This is the follow up film by director Alex Garland (who wrote/directed the Oscar-winner Ex Machina) that tells a story of exploration and the unknown. The story begins with Lena (Natalie Portman) reuniting with her husband (Oscar Isaac) who has been missing for almost a year. Thought to be dead while deployed with the Army, Lena soon discovers he was sent to explore a top-secret discovery along some eastern coastal town. A meteor, which crashed to earth some years ago, has left behind a wake of energy (called "the Shimmer") that is miles wide and leaves no survivors. The military has quarantined the area, but as the Shimmer grows and expands, the need to explore it is increasingly urgent.
Lena is briefed by a Dr Ventress (Jennifer Jason Leigh), a psychologist who will lead the first non-military expedition to explore and document the phenomenon. They are joined by a couple other scientists (all women), all capable and with enough smarts to come out intact on the other side (so they think). Where the other women seem to go on this suicide mission since they have nothing left to live for, Lena goes in seeking answers to her husband's health, who has returned as the sole survivor and with critical injuries and a foggy memory.
I had assumed this would be an 'alien' movie along the lines of Arrival and portray a strong woman who comes to solve a mystery via brilliant means. I was pleasantly surprised to discover this film takes more risks, enters more heady content, and crafts a story that is as much about the horrific moments as it is about this unknown entity. I am reminded of John Carpenter's "The Thing," Jonathan Glazer's "Under the Skin," and maybe to an extent Ridley Scott's "Alien." This is a story that wowed me on a technical aspect alone - the score is haunting and eerie (save for a couple misplaced guitar solos here and there) and the visuals are truly awe-inspiring. The Shimmer is ultimately believed to scramble all organic DNA so that species and flora become intertwined. We see flowering plants shaped like human figures, deer with branches for horns, and in the film's most suspenseful setpiece - a bear with a human skeleton's face and cry.
I can find very little to fault this movie for. There is a bookend that rarely works in which the film intercuts with Portman being interviewed after the mission (this dissolves all tension as to whether or not she will survive... Spoiler: we learn in the film's first shot that she does). There is a peculiar performance by Jennifer Jason Leigh that is so clearly "acting" and yet upon further thought I came to realize that this is specific choice by Leigh as to how her character views this situation... Listen to her speak, and maybe you can figure out why she is so dismissive. Portman delivers strong work as a hardened woman who is part soldier-part professor. Major praise also to Gina Rodriguez, Tessa Thompson, and Tuva Novotny who round out the crew of explorers. Each woman is smart, assured, and unlike most females in horror films - they are always thinking!
I know some might consider me wrong for classifying this as a horror film, but I can see no other way to explain it. It's a blood-and-guts adventure that is as scary as anything I have seen in years. It culminates in a climax set in a lighthouse that is both mystifying and intellectually-rewarding. If you have made it this far in the film, it does not fail to further reward observant audience members. Alex Garland has potentially outdone himself after "Ex Machina," and I cannot wait to see what comes next from this trailblazer of modern cinema. It was only after the credits rolled that I realized the film stars no white men, has only female leads, and the only male characters are minorities. Wow. For Hollywood to be so passionate about proper film roles for women, look no further than "Annihilation." It's a cookie-cutter example of all that Hollywood should be, and how ironic that such a film was glanced over altogether. This is what movie-making is all about.
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