It’s an interesting trend I’m seeing in the science fiction movies of the last few years: they seem to be pondering the end (or at least the complete irrelevance) of the human race as a happy ending. There’s the latest trilogy of the Planet of the Apes films, there’s the latest Best Picture Winner, The Shape of Water, and one of my favorite entries into this fascinating new sub-genre is Alex Garland’s first feature, Ex Machina. That movie’s conclusion probably seemed more horror than sci-fi, but when Alicia Vikander’s strikingly beautiful robot manipulates our protagonist into a seemingly agonizing death to win her escape, was I the only one that felt triumphant? In his Danny Boyle scripts, 28 Days Later… and Sunshine, Garland showed a gift for displaying a disdain for reality while still creating empathy for the few people we were following. It’s a tricky balancing act that he continues in his latest film, Annihilation.
Annihilation is based on the best-selling novel by Jeff VanderMeer, which was the first in a trilogy about the Southern Reach, a research agency looking into the strange phenomenon that is “Area X”. Area X is the result of a meteor-like collision which has left a small portion of Earth surrounded by an amorphous “Shimmer”. Many scientists in the Southern Reach have gone in to study what lies behind The Shimmer, and none have returned. That is, until the arrival of Kane (Oscar Isaac), a former Army soldier who had been missing for a year. He arrives inexplicably in the bedroom of his wife, Lena (Natalie Portman), with little to no explanation as to where he was. Their reunion is cut incredibly short when Kane becomes ill and is rushed to the hospital with severe organ failure.
It is at the hospital that Lena learns about the Southern Reach and Area X, from research psychologist Dr. Ventress (Jennifer Jason Leigh). She meets other members of the agency, including Anya (Gina Rodriguez) a Chicago paramedic, Cass (Tuva Novotny) a geological surveyor, and Josie (Tessa Thompson), a brilliant physicist. As a medical biologist, Lena shares these women’s scientific curiosity in Area X, and with the medical mystery of her husband’s condition, she has even more motivation to join Dr. Ventress and the other three women into The Shimmer. Past the glittering walls, and into Area X, the five scientists discover an existence in which time is warped and biological outliers are everywhere to be seen. Their goal is to reach the site where the meteor-like collision occurred and bring back the information they accrue. The fact that eleven previous missions have failed to return hangs heavy on their thoughts.
This is an incredibly moody film that is spiritually tied to Alien but shares a lot more in common with science fiction films of Andrei Tarkovsky than Ridley Scott. Garland’s script is much more interested in the existential questions that arise in the meaning of humanity than answering them. Those looking for a settled conclusion will likely be disappointed. Instead, Annihilation examines the toll that classic science fiction archetypes have on its human participants. Using a framing device in which Lena, the only survivor, tells the story of her trip into Area X, we know that things will not end well for the five women heading beyond The Shimmer, but that hardly seems the point. Garland is displaying these women’s path toward self-destruction, their completion of a self-fulfilling prophecy of anguish, whether brought on by grief, addiction or illness.
With cinematographer Rob Hardy, Garland’s moldy aesthetic of slick decay will recall last year’s Blade Runner 2049, which was another science fiction film that meandered with little regard for the fate of humanity. Annihilation isn’t as ideologically sloppy as 2049, nor does it pin all its hopes in letting its audience walk away with a smile. Garland’s film is grittier, nastier, unafraid of grotesque violence and monstrosity. There are moments when Annihilation seems to suffer from bouts of devout humorlessness, piling on layers and layers of human suffering on top of its already desperate premise of survival. This all seems by design, an attempt at hard sci-fi, of which Garland has partaken in novels, screenplays and now as a director. If there’s one thing that Annihilation misses, it’s the hint of comical absurdity that was present in Ex Machina, which allowed a bit of stress-relief in a very stressful film.
Along with 2016’s Jackie, Annihilation seems to be Natalie Portman’s complete abandonment of the precociousness that defined the first half of her career. Portman handles herself as a movie star that has complete control of her choice of roles and therefore has complete control of her performance. This might have been why her performance in Jackie felt more like stunt than feeling, but in Annihilation we have a sharp steeliness, a character hardened by guilt and bereavement, motivated by solving a problem she’s not sure really exists. Jennifer Jason Leigh, as the somehow even more steely Dr. Ventress, shows why she has been one of our most dependable actresses over the last thirty-plus years. Leigh’s character is enigmatic in a movie filled with question marks, and she manages to walk away with most of the audience’s curiosity.
Watching the chemistry between Portman and Isaac in flashback scenes meant to prop up exhibition for Lena, I was struck with the realization that ten years ago we’d be seeing these two established movie stars in a romantic comedy together. Put aside the fact that neither Portman (she’s done too many) nor Isaac (he’s done none at all) seem to have no interest in that kind of film, it also speaks to a shift in Hollywood’s idea of what audiences want. Character-driven pieces must now find their footing within genre films, and the industry’s waning bias against science fiction and horror stories has given many filmmakers a chance to make those kinds of explorations. We are living in an age of monsters flourishing within an automated society, and the movies are starting to reflect that. Annihilation strikes me as one of the best in this new trend, and should establish Garland (if he isn’t already) as one of our best genre storytellers.
Written for the Screen and Directed by Alex Garland