Annihilation (2018)

This film had the misfortune of being dumped by its studio at the time of release AND coming out the week after Black Panther but make no mistake, this is one of THE most impressive science fiction horror films of recent years.  

It was directed by genre master Alex Garland (Ex Machina) and stars Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tessa Thompson, and Oscar Isaac. 

 It all revolves around the expedition of four scientists into a mysterious area of Florida swampland now occupied by alien life known as “The Shimmer” and what transpires there is not for the squeamish! 

Host: Geoff Gershon
Producer: Marlene Gershon

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Transcript

ANNIHILATION - 2018

Directed by Alex Garland (Audio clip)

Starring Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Oscar Isaac, Tessa Thompson, Gina Rodriguez, Tuva Novotny, and Benedict Wong

Genre: Sci-Fi/Horror Thriller

This might be the most underrated and under-seen big studio film from a master director of the past five years - it could be the Sorcerer of its time. 🤔

Just in case you have not heard of Sorcerer, it was William Friedkin's big-budget follow-up to The Exorcist and The French Connection...it had a difficult shoot, a contentious relationship between director and studio which ended up barely marketing it, and it had the extreme misfortune of opening just a week after the first Star Wars in '77. This film's pedigree was a bit different in that the shoot apparently went smoothly and Garland had recently directed Ex Machina and Dredd so he wasn't a huge commercial success like Friedkin was in the mid-'70s. But overall the comparison feels pretty apt as the studio pre-emptively sold off most of this film's release to Netflix before even TRYING to promote it and...Annihilation had the extreme misfortune of opening a week after Black Panther. :o Both are weird, ambitious movies that deliver effective genre thrills on the surface but also go out of their way to delve a bit deeper in seemingly off-putting ways.

As interesting as the behind-the-scenes stuff is, it doesn't hold a candle to the film itself which is a demented sorta haunted house horror thriller albeit set in a forest called "The Shimmer." The Shimmer is a coastal swamp spot in Florida (of course!) where some sort of extraterrestrial life has landed, taken over the area, and is spreading further out...like a cancer. And describing it as cancer becomes the aptest comparison for our main protagonist Lena (Natalie Portman) who has entered The Shimmer with four other female scientists to find out what happened to her husband (Oscar Isaacs) who remains the only survivor from a previous military mission to get to the bottom of what's going on with this thing - he returned from this mission under mysterious circumstances and is clearly not himself to the point where his body is having difficulties functioning though for no obvious reason why

 Isaacs appears early on this film and to refer to his general demeanor when he first returns to Lena as unsettling is an understatement - his appearance seems normal but he comes off as an expressionless ghost. . (Audio clip) This is just the first sign that writer/director Garland is taking us on a journey that is bound to be scary, frustrating, and with no easy explanations. In general, that does describe the film with much of the cast effectively playing it that way...confounded and scared but often generally quiet. This isn't Alien where most of our characters were blue-collar space truckers and immediately more relatable - that might also be a big reason why this generally didn't connect with audiences. But then again this isn't Prometheus either where most of the main characters were also scientists but also acting like impulsive morons most of the time. (Audio clip) 

Nope, all of the performances feel authentic especially Portman, a melancholy Tessa Thompson (who seemingly never gives a bad performance no matter the genre), (Audio clip), and Tuva Novotny who I haven't seen in anything else but really made an impression early on in a haunting exchange she has with Portman going quietly rowing their way down a river - Novotny discusses how everyone on this mission is damaged goods, including her own tragic past. 

And calling each character damaged goods is probably underselling it...as one of them cites at some point, self-destruction is a very human trait and it's probably a driving reason for their past mistakes and why they are even here in The Shimmer, seemingly on a suicide mission. It's a running theme throughout the film that lands though Garland never beats you over the head with it. 

Speaking of The Shimmer, this film is a technical marvel on just about every level......the stunning production design by Mark Digby who helps this world look both beautiful and freakish at the same time....to the mind-blowing creature and visual effects from the Milkhouse and Double Negative lead by Andrew Whitehurst who won an Oscar for the impressive work he did for Garland's previous film, Ex Machina. Some of the imagery and creatures seen almost defy explanation...there's somebody horror involved along with some Lovecraftian threats. :o (Audio clip) 

And though there are several other good scares as well, Annihilation doesn't really resolve itself along the lines of those other sci-fi horror classics mentioned...but it's just as absorbing and well-crafted. It came out just under four years ago so it's WAY too soon to tell if it's going to have the staying power of Alien or The Fly but for me, it's already a special film worth revisiting again and again.

Best Needledrop (best song cue or score used throughout the runtime of the film): 

Kudos must also go to the extremely haunting score by Geoff Barrow and Ben Salisbury which figuratively becomes its own distinct character during the last 20 minutes.  Basically, we’re watching this alien life attempt to communicate Natalie Portman’s Lena and music is a key part of it…..it’s akin to the alien ship climax in Close Encounters of the Third Kind but much more twisted.  Barrow was originally 1/3 of the ‘90’s trip-hop trio Portishead and eventually went into film scores as many other notable pop composers have including Danny Elfman and Trent Reznor.  Salisbury himself is a lifetime composer who actually kicked off his career in the ’90s initially composing music for nature documentaries before getting more into film in the ‘2000’s. 

Both of them hail from the UK and for Annihilation, they crafted a score that isn’t particularly melodic but does genuinely augment the story being told on-screen.  To quote Rolling Stone magazine, they created a “mind-altering soundworld with acoustic guitar, orchestra, a touch of electronics, and a four-note motif.”  It’s SUCH a unique score, I honestly lack the vocabulary to best describe it myself….it just packs a guttural punch and you’ll just need to hear it for yourself. (Audio clip)   

Trailer Moment (scene or moment that best describes this movie): 

One standout sequence I don't want to spoil too much involves a bear but just not your average bear and I'll leave it at that...most of our main characters are just put in this terrifying situation, the sound design and visuals (including one unnerving POV shot) and of course the performances combine for a few minutes of horror on the level of the chest-buster sequence from Alien or the heart-reviving sequence in The Thing, it's THAT good! (Audio clip)

Wasted Talent (most under-utilized talent involved with film): 

In this case, the wasted talent was sadly at the studio level….one of the original legacy film studios no less, Paramount Pictures.  Growing up in the ’80s and ’90s, Paramount used to be one of THE great movie studios putting out a variety of films aimed at various audiences…their marketing department was one of the best at finding ways to sell edgier, R-rated films like Fatal Attraction, Face/Off, The Accused, and An Officer and a Gentleman.  Oh, they put out as many big tentpole pictures as anyone….the Indiana Jones movies, the Star Trek saga, Beverly Hills Cop films…..but they weren’t afraid to release darker R-rated films.  Alas, that is NOT the Paramount of today – THIS studio is extremely risk-averse, mainly spending most of its resources on pre-sold IP at the PG-13 level…..Transformers, Mission Impossible, Sonic the Hedgehog.  

And hey the last several Mission Impossible movies have been damn good but when it comes to edgier R-rated fare, Paramount is still producing some of that stuff but nowadays….they’re just more likely to sell it off to Netflix or another streaming service.  This is pretty much what happened with Annihilation – they give it a small release in the US and China, sold off the rights everywhere else to streaming.  Yes, this film is grim and challenging but it’s STILL an engrossing cinematic experience with some truly jaw-dropping sequences.  I mean that bear sequence alone…..in the right hands, this could have been sold as the new Alien featuring terrifying stuff on-screen which no one had seen before – this could have killed with a decent marketing budget and slower release plan in September or October…given it room to breathe, build some buzz.  Even in today’s IP-driven marketplace, a stand-alone horror film has the potential to break out….like Get Out or Don’t Breathe.  But they didn’t even try – they barely marketed it, dumped it on 2000 screens in the middle of February in the US, and cut the rest of their losses via streaming rights.  As it turned out, Annihilation made about $40 million in just two major markets on a $55 million budget…..money was left on the table, and even worse, 80% of the planet NEVER had the chance to see this on the big screen.  If that’s not a waste of creative product from strong talent, I don’t know what it is. 

MVP (person or people most responsible for the success of this film): 

Since seeing this, I have become an unabashed fanboy for Alex Garland – he not only directed this but adapted the screenplay from a very challenging sci-fi novel (first of a trilogy) by Jeff VanderMeer.  And the dude just knocked it out of the park!  Before Annihilation, he directed another one of the best science fiction films of recent years, the celebrated Ex Machina which came out seven years ago and even won an Oscar for Best Visual Effects against a VERY competitive field that year. And before that, he ghost-directed likely future episode and one of the most dazzling comic book adaptations of the past decade – yes the Marvel decade no less – with his incarnation of Dredd which also happened to be a kick-ass action movie.  So as far as I’m concerned, he’s three-for-three as a director.  And his writing track record before this was unassailable as well – the decade before writing and directing Dredd, he ALSO wrote (or co-wrote) the screenplays for three pretty impressive genre masterpieces in themselves, two of them directed by one of my cinematic heroes Danny Boyle…..likely future episodes 28 Days Later, Sunshine, and Never Let Me Go.  So even though this guy COULD be the 21st Century sci-fi answer to Cameron, Carpenter, Verhoeven…hell Lucas, why isn’t he being talked about that way right now outside of cinephiles?  Obviously, because he has yet to direct something that REALLY makes money plain and simple!  Dredd and Annihilation were considered flops while Ex Machina made solid money but that’s the real issue – both of his attempts at directing IP just fell flat with audiences sadly.  

Well not THIS audience because as far as I’m concerned, Alex Garland isn’t the future of sci-fi cinema, he’s the PRESENT, the master right now.  With Annihilation, he crafted a thought-provoking, engrossing, and genuinely terrifying tale about humanity’s continuous nudge towards self-destruction – he’s not only the MVP for this film but one of the MVPs for genre filmmaking in general.

(Audio clip) 

Final Rating: 5 stars out of 5

Annihilation could arguably be THE best film from what I consider THE last great year for movies…..2018, this was the last time Hollywood in general year-round just delivered a dazzling variety of films of all shapes and sizes, I mean wow just such a STACKED year!  Blackklansman, If Beal Street Could Talk, Black Panther, ‘Into the Spiderverse, Sorry to Bother You, previous episode Widows, The Favorite, Game Night, Blindspotting, Mandy, A Star is Born, Crazy Rich Asians, Love Simon…..it wasn’t that long ago folks.  I’ll be revisiting this year again for sure and maybe just maybe we’ll have another 2018 coming our way…..

Streaming on Paramount +

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#livingforthecinema #moviereviews #annihilation #AlexGarland #NataliePortman #JenniferJasonLeigh #OscarIsaac #TessaThompson #GinaRodriguez #TuvaNovotny #BenedictWong