Annihilation (2018)

Directed by: Alex Garland | 125 minutes | adventure, drama | Actors: Natalie Portman, Benedict Wong, Sonoya Mizuno, David Gyasi, Oscar Isaac, John Schwab, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gina Rodriguez, Tuva Notvotny, Tessa Thompson, Sammy Hayman, Josh Danford, Kristen McGarrity

In 2014, Alex Garland made his fantastic directorial debut ‘Ex Machina’, a philosophical science-fiction film that asks whether a robot can appear so real as to pass for human (and whether we should want such development of artificial intelligence). ). In his new film ‘Annihilation’, Garland is equally philosophical: what do we actually know about the origin and development of nature, or the universe for that matter? In ‘Annihilation’, a group of female scientists step into the unknown in search of answers. But those who expect to be a little wiser after watching the film will feel cheated.

Lena, portrayed strongly by Natalie Portman, works as a university biologist after serving seven years in the military. Her husband Kane (Oscar Isaac), whom she knows from her military service, went on another mission a year ago and hasn’t returned since. Until he suddenly appears in front of her again. It soon turns out that he is no longer the man, as we get to know him in flashbacks to their happy years. When Kane also starts to spit up blood, things go really fast. Lena is taken to a secret military base on the outskirts of The Shimmer. The Shimmer is a mysterious bubble that formed three years ago after a comet impact. Since then, this bubble has grown and will slowly but surely swallow up every bit of earth. Several teams have been sent into The Shimmer in hopes of getting to the bottom of it, but except for Kane, nothing or anyone has ever returned. To understand what happened to her husband, Lena decides to join the next expedition. When she returns as the only survivor, she is intensively interrogated at the base. As Lena tells, we see in flashbacks what happened in The Shimmer.

After seeing ‘Annihilation’, production company Paramount Studios decided that the film would be too complicated for the general public, so that the film can only be seen on Netflix in the Netherlands. A shame, because from the moment we enter The Shimmer with Lena it is clear that this film was made for the big screen. Everything within this mysterious bubble has been affected by the unknown (is it natural mutations or is it an alien force?). The sublime and the grotesque alternate. We see the most diverse flower formations composed of all kinds of shapes and colors. A moment later we come face to face with a white crocodile who attacks the group of scientists with a mouth full of shark teeth. Each step deeper into The Shimmer raises more questions than answers. The search is exciting and never boring. When the team leader states that they have to go to the site of the comet impact (“I need to know what’s there”), this seems to be the place where everything comes together. Or not? The final scene may go a bit too far for the average viewer, but will be appreciated by fans of genre films as a fitting climax after the lyrical trip of almost two hours.

Garland seems to be firing a cannon of questions with ‘Annihilation’, of which he hardly answers any of them. Is that bad? No, because philosophical issues of mortality, guilt and self-esteem will always remain elusive for most of us.