For almost every screening, I show up early to the Alamo Drafthouse to catch their pre-show. For those who have never been, it’s basically a series of YouTube clips, old reels, and trailers of similar or adjacent movies, spoofs, and commercials. It’s kind of like a wine tasting, some of them you will like, some of them you won’t. A good pre-show gets you in just the right mood for the film you are about to see. Annihilation is likened to the series of depressing sci-fi film trailers dispatched during the pre-show, the kind that basically lay out the whole story, and I had a feeling that my lack of research before the viewing would make for a better experience. Coming out the other end, if you haven’t seen this film’s trailers, read the book, or followed it in any way, you are in for a rare treat. I hesitantly advocate for this experience, since I desire that you read on, so take my advice with a grain of salt.

Directed and written by Alex Garland, Annihilation comes from the mind that brought us the last great sci-fi in recent years Ex Machina. Most sci-fi entrenches itself in some form of heavy handed metaphor just below the surface as a means of connecting to an audience who may otherwise feel disconnected from the fiction of the science on display. In Annihilation, there seems to be a deep relationship with women, birth, and abortion. The film stars five different women, lead by Army vet and bio-engineer Lena (Natalie Portman), they enter a strange extraterrestrial phenomenon dubbed the “Shimmer”. In an effort to save her sick husband, Kane (Oscar Isaac), the only member of an elite squad to return from the Shimmer, she joins a crew of recently selected women who are selected to be the 4th group to explore with the mission of returning with data. Each of the women appear to represent of different kind of decision or determination in line with birth, death, and abortion. So as not to give anything away, pay special attention to their motivations and choices. It becomes a deep meditation on the struggles that come with conception, deception, relationships, and the duality of choice..

On execution, the film is particularly beautiful. Jennifer Jason Leigh delivers one of the best performances I have seen from her catalog, playing a cold and calculating military psychiatrist. Tessa Thompson and Gina Rodriguez play particularly well as supporting cast members, being a bit younger and inexperienced, the moments they lash out and grow are particularly inviting. Tuva Novotny has some moments as well, playing darker, sullen, and more controlled than the rest of the crew. However, Natalie Portman and Oscar Isaac don’t come off quite as incredible in this film. Isaac has done great sci-fi before with his lead role as a genius program engineer in Ex Machina whereas here he just comes off as detached and inanimate, which I realize is part of the character’s motivation, but it never really felt like he connected with the characters personal turmoil. Portman is in the same boat, and she has been, in my opinion, since Leon The Professional. It seems to me that she lost a special connection she had with acting after some of the negative interactions she had with fans from that point, and in every film, I haven’t heard or seen that love of acting or playing a part in her eyes you see just beyond and around the corners. It probably doesn’t help to have the widely panned Star Wars prequels in your past. This isn’t to say either actor was bad, maybe I just expect a bit more A-list game. Finally, the soundtrack is especially involving, pulling you in and driving you deeper in the plot of the film, all except for one song. At moments of loneliness or self-reflection, a folksy guitar solo plays that is just awful and completely ruins the overall tone of the film for the sake of a single moment for a character.

I would say that Annihilation is one of the better films to come out of sci-fi in the past few years. It has a tight plot, interesting characters, a deeper meaning, and it feels surprisingly relatable. It walks this careful line between psychologically creepy and visceral frightening. You leave with a sense of dread while simultaneously enlightened. What’s more, there is more than one way to watch this movie. Mostly, it is about the duality of choice, your lack of control, and the control you choose to wield. And yet, I couldn’t help but see so much of it as the plight of motherhood. Either way, you’ll walk out with your own ideas, but we can all agree that this is pretty decent sci-fi.

~* 8.5/10 *~