Review of Annihilation (2018) by Donald M — 13 Dec 2018

Annihilation is one of the best Sci-Fi films of a decade that has had some amazing films in the genre, films like Arrival, Blade Runner 2047, and Garland's own Ex Machina. Garland made his directorial debut in 2014 with Ex Machina that he also wrote, has a lot of the same themes and asks a lot of the same questions. Questions of what it means to be alive and identity. Garland defiantly lived up to high bar set for himself, while the are two very different movies and are very different in most ways. He still managed to ask the same questions that are way more important than the film could answer. Garland's use of atmosphere the same way in Annihilation that he did with Ex Machina, the setting and plots are very different they both lock us the viewer and the charterers into their own worlds.

Annihilation is a film for those looking for a movie that makes you want to think and processes what you are watching. The film has a runtime of 115 minutes it manages to warp the time into something more than just that runtime, parts of the story are told in a nonlinearly. This makes you almost lose track of time while you're watching. With its amazing cast of strong female characters, setting, story, and cinematography, and soundtrack these combine into something special that is rare in the current movie atmosphere.

The film begins at the end of the story when you're introduced to the main character Lena portrayed brilliantly by Natalie Portman, who was in one of the largest Sci-fi franchises Star Wars. Lena starts in quarantined in a room being question about the events of the movie. A mysterious character in full hazmat gear is the one questioning her, this character is portrayed by the amazing Benedict Wong. The film continues to cut to these scenes, which adds to the mystery of the film. Lena a biologist whose husband has disappeared on a clandestine special forces mission for the past year, Kane played by Oscar Isaac, who is in Star Wars and Garland's previous film Ex Machina. When her husband shows mysteriously finds his way home after being gone for almost year you later find out he was in the Shimmer. The scenes between them are probably some of the most important of the entire film standing in their kitchen she's trying to find out what happened to him, during this exchange she states, "I deserve a better explanation than no explanation." Kane answers her with "Does it matter?" This is Garland telling you the viewer that the questions are far more important than the little answers he is about to give the view.

The rest of the amazing cast, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tessa Thompson who appears in Thor Ragnarök, which Natalie Portman starred in the two previous Thor's. Along with them are the Swedish actress Tuva Novotny, and Gina Rodriguez. They form the team that enter the Shimmer with Portman's character, while each team member appears at first as just a stereo typical Sci-fi character. Garland's excellent writing turns them into complex and interesting characters, that have all been broken in one way or another by life. The amazing performances of the actress also take this cast of bring this film to the amazing level that it is at. Jennifer Jason Leigh and Tessa Thompson portrayals of Dr. Ventress and Josie Radek are top notch. To the cold and clinical Dr. Ventress, who's responsible for selecting the people that enter the Shimmer and feels like it's time to enter herself. To the broken but functioning Josie, showing that the darkest parts of the mind are some of the most beautiful parts of it.

The setting is the best aspect of the film, called the Shimmer because of it shimmers like gasoline in water. The Shimmer is a biological horror show of a setting, with its genetic mutations ranging from beautiful to horrific. The Shimmer is literally its own atmosphere inside of an atmosphere, an atmosphere that traps the viewer in. Mutation that are occurring at a horrifying rate the deeper into the shimmer you go, from amazing flowers that added an amazing colors and contrast to every scene they're in. To the most terrifying creatures every to be created in film, creatures that were once bears or alligators. Along with the nature that the Shimmer has consumed, it has turned manmade structures that have been over taken by the mutated nature of the shimmer making them a dreary setting for are cast of characters to travel through on there mission to find the center of this mysterious place. The atmosphere that Garland made is one of the best of any film that has ever been made.

Garland bends time around this film with long slow-moving shots of character moving across the various location during the film. This time bending is a major part of the plot of the film, as the characters are losing track of the time they have spent in the shimmer. A scene that illustrate this time bending is one where Lena is walking alone through the woods of the shimmer, a slow-moving camera follows her as she moves away from the viewer. Somehow it shows the slow moving and loneliness of the character in the scene. As Lena experiences flashbacks that add to the story and her character. You as the viewer fell almost like the characters that you are watching this movie as you struggle to keep track of your own time, scenes that are only minutes feel twice as long, or there over in a flash.

The phenomenal soundtrack composed by Geoff Barrow and Ben Sailsbury, who also composed Ex Machina. This pair do an amazing job at adding to this already amazing film. The score itself helps amplify every part of the movie, at parts with its eerie vocals, that add a haunting aspect to the beautiful scenes they accompany that remind you not to trust the beauty that you are seeing. The use of acoustic guitar feels just the kind of almost loneliness of certain scenes, the loneliness of the characters as they slowly venture deeper into the Shimmer.

Annihilation is a film that shows what happens when a talented director is allowed to make something extremely special, from its lack of handholding that feels like the film doesn't care whether you figure out what actually happened. Kane's "Does it even matter?" just rings true at the end of story, as you're questioning what life actually is. What does it mean to love and what you are willing to do for that other person that you love?