Annihilation
The verdict on Alex Garland’s latest.
Lena (Natalie Portman) is a scientist and ex-soldier living on civvy street, until her black-ops husband Kane (Oscar Isaac) goes missing on a covert mission. When he returns 12 months later pursued by shadowy G-woman Ventress (Jennifer Jason Leigh), Lena is recruited to go into ‘The Shimmer’, a glowing swamp that may be the site of First Contact, and from which no one has ever come back… except Kane.
Alex Garland’s sophomore directorial outing, following 2014’s
Ex Machina, is a Lovecraftian beast armed with big ideas. Based on the Jeff VanderMeer novel of the same name, it recalls Tarkovsky’s Stalker (small group journey into a forbidden zone, grapple with existential questions), but also nods to gene-splicing body horrors such as Cronenberg’s The Fly, with one scene in particular proving literally stomach-turning.
Despite a disappointing mid-section that dips into pedestrian plot beats, clunky exposition and dumb character decisions, Garland again demonstrates his cool efficiency behind the camera. And the final act is superlative.
The almost-wordless climax is one of the most ambitious of recent years – and guaranteed to haunt for days.
Paramount sold the film’s international rights to Netflix back in December, a decision Garland publicly disagreed with. And it’s true: this is smart cinema that deserves the big screen. Nevertheless, Annihilation cements the writer/director as one of the most important voices working in sci-fi today. Tim Coleman