Annihilation makes audiences think, for good or ill
There is no shortage of good ideas in Hollywood. There is a shortage of confidence in good ideas, an underestimation of audience intelligence, and cynical devotion to blockbuster numbers, but the good ideas remain. They don’t always get made into movies, of course.
There are likely more good ideas stuffed in drawers or condemned to development hell than there are Transformer sequels, The Fast and the Furious sequels, Marvel movie sequels, Star Wars sequels, Terminator sequels, Hangover sequels, Batman sequels, Superman sequels, Indiana Jones sequels, Underworld sequels, and Shrek sequels combined.
The point is it takes a lot for a movie to get made and, more often than not, good ideas aren’t at the forefront of film executive decision making. But sometimes, good ideas make it through. Moreover, sometimes good ideas have a great production crew, a good writer, a strong, well-executed vision, and a cast capable of evoking the intended message with grace and style.
Annihilation, directed by Alex Garland, is one of those films. It won’t be popular—at first glance, the film finished fourth this weekend with a modest box office return. It’s not for everyone. The film is cerebral and confusing, full of holes that require the imagination of the viewer to fill, but it’s also beautiful and fascinating. It’s the first truly exceptional film of the year. So, of course, it’s science fiction.
Like most films of this nature, the story is easy to describe but harder to understand. Something has crashed in the swamps of the United States, centering on a lighthouse in a state park. We aren’t given a precise location—it’s later just referred to as Area X. The area has been covered by what has been dubbed “The Shimmer,” which appears to be a field of rainbow tinted light that is ever expanding.
Nearly a dozen expeditions have been sent into The Shimmer, but nothing has returned. No radio waves or signals can get through. Scientists and elite military groups have all vanished. Save for one man, it seems.
A man named Kane (Oscar Isaacs), part of the eleventh expedition, has inexplicably returned home to his wife Lena (Natalie Portman) after disappearing into The Shimmer nearly a year prior. He is disoriented, unable to answer simple questions. Soon, he begins to convulse and slips into a coma, and ultimately re-acquired by the government.
Lena, a professor of cellular biology and former army officer, is brought to Area X to be with her husband while he is under observation. After learning of the circumstances of Kane’s disappearance, Lena volunteers to enter The Shimmer with three others, hoping to reach the lighthouse and find the source of the event.
The film is visually breathtaking. Everything within The Shimmer has a distinct and careful beauty. It seems alive, almost breathing. The strangeness and occasional horror is offset by the wildness of the newly alien landscape. The film unfolds methodically and slowly.
Another recent film, The Cloverfield Paradox, is somewhat similar in that it features the impossible happening in real time. But it rushes from event to event, short on explanation, heavy on weird stuff, taking no time to just watch it all unfold. Annihilation is content to let us watch in astonishment and wonder at the story as it happens.
This film doesn’t ask as many questions as a film like, say, Arrival, another serious science fiction film with a deliberate pace. Instead, Annihilation is more about how terrifying and incredible the universe can be.
The relationship between discovery and fear is on display throughout the film, as are themes of redemption in the face of betrayal. These ideas are encompassed within the elegance of a fully realized work of art. There will, of course, be naysayers. At times, Annihilation may seem Lost-like, filled with tangents and unresolved ideas.
However, I’d argue that the inconsistency is the point. The characters are unable to explain the phenomenon in any tangible way, thus the audience is only able to guess and extrapolate to the best of their ability. It makes the movie challenging and frustrating and wonderful.
Maybe not everything has an explanation. Maybe we aren’t capable of understanding the secrets of the universe in their entirety. Maybe it’s just too big for that. Annihilation lets us consider these ideas from the safety of a darkened theater.