Annihilation (2018)

Alex Garland's directorial debut, Ex Machina, is widely recognized as one of the best movies of 2015: it was indeed a compelling, thrilling sci-fi that not only kept you on the edge of your seat for its whole running time but that was also a profoundly throught-provoking piece of art, a layered reflection on what defines human and not. Annihilation is a similar movie in terms of genre, though its aim is even higher this time around. Ex Machina was an intimate piece which managed to use its limited setting and its small number of characters to its advantage, creating an oppressively claustrophobic atmosphere; Annihilation, focusing on a dangerous odissey in an extraterrestrial place, is much bigger and ambitious in scope: the result is an occasionally interesting but more often problematic misfire whose flaws end up overshadowing its merits.

The film's leading character is Lena (Natalie Portman), a biology teacher whose husband Kane (Oscar Isaac), an Army Special Forces soldier, has been missing on a mission for a year. One day, he unexpectedly comes home but he appears detatched and absent-minded and his health is rapidly deteriorating. Kane is quarantined while on a coma in "Area X", a government facility in which Lena is approached by a psychologist, Dr. Ventress (Jennifer Jason Leigh), who reveals to her the nature of the mission on which Kane took part: he, along with a number of soldiers, was sent to an expedition into "the Shimmer", an anomalous, rapidly spreading electromagnetic field in Florida, and he was the only survivor. Determined to find out what happened to her husband, Lena joins Dr. Ventress into a new expedition into "the Shimmer" along with Josie (Tessa Thompson), a physicist, Anya (Gina Rodriguez), a paramedic, and Cass (Tuva Novotny), a geomorphologist. 

The most praiseworthy element of the movie is the visual depiction of the landscape: Rob Hardy's mesmerizing cinematography gives "The Shimmer" an aura of both delicate beauty and palatable danger. The visual effects are not always entirely convincing, but even at their cheapest they manage to work thanks to Hardy's work which makes every frame unique on its peculiar, own way. And Garland, aided by a rather thrilling score by Ben Salisbury and Geoff Barrow, manages to bring genuine tension and terror to the story, creating an atmosphere that is simoultaneously entrancing and unnerving. But there are other elements in a movie outside of its mood and its visuals, such as its idea, its themes and the characters' development. And it's in these departments that the movie falls short.

The writing of the movie is particularly problematic: the characters are little more than ciphers, their backstory are quickly addressed throughout the movie without being genuinely explored or even remotely conveyed through the performances; key scenes that should come off as moving or throught-provoking end up being rather sloppy due to the expository nature of the dialogue. One of the main themes of the movie appears to be humans' tendency to self-destruction - but it's very obvious, even heavy-handed in its depiction which lacks the biting, sharp edge that made Ex Machina such a haunting and intellectually challenging film. The acting is also a sour spot unfortunately: Garland assembles a cast filled with talented names yet the performances are quite uniformly disappointing. Portman gives by far the strongest performance of the movie, bringing tenacity and vulnerability in equal measures to the role of Lena, but even she is a little hindered by a screenplay that gives her a character that is at times frustratingly two-dimensional. Isaac, an amazing actor who was brilliant in Ex Machina, gives arguably his worst performance here, bringing no warmth to his flashback scenes with Portman and portraying his confused and confusing state later on with monotonous stillness. The rest of the cast doesn't fare much better: Leigh is perhaps one of the most versatile actresses in cinema history and her enigmatic reserve is intriguing at first, but there is little else to her ultimately one-note performance; the usually captivating Thompson is surprisingly uninspired here and her final scene is bizarrely written and performed; and Rodriguez starts off well with a nice amount of spunky energy but she is not completely convincing in her portrayal of her character's growing paranoia and there's a degree of awkwardness in her final breakdown. Novotny comes off best out of the supporting cast, but unfortunately she is not given much time nor focus.

Until the last half an hour, the film is ridden with problems but it's still somewhat fascinating and gripping to an extent. But in the final act Annihilation goes completely off the rails and reveals its fundamental emptiness. It's like watching a beautiful visual spectacle that leaves you at arm's length -whereas you couldn't keep your eyes off the screen during the climax of Ex Machina, here you watch with detatchment and even indifference, even though Portman does her heartfelt best to keep you involved with the story. The final scene, in particular, achieves none of the devastating, haunting effect it strives for. Annihilation is a movie that does have some note-worthy elements and its ambition is admirable, but its unsatisfying handling of its potentially interesting themes and the lazy characterizations often make it more frustrating than anything else. 

45/100