Annihilationis a 2018 science fiction movie directed by Alex Garland. Based on Jeff VanderMeer’s novel of the same name, the movie makes some changes from the book and presents a complex narrative.Annihilationstars Natalie Portman as Lena, a biology professor and veteran. Her husband Kane (Oscar Isaac) dies on a mission into the Shimmer, a mysterious meteorite landing site where plants and animals are mutating. A year after his death, he comes back to their home and deteriorates, and Lena agrees to enter the Shimmer. She joins a team of experts, including psychologist Dr. Ventress (Jennifer Jason Leigh); physicist Josie (Tessa Thompson); geomorphologist Cass (Tuva Novotny); and paramedic Anya (Gina Rodriguez), and plunges into the unknown.
The movie was considered a box office flop, as it didn’t quite earn back its budget. However, it did see popularity in later home releases, and also received generally positive critical reviews – evenBarack Obama considered it one of his favorite moviesthat year. Yet the movie seems to be forgotten just four years later, despite its beautiful visuals and compelling story. Here’s why the movie deserves more recognition.
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It Has Stunning Visuals and Effects
The movie’svisuals are among the most stunningand beautiful of any sci-fi movie. The Shimmer itself is made out of waves of blue, purple, and green, and feels like a living thing. Inside, the wildlife is consuming the buildings, including the lighthouse, which also feels like an organism. The mutated plants and animals are also stunning in a horrifying way, like the alligator with shark teeth, or the mutant bear that Cass' DNA merges with. In a later scene, Ventress mutates into a Mandelbulb, which is a 3D fractal. The shapes and colors whirling around Lena are dazzling and truly breathtaking.
The effects are so great and detailed that everything feels simultaneously fantastical and real. The effects combine the practical and the digital to create a unique visual experience.According to visual effects supervisor Andrew Whitehurst, the bear was actually made by merging human and bear skulls in 3D software. A puppet was created for the cast to genuinely work with in filming, then digitized later. Mottling and molding effects were also added to buildings and wildlife inside the Shimmer, to develop the ideas of sickness and mutations. The effects are not only stunning, but realistic, and genuinely make it feel like you’re walking through the Shimmer with the team.
It Explores Complex Ideas and Mysteries
The movie backs up its flashy visuals withdeep intellectual questions and ideasat its center. The studio even worried the movie was too intellectual, especially in the ending. After Ventress mutates into the Mandelbulb, she absorbs some of Lena and becomes a doppelgänger of her, like a video Lena saw with two identical Kanes. Lena gives her own doppelgänger a grenade, but the doppelgänger just lets it burn, before the Shimmer collapses. In the end, Lena and Kane reunite, and when she asks if it’s really him, he says he doesn’t think so. He asks her the same question, but she doesn’t answer.
The Shimmer itself also raises intellectual questions. The Shimmer is capable of mutating the genes of everything inside it, and Ventress also says it is capable of consuming everything. In the end, Lena says she thinks the Shimmer intended to renew things rather than destroy them. It poses numerous questions about the Shimmer, like if it came from aliens, or if another might appear. The mutations also raise thoughts relevant to us, like our pollution and destruction of the planet, and the possibility of seeing mutations as a result. It all forces us to think about our place in the world and who we are as humans.
There are no concrete answers to the mysteries of the Shimmer, just as there is no concrete answer to the ending. It’s assumed that Kane is a doppelgänger created in the Shimmer, but whether Lena is or not is up to interpretation. Similarly, there’s no saying what the Shimmer’s true intent was, or how it worked. Rather than wrapping it all up neatly,Annihilationis the kind of sci-fi film that leaves itself open for theories and debate, encouraging you to keep thinking and asking questions even after it’s over.
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It Features Accurate Portrayals of Trauma
It also explores the psychology and variousmental health strugglesof its team. Many sci-fi movies, fromGhostbusterstoStar Wars, feature people taking on dangerous situations.Annihilationdigs into thewhyof it all, trying to understand the reasoning behind humans willingly going into something so dangerous.Empire Magazine’s reviewsays the movie is about the “human propensity for self-destruction,” andAnnihilationshows this not just in sci-fi aspects, but in human ones as well.
All the women on the team have some sort of trauma in their backgrounds. Lena was in the military and also had to deal with her husband’s death. Ventress is dying of cancer. Josie suffers from depression and has a history of self-harm. Cass lost her child. Anya is a former addict who constantly needs a new high to chase. They all have that urge towards self-destruction, and accept the fact that they might not return from the Shimmer.Annihilationfully acknowledges the darker aspects of the world and its characters, which gives them and the movie more depth.
