Review of Annihilation (2018) by Mmadnessgames — 19 Apr 2018

SPOILERS!

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This movie is highly polished nonsense.

A meteor (or something) crashes to Earth and it collides with a light-house. This forms a little shimmery-thing they call "the shimmer"... Fast forward to 3 years later and there have been countless attempts to send people into the shimmer, but nobody has ever returned. They keep sending people in and the land that the shimmer covers continues to grow.

There's even a scene where they say, in a matter of time it will spread across the state... then, the country... then, the WORLD.

Our story revolves around a group of female scientists who enter "the shimmer". There mission is to reach the lighthouse at the centre of said phenomenon and return with "data". At this point of the movie, I immediately slammed the breaks... Because, I expect narratives to make sense... But I soldiered on, regardless, reluctantly offering yet another well-received Hollywood film the benefit of the doubt.

Before long, we see them enter the shimmer.

They walk to the edge of it and - then - they enter.

Nobody escorts to them to the edge of "the shimmer".

And, amazingly, it is transparent.

At this point of the film, I knew without-a-shadow-of-a-doubt that I was watching a stupid film... I mean - SURELY! - if 3 years worth of expeditions have resulted in nobody returning from "the shimmer" and if it's transparent, then why in the hell wouldn't people be standing near the edge of it and closely observing others entering? Why not tie a chain around their waste and drag it back again?

There is a really brief bit of dialogue that attempts to satisfy none of these questions. All we get is a comment about how they've sent drones in. That doesn't satisfy my scepticism. I'm not dying to immerse myself in special effects. I need a story that makes sense.

So, anyway, moving on from that...

They encounter a couple of really unimaginative monsters on their way to the lighthouse. There's a giant crocodile with layers of teeth, like a shark. And, there's a bear without a face that does an Alien (franchise) routine.

The team they send in consists almost entirely of completely useless idiots. I thought an entirely female cast was supposed to be some sort of feminist statement? Would a comparable film ever exist with such incompetent and mentally unstable male protagonists?

The film keeps cutting back to a sex scene between Natalie Portman and Oscar Isaac, for some reason.

The moment they figure out what "the shimmer" is, is typical exposition-nonsense. The idea behind it is intriguing, but the film doesn't explore it. There are a couple of scenes were we see cells dividing, but the special effects aren't great (like with the giant crocodile) and it all looks a bit aged.

Framing the narrative around the Asian guy in the haz-mat suit didn't work for me. It seemed really cliched and B-movie...

I liked the first part of the ending, with the replica of Natalie Portman's character and the grenades. But, as the plot unravelled, it continued to ask more questions without answers. I liked Isaac's character coming back from the void. But, the end of the film is stupid.

It's too complicated for it's own good.

Why spend 3 years and create an ecosystem only to burn it down all so you can find Natalie Portman and Oscar Isaac?

The ending is like the ending to a Twilight Zone episode or an instalment of Tales from the Crypt. You know those classic trash horror / sci-fi shows, were someone turns around (after an encounter with a monster) and their eyes glow red just as the credits role?

That's this film.

And, I don't have a problem with those sort of flicks. But - like a lot of modern films - Annihilation tries to pass itself off as clever by promising so much, and building audience expectations to such an extent, that we accept an anti-climax as a climax. Sort of like a cult, convincing it's followers that the leader is worthy of worship. The success of the TV show "Lost" has had a terrible impact on science fiction.