'Annihilation' Provides Film-Length Anxiety Attack
- Starring Natalie Portman, Benedict Wong, Oscar Isaac, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gina Rodriguez and Tessa Thompson
- Rated R
- Adventure/Drama
- Run time: 1 hr, 55 min
- Directed by Alex Garland
- In theaters February 23, 2018
The trailers may lead you to believe that Annihilation is a fantastical action film, and in a way, it isn't entirely wrong, but that's just a fraction of what genres this mind-bending film covers. There's a lot more subtle horror and thriller aspects than meets the eye at first glance. Between the incredibly eerie score and the amount of questions left after the film, the movie can best be described as providing a true sense of unease.
Annihilation is a visual masterpiece that tells the tale of a group of brave women who explore "the Shimmer" that has taken over part of the world. Teams go in and they never come back, except for Lena's (played by Natalie Portman) husband, who is a rather rattled Oscar Isaac. The women all have skills in some kind of survival aspect, but it seems that this world they entered doesn't play by the same rules they're used to. Things get dark, and they get dark fast. There are mutations of many kinds, both flora and fauna, and questions appear with almost every footstep.
It's evident that the film has no qualms with leaving audiences confused, but it's hard to say whether it is for the general atmosphere or because they are setting up for a sequel. Thinkpieces immediately appeared in hopes of providing answers to the befuddled viewers, but it just seems to leave more things unfulfilled. While it may be beautiful to watch, there is hardly a single loose end that the film feels the need to tie up, causing a feeling of anxiety that lasts for a while after the credits roll.
There's certainly an audience for this, but it may not necessarily be lovers of the book this is based on. Going off not much more than a few summaries of the novel series, there are so many changes to the plot as it became an adaptation that they barely seem to resemble one another. If you don't need your stories to reach a legitimate end and have no problem with cliffhangers, congratulations, you're definitely in the perfect crowd for this picture.