Annihilation is a women-on-a-mission film — a five-strong team, each member with a different skill set (a biologist, a physicist, a geologist, a paramedic and a psychologist), are sent to investigate a meteor that’s causing a strange phenomenon in an area of Florida. But that’s far from all it is. Taking that throwaway premise, writer and director Alex Garland (loosely adapting a novel by Jeff VanderMeer) has crafted a film that tackles such weighty and sensitive issues as depression, grief and the human propensity for self-destruction.
Natalie Portman is Lena — a college biology professor mourning her husband Kane (Oscar Isaac), a soldier who’s missing-presumed-KIA. Then, nearly a year after he disappeared, he suddenly returns but with no memory of what happened to him and his health rapidly deteriorating. Kane slips into a coma and the pair are taken to a military compound in Florida where Lena discovers he was part of a team sent to investigate “Area X” — an expanding region of swampland surrounded by visible “shimmer”. Of the multiple squads sent in, Kane is the only person to ever return. Wanting to better understand what happened to him, Lena volunteers for the next mission.
It’s not a horror movie, as such, but Garland cranks up the terror and tension.
What’s immediately notable about Annihilation is the make-up of the squad — it’s all female. The film doesn’t make an issue of gender beyond the odd line of dialogue (referencing the multiple all-male squads that failed), but given the prevailing mood in Hollywood, its timing is impeccable. And none of the five are short-changed — no-one gets lost in the group, and each one gets a backstory that goes some way to explaining why they’d sign up for what’s likely to be a suicide mission. Tessa Thompson especially, as self-harming physicist Josie, gives a nuanced, quietly heartbreaking performance that’s a world away from the badass warrior of Thor: Ragnarok.
If the early moments of the film evoke memories of similarly cerebral sci-fi Arrival, as soon as they’re inside Area X, Garland starts to bring in other genres and influences — mutated beasts roam the swamps, twisted human remains hide in the shadows and the squad members’ trust for each other is stretched to its limits. It’s not a horror movie, as such, but Garland cranks up the terror and tension as the group ventures closer to its goal — a meteor impact crater at a lighthouse that’s the central point of all the weirdness.
Garland took his time becoming a director. His career path has taken him from novelist (The Beach) to screenwriter (28 Days Later, Sunshine) before he finally took the plunge with the exceptional Ex Machina. Whatever made him bide his time, it’s worked. Annihilation is a worthy follow-up, proving his debut was no happy accident. It’s one hell of a one-two punch, and confirms him as one of the most accomplished and interesting directors working today.
