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Lena, role played by the gorgeous Natalie Portman; a biologist who sings up for a sect expedition into an area called The Shimmer, in Florida after a meteorite crashed into a lighthouse and created this zone that looks like a protective field expanding and changing everything across its path, within this area the laws of nature start to break down and mutate everything inside it, not only affect living things; it also distorts radio signals, memories, and even time, making it almost impossible for anyone to understand what's happening while they're inside, the most interesting aspect is how it affects time which is something got my attention, in a way the movie reminds me a lot to Arrival (2016).
- IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2798920/
- Platform: AppleTV+
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Everything starts with the meteorite that crash into a lighthouse creating this strange phenomenon that begins to expand and spread across certain area in Florida. Comes in Lena, a biology professor and former soldier who is grieving her missing husband Kaned, role played by Oscar Isaac. Turns out that Kane was inside The Shimmer, he comes back a year latter after been missing but there was something off about him, he seems distant and confused, like he knows he is Kane although nothing makes sense not even for him. This is normal for people who go through traumatic situations or when they are lost but then he start having other symptoms to the point he begins vomiting blood, it was that moment when I though something was inside him, like on Prometheous or Covenant but it was way worst. This push Lena into trying to figure what is going on and that's when she is included into a secret project by the government called Southern Reach, here she learns about the Shimmer and that no one have made it out except for Kane and even he came back all fucked up.
At this point in time everyone things Kane is Kane, hold that though because latter on things going to change drastically. Lena volunteers to join the next expedition into the Shimmer with a time of five women that includes Dr. Ventress, a psychologist who is the leader of the mission, Anya a paramedic Josie, a physicist called Josie and Cass an anthropologist, they all have personal reasons to join the expedition but each are scare to death in their own way. They all have a bunch of ghost in their closet with Ventress who has cancer, Josie has gone through self harming in the past, Cass lost her daughter and Anya is a former addict, so why on Earth would you send out a team with such curriculum unless, unless you know they most likely not coming back?! by the way there is Lena too who is not only traumatize by how Kane came back out of the Shimmer but she also had an affair while he was away, makes you think wtf is she going to tell Kane if everything works out in the end? oh btw I cheated on you while you were out there been a fkn hero for all of us!!
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The performances are solid across the board even though women can be sometimes over dramatic specially with so many personal baggage going into the Shimmer, but I couldn't help feeling that the script didn't give the supporting cast enough to work with, I guess there were too many secondary characters but its part of the movies plan, a group that starts to falls apart one by one. Natalie Portman as Lena and Jennifer Leigh as Ventress get the most screen time, one been the main character and the other the group leader, while the others, especially Tessa Thompson as Josie seem to be under developed, with a movie that is close to 2 hours they could have work out things better but its understandable that the alien type of zone they were developing had the opportunity for so many details to work with they couldn't pass off, the entire zone becomes a character itself. There's a scene where Josie explains the nature of the Shimmer that felt like her character could have been bigger, been the only one who kinda start to unfold what is going on. Gina Rodriguez gets to shine in a paranoid breakdown sequence that is very unsettling, but even her character feels the same as Josie.
I wanted to love this movie more than I did, still I consider my score of 7/10 is a very just one. The concept is nothing new, not like they inventing the wheel but the mysterious zone where reality itself seems to break down, causing mutations and reflecting humanity's self destructive tendencies, all that breakdown and details is what makes the movie shine. The environment visuals are awesome for the most part, almost like you watching Avatar world, especially as the team goes deeper into the Shimmer and encounters increasingly bizarre plants and hybrid animals they have to constantly deal with and kill.
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The pacing feels off at times with the movie often going zero to a hundred real quick, moments where the characters are trying to figure out things and contemplating their surrounding and the next scene is pedal to the metal horror. With some scenes like the discovery of Kane's video where he look disoriented and terrified and even kills himself with a grenade, to the bear attack, very effective at trying to explain how twisted things are. Part of the pacing problems also belongs to how sometimes characters try to pretend to be so smart they over complicate things and makes the dialogue feel forced.
The ending is where things get really weird, in ways both fascinating and frustrating due to certain aspects that are not fully explained. Lena finally reaches the lighthouse, where she finds that Dr. Ventress has already arrived. Inside she discovers a hole created by the meteorite and a video showing that her Kane killed himself with a grenade, only to be replaced by a double created by his remains falling apart and spreading, explaining why the Kane who returned home seemed so different. Its here when Ventress starts to explains how the Shimmer will eventually consume everything before disintegrating into a cloud and this is the part that I felt was not fully explained, so we just have to trust Ventress.
There is also an event where the shimmer takes a drop of Lena's blood and transforms into a humanoid entity that mimics her movements. It's neither hostile or friendly, it imitates whatever Lena does. Street Smart Lena tricks her double into taking a grenade, which destroys it and causes the entire Shimmer to collapse disintegrating everything it has change. Lena is the only one that makes it out of the Shimmer and returns to the research facility where she is back with Kane's double. She asks if he is really Kane, he admits he doesn't think so, then asks her if she is really Lena and she doesn't answer back, there is this look in their eyes like none of them are human anymore but then why both Kane and Lena didn't died or disintegrate with the Shimmer? this last one I find cool because its the final cliffhanger.
After its flaws Annihilation is a movie I truly enjoy and probably start complaining about it after watching it, during the entire time I felt entertain enough, the movie has with ideas and the environment with some great visuals that makes it become another character of the story, after all its The Shimmer, it just keeps mutating and evolving, and everything inside. The concept is original and thought provoking, with some specific themes of self destruction, transformation and when I think about it, in my opinion probably the Shimmer target was to create a man and women doubles to change, improve or eradicate a race that is destroying the world they live in, almost like the Shimmer talk to the planet and they both were trying to figure out how to get the human problem solved. As a fan of horror movies I really enjoy this other aspect of the movie although I notice I didn't nose dive into it, the thing is that the sci fi aspect got the most of my attention. The acting was very good in my opinion with one of my favorite actress Natalie Portman from the Thor movies. There are many characters that felt under develop but I think is part of the movie mission, at the end they all serve their purpose with flashbacks that often work but for an audience that might not be use to them might be confusing at times, a great watch that I would totally recommend to anyone, for all this reasons I gave it a 7/10.
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