John H. Foote
A couple of years ago Alex Garland gave us his excellent science fiction thriller Ex Machina (2016), a thriller that was far better than perhaps it had any right to be. Confident, even brash behind the camera Garland has done it again, even more so, with his new film Annihilation, which Paramount has been trying to release for more than a year, unsure of how to do it, even toying with the streaming network Netflix. The decision finally came, rightfully, to put the film in theaters, where the masses can enjoy it, where the mainstream movie goers can be frightened by the picture and the imaginative story Garland has given us.
A meteor from deep space has landed on the Eastern coast, striking a lighthouse, but some sort of alien energy force has come with it, creating what is called the shimmer. Rainbow like waves seem to shimmer across the landscape, forming a barrier around the lighthouse, but extending, and any contact with the outside work once inside the shimmer is impossible. Worse, a group of scientists entered the shimmer and came back virtual zombies, unable to communicate what they experienced.
Once of those men was married to Lena, so she decides to take a group of female scientists inside the shimmer to figure out what is happening.
Inside they find that animals are mutating, whatever force is there is altering everything it comes into contact with like a raging cancer exploding in someones body. And Lena is smart enough to know that the longer she is in the shimmer the more chance there is it will hit her and cause whatever happened to her husband to happen to her…or worse, as the shimmer seems to be growing in power. She learns that the extraterrestrial life form is like a virus, working with whatever it comes into contact with, but taking over in its own twisted way.
Lena is a professor at John Hopkins where she is an expert is cell mutation, making her the perfect person to be studying the shimmer, but perhaps not necessarily inside the thing, not placing her life at risk. Yet look deeper, a theme of the film, and she proves to be exactly the right person to be in the shimmer.
When the women make the decision to go into the shimmer they do knowing that it is likely a suicide mission from which they will never return, but they go anyway, a testament to their courage and resolve. They want answers. Led by tough as nails Ventress (Jennifer Jason Leigh), along with three military women portrayed by the always interesting Gina Rodriguez, Tuva Novotny and Tess Thompson) and Lena, what they see once they enter the beautiful shimmer is only the beginning of the horrors to come. Creatures deformed and mutated to something terrible and dangerous, but then the minds of the women are impacted, mounting paranoia, mistrustful of one another, all awaiting the inevitable attack of the alien.
The director seems to pay homage to the great Russian filmmaker Tarkovsky with his minimalist style, his editing and the tension created with a sense of dread and mounting doom. He relies greatly on his actors to carry the film as opposed to making the film a special effects extravaganza, a very bold and exciting move.
Portman as always is excellent as Lena, who does not appear up to handling going inside the shimmer, lacking the military backgrounds of the others. Yet we learn she was seven years in the army, and every bit as equipped as they are, perhaps more because she understands what mutating cells can do to a human body. Steel jawed, focused and intense she gives Sigourney Weaver a run for her money as a female kick ass hero.
Leigh was among the very best actresses of the nineties to never to be nominated for an Oscar for her consistently brilliant work in films such as Georgia (1995) and Washington Square (1997). She finally earned a nomination in The Hateful Eight (2015) for Tarantino, reminding audiences and critics of her gifts. She is terrific here as the no nonsense commander, one who is ready for anything but in no way truly prepared for what they encounter. The scenes between she and Portman crackle with electricity, two great actresses at the top of their game.
Genuinely scary, the film slips under your skin before you realize it is there. Dread builds, slowly, but builds once it starts and never lets up. The director, adapting the book, has merged some of the stories together to create this film. He brings to the story deep philosophical questions, asking tough questions, demanding answers. The beauty inside the shimmer is misleading because under it can be unspeakable horrors, just as beneath the human body can be cancer cells advancing like a nightmarish horror on the body. Managing to be both a truly scary ride with a brain is no easy thing, yet Garland has achieved it…again. He has created one of the most beautiful horror film I might have ever experienced…his images sing, his horrors terrify.
Rating: 3.5/5
