Director Alex Garland follows up “Ex Machina” — his
excellent, Oscar-winning examination of man and machine — with another challenging sci-fi mind-bender.
Based on a trilogy of novels by Jeff VanderMeer
(though veering significantly from that source material), “Annihilation”
follows the members of an expedition team sent to explore a mysterious,
reality-warping zone known as “Area X.”
A meteor
crash-landing on Earth has left an ever-expanding field of energy — dubbed “The
Shimmer” by those who study it — encompassing what was once a national park
swampland. Several teams have previously been sent into The Shimmer, but none
have ever re-emerged. But that changes when Kane (Oscar Isaac), the husband of
biologist Lena (Natalie Portman), returns without explanation a year after he
and the rest of his team went missing. He seems different, and around the time
he starts spitting up blood, it’s apparent he’s also very sick.
Lena is
taken to a military hospital, where she learns about her husband’s mission to
Area X. Swirling feelings of guilt and a determination to find out what
happened to her husband lead Lena into volunteering to join a team of
researchers (Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tessa Thompson, Gina Rodriguez, and Tuva
Novotny — all excellent) that will venture into The Shimmer to find out exactly
what it is and what lies inside.
A film that
intends to challenge its viewers, “Annihilation” in many ways feels like a
continuation of the metaphysical ideas of “2001: A Space Odyssey,” “The
Fountain,” or Andrei Tarkovsky’s “Stalker.” It’s also
quieter and moodier than one might expect. And as Lena ventures into what more
than one member of her team considers a suicide mission, it explores some of
the more inexplicable aspects of human nature, delving into humanity’s
compulsive urge toward self-destruction, and the strange comfort of oblivion.
The success
of “Ex Machina” has brought Garland a much larger budget to work with, and
those expanded resources are always evident on screen. The world inside The
Shimmer is wonderfully realized, filled with flora and fauna that have mutated
in strange and unexplainable ways, providing a parade of beautifully
nightmarish sights and sounds.
As the real
world spirals further into chaos and uncertainty, audiences seem to
increasingly demand definite explanations from their entertainment (just look
at what happened when “Star Wars” fans found out the interconnected mythology
they’d endlessly hypothesized and theorized over didn’t matter a bit to the
narrative of “The Last Jedi”). But as “Annihilation” gradually builds to its
increasingly enigmatic, psychedelic climax, the film continues to raise more
questions (as some of the best science-fiction often does) and becomes less
clear-cut as it goes on. Garland isn’t interesting in offering clarity any more
than he is providing his characters with the comforting absolutes they seek.
“Annihilation” delights in leaving its viewers dissecting what they’ve seen;
like the women at the heart of its story, we’re left searching for answers that
never come.
This article appears in Feb 28 – Mar 6, 2018.
