A Real Science Fiction Mood Piece

Rating: 8/10 (21 May 2019)

Lets face it - Annihilation is a 'love it' - or 'hate it' - kind of Film. If you are looking for spaceships, aliens, explosions etc you had better look elsewhere - this is Sci-Fi in reflective mood (or 'refracted'?). The story - loosely based on the novel - seems simple. A Biology Professor's soldier husband suddenly turns up at their house after being 'missing' for some time. He cannot remember where he's been - or much at all. He collapses and is on his way to Hospital when the ambulance - and all aboard - are taken by armed men. On awakening Lena (Natalie Portman) is told about her husband's 'mission' - into a phenomenon called 'The Shimmer' - by Psychiatrist Dr Ventress (Jennifer Jason Leigh). Despite numerous expeditions into the phenomenon, Lena's husband is the first person ever to return. However, no one is any the wiser as to what the 'Shimmer' is or does. Lena volunteers to join the next group to enter in an effort to find clues as to what it all means. The Group - all Female - is led into the 'Shimmer' by Dr Ventress and things start to get weird almost immediately.
This is a real Sci-Fi 'mood piece', indeed almost Art Film. The 'Shimmer' itself is beautifully realised and the whole experience once inside has a strange- dreamlike quality. There are many themes explored within the Film - our attraction to 'self-destruction' - ALL of the characters in the film seem to be 'damaged' to one extent or another and seem only willing to head towards their own self destruction. On the other hand, the 'extra terrestrial' source of the 'Shimmer' is NOT a conventional alien entity as we have seen in countless Sci-Fi films - indeed when Lena is asked 'what it wants'? She replies that it 'may not want anything' - it simply defies our reasoning. The clues that are scattered through the narrative hint that the 'Shimmer' is a giant 'refraction' medium - and whether it is Radio waves - or even DNA - it ALL gets mixed in a huge biological blender.
Some of the images are simply breath taking and the ideas are largely left to you as the audience to decide what is actually going on. 'Annihilation' is one of those Films - a little like 'Arrival' - where you are asked to put your own interpretation on the events. I have watched the film a number of times and, for me, it remains a weirdly hypnotic experience.