‘Annihilation’ Movie Review: Fresh Life in Hollywood

In a year chalk-full of superhero flicks and end-of-the-world blockbusters like Geostorm and War for the Planet of the Apes, on first glance, director Alex Garland’s science-fiction thriller Annihilation could easily come across as another movie capitalizing on this zeitgeist sweeping through Hollywood as it continuously churns out doomsday related flicks.

However, through Garland’s attention to detail and willingness to stay true to the scientific foundation of the film even as the plot and intensity of the film culminate, Annihilation comes off as truly one of the best and most intellectually engaging movies of the past year.

The film follows Iraq War veteran and college professor Lena (Natalie Portman) as she takes her war experience and knowledge of biology into the ‘shimmer,’ a growing region of the US from which no one has ever come back except for one man — Lena’s husband Kane (Oscar Isaac). Surrounded by a translucent wall of sorts, the shimmer makes observation from the outside impossible, disrupting satellite and phone signals in the process.

Too many times in big budget movies the lead character, or protagonist is called upon to ‘save the planet’ or ‘fulfill his/her destiny’ without ever really exploring where the character came from, and what important events impacted their decision to make such a big leap of courage or bravery.

Garland’s approach in Annihilation appears to address these issues, as lead character Lena is driven by grief, guilt, and regret towards her decision to venture into the unknown and hopefully save the planet. Kane’s return finds him mentally degraded and on the verge of death, and flashbacks of an affair committed by Lena with a colleague que audiences into the emotional baggage Portman’s character has weighing on her shoulders throughout the film.

As Lena and her crew of four soon discover, the secrets the shimmer has to offer are none too pleasant, seething with creatures more closely resembling a skinwalker or demon than anything currently known to man. Frightening monsters are just part of what movie goers can expect from Annihilation though, with alterations in every biological organism’s DNA continuously occurring when in the shimmer.

The tricks Garland plays on the mind’s of his characters only increases as the plot develops, and after leaving the theater movie audiences may wonder if a mind trick has been played on them, but not in the cheeky sense.

This is the type of stimulating movie that is worth paying the money to see in theaters, leaving you wondering and Googling for answers long after the credits have rolled.