“Annihilation”: Go into the Shimmer and hike to the Lighthouse inside
“Annihilation” is an interesting sci-fi spectacle with at least a stab at an interesting idea at the end, personal identity transfer. At the end the light show and shape-shifting (in the “Lighthouse”) is pretty impressive and in the end credits the design show goes abstract, like that in “2001” decades ago.
The director is Alex Garland (based on a novel by Jeff VanderMeer as the first novel of his “Southern Reach Trilogy“), but the stamp of Darren Aronofsky is apparent.
This is also a women’s sci-fi movie. The heroine is Lena (Natalie Portman), whose husband Kane (Oscar Isaacs) returns from an expedition in a coastal area now called “The Shimmer” as the only survivor. When he becomes ill, she follows him to the hospital where she is intercepted by the fibbies and interrogated by a CIA psychologist herself (Jennifer Jason Leigh). She and several other women (including the psychologist) decided to go into the Shimmer themselves and find out what is going on.
The backstory is that a few months before a lighthouse on the Gulf Coast (is this supposed to be near the Florida Everglades? The Louisiana coast?) got struck by a meteor. A curtain of multicolored light developed and grew to include maybe 20 square miles off shore and was still absorbing more area. It has been named “Area X”.
Inside the Shimmer, it seems life forms are recombining – plants are growing with human body forms, and deer grow antlers as branches with flowers. There is a crocodile attack and later a bear attack.. The women camp out in an abandoned military post until Lena finally goes to the lighthouse, “On the Beach” and surrounded by crystal trees, and a curious growth on the cylindrical calls.
There is an interesting question about the end. Is it too much of a spoiler to say that Kane and Lena are now alien (or dopplegangers thereof) and probably don’t know it yet – but they’ll find out in a sequel that they have powers (I’m not familiar with the Trilogy). In the NBC series “The Event” the likeable hero played by Jason Ritter doesn’t find out he is an alien until the end.
The film has an interesting moog music score (one particular melody of 5 notes: Ab D G C# C – is captivating as a leitmotif). The composers are Jeff Barrow and Ben Salisbury. The music resembles the sort of work that gets commissioned these days, as by composers in the NYC group “Metropolis Ensemble”. The design show reminded me of Timo Andres’s “Checkered Square” (Dec. 9, 2017).
Picture: Bay St. Louis Mississippi in Feb 2006 after Katrina.
(Posted: Saturday, February 24, 2018 at 10:15 PM)
Name: “Annihilation”
Director, writer: Alex Garland, Jeff VanDerMeer
Released: 2018
Format: 2.39:1, Imax
When and how viewed: AMC Shirlington, 2018/2/23, nearly sold out
Length: 115
Rating: R
Companies: Paramount, Skydance, DNA Films
Link: official
Stars: 3-1/2 out of 5
Author billsmePosted on February 24, 2018February 27, 2018Categories B-Movies, horror, sci-fiTags DNA Films, Paramount, SkydanceLeave a comment on “Annihilation”: Go into the Shimmer and hike to the Lighthouse inside