming but not really. They are simply changing little things to make a merger between the two systems and maybe the movie is about assimilation and how we engage with newcomers to our way of life.

I think an apt comparison can be to Arrival (2016) where we had the first contact of humans and aliens but again SPOILER for that movie but seemingly 4th-dimensional beings. They are so above us in understanding our reality that contact completely changes the world. In this movie, however, the new life forms are not given any motivation other than assimilation with our world. They are seemingly not here to help or trying to escape something worse. This level of mystery is what leaves so much up to the viewer and challenges you to see what you want in them. They are only a mirror reflection of what we are and this is obvious with all the mimicry of human behaviour and the doppelgangers. Maybe saying that our enemies are more alike to us than we know?

I have a lot of questions as you can see. Going to be doing some research on other people’s opinions and discussions to start to wrap my head around it.