Be careful, this movie might enter in your DNA. An extraordinary piece of science fiction that owes a lot to Tarkovsky, but told with a modern and accessible narrative that does not leave aside the questions he asks.
Annihilation, the first part of a trilogy of books about a strange phenomenon that covers and transforms a wooded area called Area X, has been called on more than one occasion "impossible" to adapt to the cinema. In first, its plot is almost null, because it spends more time describing the atmospheres, inner world and sensations with which the Biologist meets the center of the story, that literally narrated its adventures. Biologist is capitalized because, in the book, we never know her name... just like we do not know what the Psychologist, the Anthropologist, or the Topographer who accompany her on this trip are. In the novel, almost everything that happens inside the "shimmer" - as it is known to this kind of luminous dome that suddenly appeared - is described from sensations, which are described with colors, emotions, and memories.
The Annihilation of Alex Garland (who a few years ago gave the jump from novelist and scriptwriter to director with the extraordinary Ex MÃ china), however, does what the best adaptations from book to film should do. That is not to make a carbon copy of the letters to the screen, but to take the emotional center of the novel in question, some elements of its plot and translate them into an audiovisual language that does not repeat or eliminate the source material, but complements it. In this Annihilation film (already on Theaters), Natalie Portman interprets Lena, an ex-military biologist who enters the "shimmer" in search of an answer about what happened to her husband (Oscar Isaac). He had disappeared a year ago after entering the "shimmer" (in issue 11, as the book explains) and mysteriously reappeared without memories, without personality and without an explanation of how he left and came back home.
Garland had already demonstrated his ability to tell stories with elements that could easily become absolutely laughable in the wrong hands. Perhaps the best example of this is his novel The Beach, whose themes of isolation, alienation, and overflowing consumerism (the writer Nick Horby described it as "The Lord of the Flies for Generation X") were almost completely forgotten in the film version of Danny Boyle and screenwriter John Hodge. But the scripts that Garland wrote for Extermination, Sunshine: Solar Alert, Never Leave Me and the surprisingly exciting version of Judge Dreddwith Karl Urban, they showed that the British writer has an extraordinary talent to deal with subjects with very deep philosophical implications and to wrap them in cinematographic pieces that would be easy to confuse with empty entertainment.
Annihilation does something similar. On the surface is an adventure story about a group of women (Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gina Rodriguez, Tessa Thompson, and Tuva Novotny, all exceptional) in a mission. They have to get from point A to point B and on the way they will run into monsters, mysteries, and other typical adventures of an action movie. But it is enough to scratch a little more to run into a lot of questions that should remain with the viewer long after the tape is over. These issues revolve mainly around the nature of good and evil (everything is a matter of perspective, right?) And about our need as a species to find answers to things that, perhaps, are only. "How do you explain that?" An officer asks Lena at some point. "Should I have an explanation?" She says. To which the officer responds with a sharp and threatening, "Yes." The subtext: "you better explain it or we will find you guilty of... something, even if we do not know very well what". The silence and the lack of explanations is, apparently enough reason to condemn someone.
Annihilation is easily placed within a list of science fiction films that are more voiced with auditory atmospheres (the audio design is extraordinary), dream visual treatments and a latent mystery whose pieces seem (only seem) not to fit completely, that with an easily identifiable plot. Come to mind Under the skin, Upstream Color (read our review), Coherence and the two tapes to which Annihilation owes them more than any: Stalker and Solaris, both of Tarkovsky. In the end, Annihilation works by the narrative skill of Alex Garland to balance the absurd with the reckless and the metaphor with tangible fear.
This does not mean, eye, that the first hour and a half is a mere formality, because that's where we find a plethora of excellent performances (great casting work) that sows and grows one of the nuclei of the film, reflection on the tendency towards the self-destruction of the human being ; along the way, we also find a terrifying and memorable scene that will be easily remembered during the next few years.
But, as we said, it is in its final throes that Annihilation is disheveled and, without caring about the potentially complex of what is being told, presents a conclusion that will confuse many, frustrate so many others and has achieved, among other things, that a server continues to reflect on the film and its proposal days after viewing. It is difficult, for the reasons cited and more, to recommend Annihilation without qualms but, on the contrary, it is easy to say that any harder science fiction fan will enjoy, in one way or another, what is one of the most risky and qualitatively highlighted Netflix flick.
You can watch Annihilation on Netflix. You can also pre-order Annihilation Movie Full Online on iTunes, Google Play, Microsoft Store, Vudu, and Amazon Prime Video.
Annihilation, the first part of a trilogy of books about a strange phenomenon that covers and transforms a wooded area called Area X, has been called on more than one occasion "impossible" to adapt to the cinema. In first, its plot is almost null, because it spends more time describing the atmospheres, inner world and sensations with which the Biologist meets the center of the story, that literally narrated its adventures. Biologist is capitalized because, in the book, we never know her name... just like we do not know what the Psychologist, the Anthropologist, or the Topographer who accompany her on this trip are. In the novel, almost everything that happens inside the "shimmer" - as it is known to this kind of luminous dome that suddenly appeared - is described from sensations, which are described with colors, emotions, and memories.
The Annihilation of Alex Garland (who a few years ago gave the jump from novelist and scriptwriter to director with the extraordinary Ex MÃ china), however, does what the best adaptations from book to film should do. That is not to make a carbon copy of the letters to the screen, but to take the emotional center of the novel in question, some elements of its plot and translate them into an audiovisual language that does not repeat or eliminate the source material, but complements it. In this Annihilation film (already on Theaters), Natalie Portman interprets Lena, an ex-military biologist who enters the "shimmer" in search of an answer about what happened to her husband (Oscar Isaac). He had disappeared a year ago after entering the "shimmer" (in issue 11, as the book explains) and mysteriously reappeared without memories, without personality and without an explanation of how he left and came back home.
Garland had already demonstrated his ability to tell stories with elements that could easily become absolutely laughable in the wrong hands. Perhaps the best example of this is his novel The Beach, whose themes of isolation, alienation, and overflowing consumerism (the writer Nick Horby described it as "The Lord of the Flies for Generation X") were almost completely forgotten in the film version of Danny Boyle and screenwriter John Hodge. But the scripts that Garland wrote for Extermination, Sunshine: Solar Alert, Never Leave Me and the surprisingly exciting version of Judge Dreddwith Karl Urban, they showed that the British writer has an extraordinary talent to deal with subjects with very deep philosophical implications and to wrap them in cinematographic pieces that would be easy to confuse with empty entertainment.
Annihilation does something similar. On the surface is an adventure story about a group of women (Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gina Rodriguez, Tessa Thompson, and Tuva Novotny, all exceptional) in a mission. They have to get from point A to point B and on the way they will run into monsters, mysteries, and other typical adventures of an action movie. But it is enough to scratch a little more to run into a lot of questions that should remain with the viewer long after the tape is over. These issues revolve mainly around the nature of good and evil (everything is a matter of perspective, right?) And about our need as a species to find answers to things that, perhaps, are only. "How do you explain that?" An officer asks Lena at some point. "Should I have an explanation?" She says. To which the officer responds with a sharp and threatening, "Yes." The subtext: "you better explain it or we will find you guilty of... something, even if we do not know very well what". The silence and the lack of explanations is, apparently enough reason to condemn someone.
Annihilation is easily placed within a list of science fiction films that are more voiced with auditory atmospheres (the audio design is extraordinary), dream visual treatments and a latent mystery whose pieces seem (only seem) not to fit completely, that with an easily identifiable plot. Come to mind Under the skin, Upstream Color (read our review), Coherence and the two tapes to which Annihilation owes them more than any: Stalker and Solaris, both of Tarkovsky. In the end, Annihilation works by the narrative skill of Alex Garland to balance the absurd with the reckless and the metaphor with tangible fear.
This does not mean, eye, that the first hour and a half is a mere formality, because that's where we find a plethora of excellent performances (great casting work) that sows and grows one of the nuclei of the film, reflection on the tendency towards the self-destruction of the human being ; along the way, we also find a terrifying and memorable scene that will be easily remembered during the next few years.
But, as we said, it is in its final throes that Annihilation is disheveled and, without caring about the potentially complex of what is being told, presents a conclusion that will confuse many, frustrate so many others and has achieved, among other things, that a server continues to reflect on the film and its proposal days after viewing. It is difficult, for the reasons cited and more, to recommend Annihilation without qualms but, on the contrary, it is easy to say that any harder science fiction fan will enjoy, in one way or another, what is one of the most risky and qualitatively highlighted Netflix flick.
You can watch Annihilation on Netflix. You can also pre-order Annihilation Movie Full Online on iTunes, Google Play, Microsoft Store, Vudu, and Amazon Prime Video.