#24: Annihilation

Mutant science vs. world biology. Guess which one wins.

The real reason this movie was in the Festibration was because of Oscar Isaac...who isn't here a ton and man, he's great at playing creepy, but I've always liked Natalie Portman too, so call it a win/win.



Everything is just familiar enough so that when you see the changes, it's not only too late, but quite terrifying.

The music went from folksy lyrics to to atmosphere, to....something I can best describe as the beginnings of trap music on a violin in the climax. It's extremely interesting.

I like movies like this - a neat and tidy explanation would be next to impossible with something this wild, and not every film has to be explained. There are segments you can piece together:

• The reason Ventress collapsed in the end the way she did can be chalked up to the cancer inside of her. Her cells were mutated far beyond anyone else's before even getting into the place.

• The skullbear doesn't make any noise except of the dying screams of the last thing whose throat it ripped out (By the way, love that trope, mutant animals with the voices of the dead. Very underutilized). 

• How does The Shimmer finally disintegrate? Because the light of the phosphorus grenade reflected back onto itself so often and the humanoid thing (Played by Sonoya Mizuno, who you will see again very soon in Crazy Rich Asians) went to the core that Ventress turned into that it couldn't handle it and ended up burning.

• Why did it not do that when Kane did the same thing? Because the humanoid thing wasn't reflective of itself but a direct copy.

Of course, this is all speculation. Though the movie explicitly spells out that while The Shimmer wasn't directly harming anything, the creations and mutations it was making would eventually collapse everything into shapelessness. However, Shapelessness is not a very cool movie title, so they literally say Annihilation. 

Don't expect a solution, you'll be fine.

 But I would really like a sequel...not for any explanations, but I want to see what happens to Lena and Kane...and yes, this was adapted from a book, but it seems more In Name Only than anything else.

This movie left me with an incredible feeling of dread and paranoia - Like depression, but far intensified.

What was I worried about? The possibility of mutated science attacking me in my room at night?

I encourage you to read the article How Annihilation Nails the Complex Reality of Depression.