People on the web these days seem to complain about Hollywood movies quite a lot. Not enough roles for women. Not enough minorities. The movies are so stupid they cause viewers to lose IQ points with each passing minute.
Well fret not dear reader, our savior is here. Annihilation is the answer to all these problems and more, so surely it will be a smashing success, right?
Annihilation is a riveting, genre bending, sci-fi survival/body horror film that is, to be blunt, fucking excellent. It follows five female scientists (All well developed characters, and of different racial backgrounds no less, how’s that for Strong Female Characters) who journey into a mysterious bubble that’s been designated a no-go zone in order to figure out just what the hell is going on in there, and what they are made to confront is something truly staggering. A force that takes all aspects of nature: plants, animals, humans, and even the laws of physics, and violently transforms them into something unrecognizable and alien, something that challenges every conventional view of our existence. It’s vintage body horror ideas played out on a massive ecological scale.
Credit goes to writer/director Alex Garland and his team for managing to balance ideas, exposition, mood, and narrative much better here than in his previous effort Ex Machina (which suffered a bit from the all-to-common “let’s stop the movie dead and explain basic science to people” type of exposition dump), as well as for the brilliant technical fireworks and pure aesthetic pleasure that comes with this movie. The environments and world are rich and beautifully rendered, imaginative and full of color, and brought to life with expert sound design. Not to mention the last 45 or so minutes, which are an overwhelming audio/visual spectacle that kept me in a state of low-grade euphoria. Credit also goes to producer Scott Rudin, who saw he had a gem on his hands and used his final cut powers to have it released as the director intended.
Annihilation is clever, unique, well made, and at times downright spectacular. The fact that anyone would try to shelve this is baffling to me. It’s a film that begs to be seen in theaters, but unfortunately it’s long gone by now. So do yourself a favor when Annihilation reaches Netflix or your favorite streaming service: find the biggest screen you can, in the darkest room you know of, with the loudest sound system you can get your hands on, and watch this movie.
Verdict: Shiny and Chrome
P.S. – Annihilation isn’t perfect. Its main problems come from some clunky dialogue, or otherwise difficult dialogue delivered in a clunky manner. This is less of an issue later on, as the final third or so of the film has very little talking. Also fans of the book, keep in mind this only loosely based on the book. A better comp would be something like Stalker meets The Colour Out of Space.
(This article was originally posted on April 29, 2018)
