Review- Annihilation

Annihilation is... Honestly, it's quite an overwhelming film and a lot of this review is going to be me processing it. That's your warning that there will be mild spoilers dotted around and that this film is brilliant, on Netflix and best enjoyed with minimal information about it. The setup is moderately simple, in that a wall (called a shimmer) appears around a section of land, scientists are sent to investigate but none return. One (the husband of Natalie Portman) does return but in baffling circumstances so she and four other scientists head into The Shimmer to investigate. It's when inside that the plot gets crazy and that's the beauty of it. A lot of the stuff that happens isn't fully explained. There are little pieces to put together but no easy explanation and that's amazing. Word of warning though, as the plot gets on, it becomes much more metaphorical than literal, although not to the degree of mother!. There's also plenty of thematic connections across the film, little notes that tie events, characters or places together. I won't give anything away, it's just important that you listen and look for recurring themes and motifs as they'll allow you a greater grip and enjoyment of the film.

The cast also wows here, with not really a weak link between them, the caveat being that performances that feel abnormal can be considered a deliberate choice in this film. Natalie Portman is the lead and I'd say she might be the one guiltiest of this ambiguity. At times, she's confused, sometimes angry but most of the time, it's hard to tell. Emotionally, she's like a Rorschach test and for a film this bizarre, that works perfectly. On similar wavelengths are Oscar Isaac and Jennifer Jason Leigh but without wanting to give too much away, there are implications that those performances are for a reason. In roles that aren't weird but are excellent, you'll find the rest of the core cast with Tessa Thompson, Gina Rodriguez and Tuva Novotny rounding out the group of women who head into The Shimmer. Each is fully believable (as much as breakdowns in this setting can be believable) but with Rodriguez and Thompson having some large roles to their name, it's interesting how Garland seems to cast them highly against type. Plus, they make this film even more important in that the central five characters are all women, all of whom are the very best in their scientific fields, proficient in battle and generally fearless. In other words, it's much more empowering than the 2016 Ghostbusters and then the film is better too.

As someone who loved Garland's last film (Ex Machina) and was intrigued by the trailers, I couldn't wait to see Annihilation on the big screen but unfortunately, Paramount decided to sell it to Netflix outside of North America instead. There's a whole financial reason for this that I could write a whole post on so Google it if you're interested but the result is that anyone who doesn't live in America was robbed of what could well be one of the greatest cinematic experiences of the decade, for numerous reasons. Firstly, as someone who saw mother! the day it opened, it's riveting to be unpacking a film that gets real weird with an audience and to share looks of disbelief as you shuffle away afterwards. Aside from that (as I realise most people don't care for that aspect of cinema), it's a film that is visually astounding and can't be done true justice on a small screen. Hell, the film society at Exeter booked a lecture theatre just to show it and I still felt like I wasn't getting the full experience. Not only is the cinematography great, the design of this world is incredible, in the way it seems to take things common in our world and bastardise them and there's no way you'll pick up all of those details if you just watch this on your laptop or (god forbid) your phone. Just find the biggest screen you can, turn the volume way up high and give yourself fully to the film.

I've had nothing but praise for this film and I do genuinely love it but I think you should be cautious of my recommendation. This is certainly not a film for everyone, as is the case for most cerebral sci-fi. It is a film that wants to make you think and will certainly offer no easy answers so if you want simple satisfaction and gratification from your films, stay away. That said, it's on Netflix so there's no harm in trying it but as far as I'm concerned, it's a masterstroke that, while falling just short of Ex Machina, deserves a