'Annihilation' Movie Review | A Divine Fatal Fantasy

Alex Garland's follow-up to the critically acclaimed Ex Machina is an instant classic...

Annihilation has had a troubled journey to your Netflix home screen. Green-lit by Paramount in 2014, the novel-to-screen adaptation of Jeff VanderMeer's best-seller was set to be director Alex Garland's follow-up to Ex Machina - his acclaimed debut feature. Cut to 2018, though, and this cinematic masterpiece has been denied a theatrical run everywhere but the US.

It turns out that conflict between test audiences, Garland and Paramount studio heads led to concerns about Annihilation's commercial potential. Labelled as too complex by studio execs, Paramount took the decision to sell the film to Netflix for overseas distribution and offer a limited theatrical run to American movie-goers. The film's release mirrors Paramount's The Cloverfield Paradox which arrived straight to Netflix in last month's superbowl. It's a damn shame too, because Annihilation might just be the best sci-fi horror since Alien.

The most obvious and superficial praise that can (and should) be awarded to Annihilation is its incredible roster of female leads. The mission statement that the narrative follows is clear: enter the mysterious Shimmer that's appeared in a Florida national park, work your way to its source - a lighthouse on the coast, figure out what it is and recover the information back to the covert forces camping on its perimeter. In the first act of the film, then, when it is revealed that most of the military forces sent inside have failed to return, an all-female team is assembled to attempt the mission themselves.

The film makes sure to point out that they aren't sent in purely because they're women but because they are all qualified scientists - clearly an effort to immediately dispel backlash from the same demographic of under-developed men who felt attacked by an all-female Ghostbusters. The team's gender-makeup offers deeper, more diverse and multi-faceted depictions of women that exist today.

All of the characters within the main-team were respectfully depicted too, with not one character unnecessarily sexualised and each crafted with a complexity normally reserved for male leads. Thor: Ragnarok's Tessa Thompson sublimely plays Josie Radek, a physicist dealing with poor mental health while Jennifer Jason Leigh embodies the character of Dr. Ventress, a psychologist who decides to enter the Shimmer herself after years of curiosity. It is Gina Rodriguez, however, who steals the show as Anya Thorenson. Her queer-identifying paramedic has a character arc that's as thrilling as it is emotional. Natalie Portman offers the most complex performance with audiences constantly questioning her motives and true feelings.

It's also right to praise Mark Digby (the film's production designer) and Rob Hardy, Annihilation's cinematographer. The Shimmer, as Portman's Lena once-describes it, is not necessarily nightmarish, but beautiful. The lush and dream-like swamp-land interior provides a stunning backdrop to the horrors that lie within. Each frame was shot with purpose and meaning and further dissection of each one reveals easter eggs and "echoes" that relay the intricacy of this film's curation. 

The film does feels at times like the team are within an arena from one of the 'Hunger Games' novels; It also regularly felt like a The Last of Us-esque, post-apocalyptic video game, and I make these comparisons in the best way possible. The sense of adventure here is immense and its pure fantasy appease some of the more brutal and disturbing sequences that occur in the film's second act.

While I will make a determined effort to not give away spoilers for the film, I cannot discuss it properly without commenting on the themes within. In a way similar to Inception, the film leaves audiences wanting an explanation from the artists that curated it and as it differs slightly from the novel on which it's based a simple Wikipedia exploration won't offer the answers you're looking for. While the film is ambiguous, it doesn't treat it's audience like an idiot. Garland makes sure to drop plenty of hints and clues within the frames of the film that will allow each viewer to end up with a unique and equally valid theory as to exactly what unfolds within the third act.

The wider metaphors and themes within the film are stunningly intricate too. Motifs of Cancer and self-destruction litter the main plot, but even those heavy topics reside on a more superficial plane when compared to the true intellectual depth of the film. Religion, alien life, humanity and our truest potential are all discussed, and the film has a shocking and stunning way of cutting right to the heart of the human psyche in an effort to discover who we truly are. As one twitter user put it, if Ex Machina was Alex Garland's way of asking 'What is 'human'?', this is his way of asking 'What is 'life'?'. It is in the ambiguity of his answer that Annihilation truly excels, as it takes you on a journey to the lighthouse, to the place of enlightenment, and leaves you to pick up the pieces at the end.

I definitely want to try and dissect some of the spoiler-y elements within the film in the future, but it is imperative that you watch this film knowing as little as possible. If you can't experience Annihilation on the big screen then at least allow Garland, Portland and company to take you into the Shimmer and experience it untainted by others' interpretations and spoiler-filled responses. Annihilation, yes, offers a lot of surprise, plot-twists and jump-scares galore, but at its core it is so much deeper than that. The film plays like high-art and uses the sci-fi horror format as a vessel for not only its cinematic beauty but its message about humanity and the very nature of life itself.

It's on Netflix now guys, you really have no excuse. Annihilation is a masterpiece.

Written by James Green