“Annihilation”

Early in the third act of Alex Garland’s horror/Sci fi hybrid “Annihilation” a containment crew member asks Lena, sometime after making contact with the mysterious entity that haunts the film, “What did it want?” To which she replies, “I don’t think it wanted anything…” and much the same could be said for the film itself.

Some three years prior, an unknown object crashes into a lighthouse somewhere in America, although it’s never specified where exactly, from which an energy field referred to as “The Shimmer” has slowly been growing. Several military units are dispatched to investigate from a facility built some miles outside it’s perimeter but all of whom vanish and are assumed dead, with the exception of one, Lena’s husband Kane (Oscar Issac). Most of their relationship is told from a series of flashbacks containing the usual marital ups and downs but with the added touch of military secrecy. Lena’s military too of course, that’s how the met, so when Kane abruptly returns, they’re both drugged and swiftly returned back to base.

Lena, now met by Dr. Ventress (Jennifer Jason Leigh) is given the proverbial rundown as her husband lies dying in a room somewhere nearby, persuaded to help investigate The Shimmer to find a way to save him. She is joined by three other female scientists and Dr. Ventress, all with “nothing left to lose.”

The second act unfolds much like many other films of its genre, with characters being picked off one by one, fighting amongst themselves once the fear induced paranoia sets in. What makes “Annihilation” unique is The Shimmer’s connection to hosts and the environment it affects. The beautiful and bizarre mutations The Shimmer provides as it simultaneously replicates and creates is visually striking and terrifying. The highest notes of the film come from its substantial ocular craftsmanship.

Not as much can be said for its character development. The film provides all the necessary ingredients for interesting a complex characters but really does with it. They exist solely to rush us towards a mind bending finish the film is all to excited to prematurely reach.

It’s hard not to picture “The Walking Dead” or even “The Last of Us”, especially when the haunted acoustic notes of the score hit while the characters walk abandoned and scarred towns. It’s an interesting choice of soundtrack instead of relying on sudden crashes of brass to induce jump scares.

“Annihilation” ultimately is a lot like The Shimmmer itself, refracting and mutating several horror and science fiction films together. A dash of John Carpenter’s “The Thing”, a touch of James Cameron’s “Aliens”… it just feels like something is left on the table, not quite realized when characters are left this unexplored. I want to know more about them so I care when they get dragged of into the dark moonlit night.

3 out 4 stars