From a director’s chair perspective, Alex Garland gave audiences something to really chew on in his debut work, Ex Machina (2014). The sci-fi drama was truly a visionary piece of art that propelled it to an Oscar win along with countless other awards. Alicia Vikander and Oscar Isaac gave complex layers of emotion to a beautiful unique story. Alex Garland is ready to unleash his latest work on the world in the form of Annihilation. With a much larger budget and higher expectations attached, the pressure to succeed is real.
Lena (Natalie Portman), a biologist, has been living a life on edge when her husband, Kane (Oscar Isaac), fell off the face of the planet a year prior while away on a mission. His work has always been secretive but this situation felt different from the moment Lena learned of it. Out of the blue, and without explanation, her MIA husband just shows up at the house but something is clearly off. Kane has a mysterious medical emergency that launches this story further into an abyss of mystery.
Lena soon finds herself in some type of facility where she is barely able to process what she is seeing. Apparently there has been some type of event that has brought with it, what’s being called “The Shimmer”, a slowly growing bubble-like barrier that Kane had been investigating prior to his disappearance. In order to get some answers, and to satisfy some of her own curiosity, Lena agrees to accompany a team of four other women into this unknown place to hopefully understand what they’re dealing with.
Annihilation prides itself on the air of mystery and tapping into the imaginations of its audiences. In order to keep the suspense at an elevated level, flashbacks are used to shed light slowly on the larger picture as it builds towards a revealing conclusion. Natalie Portman is the main star so the focus is mostly on her life. Oscar Isaac falls more into the supporting category as he doesn’t have a ton of screen time. Jennifer Jason Leigh probably the most exposure beyond the main star but I would say that her performance lacks anything memorable, like say The Hateful Eight (2015). For that reason, I wasn’t really blown away by her character. Other actors providing smaller contributions were Gina Rodriguez, Tuva Novotny and Tessa Thompson. Again, these actors are just kind of “there” and do not add anything profound.
The beauty and appeal of Annihilation comes from its non-traditional story and, most of all, the stunning beauty and wonder displayed throughout. The score also helps set the proper mood. Seeing this on a large format screen will definitely help your experience. Unfortunately, I just cannot justify the extra cost that goes along with that upgrade. I just can’t see this really catching on in theaters because only a select portion of regular moviegoers will find this experience to be above average.
There just isn’t enough actual action and straightforward storytelling to keep people engaged. It feels a lot longer than its almost two hour runtime. Aside from getting the full theatrical experience, there’s no real reason to rush out and see this in theaters during its first run. Critics will see the brilliance in nuances that many do not value, the rest will be slightly underwhelmed.
