Annihilation is equal parts beautiful, terrifying, and intellectual while also including an emotional truth about what it means to be human.
High-minded sci-fi has defined the late 2010s with entries like Arrival and Blade Runner 2049 defining the period. Another film that could be included in that group is Alex Garland’s Ex Machina. Garland explored extremely human topics by framing it in something not human. So, he seemed like the perfect fit to be tackling Jeff VanderMeer’s Annihilation — a novel that I loved. What I loved about it is it poses more questions than it offers answers. And while Garland’s adaptation certainly seems to offer more answers, he grounds the sci-fi in another exploration of what it is to be human. That’s not to say that this film is straightforward or easy-to-digest. It’s quite the opposite actually. Annihilation feels like an assault on the senses without going over-the-top with its style. To call it engrossing would be an understatement.
While I loved the novel, the film doesn’t follow it except for its basic premise. Most sequences that occur in the book don’t appear in the film. But I think that it’s for the better. Garland takes the Southern Reach and Area X and uses them to explore different ideas. It’s a thrilling discovery for book readers unless you live by the novel. What Garland carries over from the novel is the atmosphere. Area X, an ever-expanding bubble bordered off by something called “the shimmer,” is a mysterious and disorienting place that challenges almost all of our scientific beliefs. The film is unsettling the same way that The Blair Witch Project is. Annihilation infringes on your comfort zone and makes you feel disoriented the second the characters step into Area X.
But before all that happens, we see a meteor-like object strike a lighthouse on the Gulf Coast before cutting to Lena (Natalie Portman), a professor of biology who seems like a shell of a person as she mourns her husband, Kane (Oscar Isaac), who went missing on a mysterious mission a year prior. However, one day, he shows up. But it’s clear that the man that returned to her is not the man that left her. He is confused, unsure of how he got there or where he’s been, then his organs begin to fail. On route to the hospital, the ambulance is forced to stop by a squad of black SUVs that take Kane and Lena to a facility called the Southern Reach. Lena wakes up in a cell with Dr. Ventress (Jennifer Jason Leigh), a psychologist. Ventress explains that the Southern Reach has sent dozens of research teams into Area X and have never heard back from any of them, that is until Kane reappeared. Lena learns that her husband was a part of one of these teams and is the first person to return from across the shimmer. Eventually, seeking answers to help her husband, Lena decides to enter The Shimmer along with Dr. Ventress, paramedic Anya (Gina Rodriguez), physicist Josie (Tess Thompson, fresh off of Thor: Ragnarok), and anthropologist Cass (Tuva Novotny). It would be an understatement to say what happens beyond The Shimmer is extraordinary.
The set-up and much of the story is told in fragmented scenes that give us some information, but end up raising more questions. It makes sense, though. The story is framed by Lena’s interrogation following her return from Area X — it’s revealed almost at the beginning of the film, as are the fates of every character. That’s just a testament to what Garland was able to do. Despite knowing the outcome, Annihilation is never less tense or horrifying. That doesn’t mean that it leans heavily on gore or horror movie logic. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. The movie is heady and cerebral. The same can be said for the thrills and action. Every image and moment feels calculated. The movie gets under your skin.
Much of the film follows how you’d expect a movie about an exploration into an alien world to go. Each character is picked off one by one. But even the circumstances around their demises remain mysterious. That’s what separates it from Alien and other films that came after it. Even each death feels like another piece of the complex puzzle of Area X and the film itself. In that way, it feels more similar to Arrival or 2015’s Coherence. It’s as concerned with the emotional implications of the plot as it is the science. At one point, Cass tells Lena that all the women — it’s refreshing that all the people on the expedition being women is not a major plot point — have experienced some type of loss or are on some type of path of self-destruction. By the mind-bending final scenes, you understand why this discussion is so important.
There has been a lot of talk about how Paramount essentially dropped all hope of Annihilation having a theatrical life from the moment producer Scott Rudin refused to “dumb down” the film. After watching it, I understand why. Though the design and thrills of Area X are impeccable, the true beauty of the film lies beneath. And it’s a beauty that you have to work for. Unfortunately, modern movie audiences aren’t ready for that type of sci-fi. Arrival and Interstellar may be the two examples of intellectual sci-fi surviving in this age of blockbusters. However, Annihilation is a film that has to be experienced on the big screen. There’s too much nuance to be affected by it on Netflix.
A lot of that nuance comes from the cast. After giving the best performance of her career in Jackie, Natalie Portman gives perhaps the second best performance in this film. Playing a seven-year army vet and biology professor as both strong and vulnerable is a task that few actors could succeed in. On top of that, the character’s emotional journey is explored almost silently, particularly in the last 15 minutes. Without her, the impact wouldn’t be as strong. The same could be said for the set design by Mark Digby. His realization of Area X and all its oddities are equal parts beautiful and unsettling. As are the creatures that they encounter. The film is impeccably designed. The score also stands out — “The Alien” may be one of the most terrifying pieces I’ve ever heard in a film.
Annihilation is complex, terrifying, engrossing, and beautiful, but above all, it feels completely unique. While the actual design and direction are unique, the themes it deals with and the way it comes to terms with those themes are what really sets it apart. It taps on a human process that we are too afraid to confront — our mortality and self-destruction. However, that is even a simplistic way to describe the themes. It’s truly a movie that has to be experienced and experienced on the biggest screen possible. It envelops you, gets under your skin, and stays with you long after it ends. Annihilation has monsters, but it exposes that the biggest monster of all is our own humanity.
★★★★½ out of five
Hey, I'm Karl, founder and film critic at Smash Cut. I started Smash Cut in 2014 to share my love of movies and give a perspective I haven't yet seen represented. I'm also an editor at The New York Times, a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, and a member of the Online Film Critics Society.