Annihilation

Starring: Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gina Rodriguez, Tuva Novotny, Tessa Thompson, Benedict Wong, and Oscar Isaac
Directed by: Alex Garland
Screenplay by: Alex Garland
Based on the novel by James VanderMeer

    I walked out of the theater after this movie and I had two reactions to it.  The first was, wow this is totally amazing.  The second, which came some time after I left and had digested some of what I had seen was, well this is a weird movie.  In any sense, this is a film shrouded in mystery.  Don't expect to receive many answers from all the questions you might have about the story.
    The film opens up with Lena (Natalie Portman), a biologist being interrogated by a man named Lomax (Benedict Wong).  He and all of the spectators (of which there seem to be many) of this interrogation wear hazmat suits, yet Lena does not.  It becomes clear that she has survived something that may have been catastrophic and it appears she is the only one who has survived.  Lomax wants to know what happened in a place called "Area X", specifically inside of some odd force field type thing called "the Shimmer".  But how did Lena get to Area X in the first place?
    For some unnecessary backstory; Lena's husband, Kane (Oscar Isaac), is in the military.  He has been on a mission for nearly a year and nobody has heard from him.  By the time we learn about Kane, he is presumed dead, until he mysteriously shows up at Lena's house in a moment when she is emotional and distraught about what may have happened to him.  She is obviously thrilled to see him and quite surprised as well, but when she asks him about his mission, the only answer he can give her is that he doesn't know.  It's not because he can't tell her what happened, but because he genuinely does not know what happened.  It is clear that upon his return he is not well.  On the way to the hospital, they are both taken to a top secret facility, where he receives care and where Lena meets Dr. Ventress (Jennifer Jason Leigh), a psychologist.  At this facility she also meets some other female scientists in various fields.  She tries to get some answers about the Shimmer from them and does not get very far.  Except that nothing ever comes back from the Shimmer.  Eventually it becomes clear to Lena that Kane's mission was inside the Shimmer and that he is the first person to ever come back from inside of it.
    A team is being put together of some of the other women Lena meets at the facility; Anya Thorensen (Gina Rodriguez), Cass Sheppard (Tuva Novotny), Josie Radek (Tessa Thompson), and Dr. Ventress.  Together, along with Lena (who volunteers to go as well), they will venture into the Shimmer, well aware of the risks.  The source of the Shimmer appears to be at a lighthouse some distance away.  The Shimmer is slowly expanding, consuming everything in its path.  It refracts everything.  Plants and trees become odd looking with bright colors and fungi growing everywhere.  Animals begin to change and the women begin to lose their sense of things around them.  It is unclear what the progression of time is, although we do know that time is funky inside of the Shimmer.  Lomax wants to know from Lena upon her return how she was able to survive for four months on only two weeks worth of food.  The goal for these women is to reach the lighthouse and find out what's causing the Shimmer, and maybe even figure out how to stop it if indeed it can be stopped.  At this point, the film becomes too conventional as one by one, the team loses a member to various circumstances that I will not spoil for you.
    Perhaps the most refreshing aspect of this film is how female-driven it is.  They are all strong characters played well by their respective actresses.  Unfortunately for these characters, their stories are not as compelling as I had hoped they would be.  It is never quite clear why they all venture into the Shimmer, despite their awareness of it being a suicide mission.  Are they ordered to go?  Do they volunteer?  We have some idea as to why Lena goes in because she perhaps wants to understand what happened to her husband, but even that is just an educated guess on my part.  They seem to be unclear even of what their mission is.  Are they there to destroy the source of the shimmer?  Are they there for research purposes?  Also, what are the stakes they are faced with?  If the shimmer is constantly growing, consuming everything it comes into contact with, wouldn't the fate of all of humanity potentially be in their hands?  And if so, wouldn't they feel a little more pressure than they already do? 
     Alex Garland, the director, also directed a film a few years ago that I absolutely loved, Ex Machina, with Alicia Vikander and also with Oscar Isaac.  It was remembering how much I loved that film that made me excited for Annihilation, Garland's only film since.  The visuals are stunning.  It's the kind of movie that on the surface, one might want to experience in IMAX or something similar.  The colors are extremely rich and vibrant and the setting is quite beautiful.  But those are sadly the most compelling parts of the movie.  Annihilation had so much potential, but unfortunately fell short.  

I give Annihilation a C+. 

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