Annihilation (spoilers)

I just got back from seeing it and wow, was it ever amazing.

The Sphere-esque mold for a film is an excellent vehicle to dive into actually cool ideas and visuals. Arrival sort of did this recently but was not nearly as open-ended as this.

The only real cons I have with the film are its a little too character-focused, and the mystery of The Shimmer is more or less explained.

In fact, a lot of the mystery is explained. From what I understand (having not read the books), the shimmer is essentially a way of collapsing everything around it into a kind of hive mind organism? I say a kind of hive mind organism because it appears as all the living things also have a certain degree of agency. Sort of like a less violent version of The Thing? On this note, I also didn't need one of the characters to explain why the bear sounded like their deceased team member. That whole sequence was so amazing and one of the best sequences of horror for me since probably The Blair Witch Project. However, the energy of that scene gets kind of diluted when a hokey explanation of her consciousness at death being transferred to the bear gets revealed. I didn't need to know that.

I really appreciated how all the character deaths involved becoming part of their environment in some way, however this is sort of a good thing and bad thing. Whether it has intent or not is sort of irrelevant because none of it acted with any real purpose.

There was also a little too much character focus. Her cheating on her husband; all the women having some kind of damaged past...Im glad it didn't delve into these things further because they are the least interesting aspects of the film. Characters in sci-fi and horror should be HUDS for ideas and visuals and nothing more, in my opinion. As such, the final moment of it ending with the relationship of Natalie Portman and Oscar Isaac felt a little weird. We know the identity of Isaac, and had it been just implied with the whole sequence with the phosphorous grenade, it would have been 100 times better. And the questions it poses about death and/or annihilation being simply a new form of existence felt kind of hastily thought out. I didn't need it. Especially symbolized within this boring relationship between Portman and Isaac.

Regardless, since none of my friends have seen this, im super interested to read what you guys thought about it and to illuminate the film further. Im certainly missing some points, but this film is worth talking about.

Alex Garland represents a unique kind of filmmaker, one that unabashedly favors genre art that explores deep, intimate, powerful ideas about the self and the influence of the world on identity. I've been a fan since 28 Days Later and feel continued gratitude that this guy gets to keep telling stories the way he does.

As for Annihilation, I loved it. I loved the film's bleak vision. I loved the commentary on the interactions between psychology and biology (not a coincidence, I'm sure, that the psychologist and the biologist were the last two team members alive). I love that it was a complicated and challenging film that was willing to implicate its characters in their pursuit of self-destruction and self-realization. Annihilation in many ways is a dark descendant of Stanley Kubrick's cinematic work, the kind of movie that leaves you pondering every line of dialogue, every scene, and every subtlety, to better understand some greater, more horrific truth.

I just saw something about this yesterday and I'm very interested, apparently it's coming to Netflix in European territories mid-March (no cinema release) and I cant wait to see it.

I found the trailers interesting enough to buy the trilogy of books and breezed through them in like 3 weeks or so. Needless to say I am glad to hear the movie seems to be good.

Having not read the books, it's my understanding that the film takes some significant liberties with the source material. In a recent interview, Garland admitted he told VanderMeer, "I don't know how to make a faithful adaptation of your book."

Go into it, then, with that in mind.

Just want to say I can't wait. I didn't read everything you wrote out of aversion to spoilers, but I'm glad you enjoyed it so much and there are some amazing things occuring science wise and science fiction wise in this story.

The Colour Out of Space is alive and well. I look forward to coming backafter I've seen it and discussing it with you folks.

Alex Garland is a gift to sci-fi if you ask me. Cheers!

I just recently learned that Netflix bought the international rights for its release, so I get to watch it for free at home in a month or so. I'm kinda stoked about that.

I still can't sleep because of that DAMN BEAR, but the film overall was pretty good. Surprisingly little mystery left after it's over, which could be a great thing if you're into hard facts and science shit. Natalie Portman killed it as always while the rest of the cast just sort walked and talked a bunch. Just brace yourselves for a shiny nightmarish adventure!

I saw it yesterday. I liked it generally. The horror moments were truly great. The overall soundscape was epic. Loved the visual aesthetics of the world. The theme of living through unstoppable change was very strong. You had characters who wanted to fight against it (Anya), accept it (Josie), study it (Lena). No matter what they do though, change was gonna happen. The change isn't good or evil, it just is, something always present and shaping you for better or worse. At the end of the movie, when you see Lena with Hanes and she has the weird eyes, the shimmer has forever changed her (for the worse?).

I was also comparing Lena and Hanes to the Ship of Theseus thought experiment. Basically you have a ship and one by one, replace each wooden board with a new piece, is it still the same ship? Lena, I would argue, is fundamentally the same person at the end of the movie as she was at the beginning even though her physical nature (her blood, her eyes) has been altered. She still has feelings for Hanes, still is guilty about cheating, her personality is largely similar and I recognize her still as Lena. Conversely Hanes isn't the same. Whatever that thing is that showed up at Lena's house isn't Hanes. Even though he looks just like him, sounds just like him, even still shows feelings for Lena, his origins are literally alien.

I spent a lot of time trying to formulate my thoughts about the characters because I didn't particularly like how their stories were cut off like how the psychologist Ventress' story ended in the lighthouse cave. Josies plant progression went from 0-100 and she was gone. The female crew becomes more and more nonsensical throughout the film and I think I was trying to criticize their irrational behavior but their increasing weird behavior is kind of the point. It's like in a horror movie, criticizing a side character for walking down a dark alleyway alone is kind of besides the point.

Also they should have rented a military destroyer and entered by sea. ggez

EDIT: I think it's a real shame this movie bombed.

I really liked it. The trailer didn't do much for me, but it was intriguing enough and I really like Ex Machina and Natalie Portman.

All the character's emotional baggage is to support the depression analogy. You can fight it, accept it, examine it, but it changes you.

Also the bear scene was rad.

Earlier in the day, we happened to be talking about alien life and what form it would take. Not because of the movie or anything.

That evening I went to see it because it was on my list of stuff to see, and holy hell, it tied in perfectly to our earlier discussion. I loved everything about it, really.

This kind of Sci Fi is far better to me than the mediocre space opera Star Wars kind of always has been.

Just saw it. Took me a bit on the drive home to break it down and digest in my mind. I would say that I did enjoy it.

Like many have mentioned, I think it went a little overboard with the explanations for every bit of character conflict. More ambiguity between Lena and Kane's relationship would have gone a lot farther I think instead of showing the affair, revealing that the professor has a wife, and he essentially explains to the audience that Lena hates herself and him for having the affair. Really just Lena and Kane's actions on the bed together towards the beginning and how that other professor touched Lena at the university spoke volumes about their relationships. This could be said for many of the other characters as well. It seemed like you could decipher each character as having some inner-trauma without having to directly explain what everyone was suffering from.

Also mentioned, all the explanation about the Shimmer and creatures could have been way toned down.

But honestly, if that's the cost of making a provocative sci-fi movie these days, I'd rather experience them than not at all. I just wish producers and studios wouldn't think audience members were so dumb so that they were left more to interpretation.

Agreed.

They should have cut three scenes... the two showing Lena's affair, which added basically nothing to the character, and the scene where the guy interviewing/debriefing Lena essentially asks, "what do you think it all means?"

Leave that for the audience to think about.

I really enjoyed it. It's like STALKER (the game) meets 2001. It's a slow movie, but most good sci-fi is slow. It takes its time to really build up the Shimmer so there's a good sense of dread before entering it. And once the movie enters the shimmer, it really takes time to let you absorb the atmosphere of this weird alien morphed environment. It is very definitive leaves you with very little questions as to the nature of the shimmer.

I agree with everyone that they should have cut back on the flashbacks. I think the context of the affair is crucial in understanding why Kane would undertake the mission and why Lena feels like she owes him. But they do repeat flashbacks in a way that doesn't feel relevant like it does in Arrival. It very much feels like padding to make up for a small effects budget. I do think we get cut short on some characters. We didn't really get to know Tessa Thompson's character aside from what Shepard told us about her and Ventress seemed like she could have been a Kurtz-esque character, but her character development also felt like it was cut short.

I saw it opening night and I saw it again last night and it withstood a 2nd viewing just fine. Ppl should catch this before it leaves theaters soon, it's a really solid movie. Unfortunately, it didn't catch on like Ex Machina and the word-of-mouth hasn't been big enough. Ppl will discover it eventually but the movie deserved a little more marketing push.

Sadly it went straight to Netflix here in Australia. I watched it last night and it was awesome, but the shitty streaming quality didn't do it justice. It often looked muddy and pixelated. I'm pissed that I didn't get a chance to see this on a cinema screen with huge sound. Hopefullly it gets a blu-ray / 4k release soon.

@fram: @liquiddragon:

Paramount basically pushed it out to die because it didn't test well with test audiences.

@minipato: ya I heard. Still salty though! Could have done a limited release.

I just watched this today and I dunno, it was interesting. Knowing the movie was coming out I got the first book in the trilogy and after finishing I was incredibly curious how they would adapt it into a full length movie. The novel is very different from the movie and for those who think the film was too explicit with it's explanations then they should really read the book because it's very ethereal to a fault. As for the movie I have to say I mostly enjoyed the sound design which really amplified some of the scenes, especially the homestretch. It's also a great adaptation or rather interpretation of the base material. In some regards it's very blatant in storytelling and in others too obtuse, I would have enjoyed a better balance that would result in a more loaded and satisfying ending. As it stands it's one of those movies that can be interpreted in many different ways, and no one theory holds water over the other because there aren't enough solid facts to point to.

Honestly I'm not surprised they were so desperate to push this to streaming. I'm glad they didn't muddle the directors vision in the end, but this is definitely a movie that is going to fascinate some and leave many, many others unsatisfied.

i've been listening to the 'the alien' from the soundtrack on repeat since i saw it two weeks ago.

what an outstanding climax- it's an utter crime that everyone outside north america won't get to experience it in theatres with the sound cranked.

I watched it last night. It was great up until the last half an hour, which was trying too hard to be abstract and fell a bit flat for me.

It was a great looking film with interesting ideas and setting. Other than that, I don't know. It kept building tension and intrigue, but never really felt like it delivered on any of it.

Overall, I liked it, but it doesn't really live up to the internet buzz.

Saw it a few days after it got released on Netflix. Went into it with some saying it's a bit like Tarkovsky's Stalker movie. Really like the mystery and has a phenomenal ending.

But the movie has a few problems, namely the characters. I often found myself yelling inside "why would you do that?". These people who in are supposed to be professionals and one of them freaking out because one of them lied to them for something that doesn't really concern them. Also - why didn't Lena just tell them? Why not? If anything that would've helped the mission. Also - they wake up 4 days after they are at the edge of the shimmer - just get out and get a loong wire that can help you find your way out. There's stuff like that that pissed me off about this movie.

Also I'm glad I was warned to not to expect a monster flick out of this movie, because it's not. And really, that would've been enough for me not to see it if I looked at the marketing alone.

Going back to Stalker - this movie really evokes some of that feeling from the movie (haven't read Roadside Picnic). Stalker actually looks really normal - it's filmed in abandoned industrial zones with vehicles and what not laying around fields. So Annhiliation makes for a muuch better visual experience, especially the last 25 mins. But appart from that only some surface level similarities can be made between the two movies. You should see Tarkovsky's Solaris if you want a much slower and psychological experience on what is the self.

But that ending in Annhilitation. Very few words spoken. Tons of visual storytelling and great eye candy.

As others pointed out, I wanted a bit more ambiguity (ala the other movies I mentioned), but having some ammount mystery films is better than having no movies with no mystery in them.

@the_greg: yah the biggest problem for me is that the movie keeps on building but never establishes any real logic that could be cleverly put together by the viewer. Things generally just happen. You don’t get that feeling of looking back at the beginning and seeing clues leading up to the events that would come later, you don’t really understand much of anything except for the emotional turmoil of the main characters. It’s a great idea and has wonderful atmosphere but it’s building blocks on their own are more interesting than the final product.

I thought the movie was really good. Where it falls short is that it doesn't trust the audience enough. Everything is pretty much spelled out for you.