Annihilation (Garland, 2018)
I was not a fan of Alex Garland's first film Ex Machina. However, when I heard he was going to adapt Vandermeer's brilliant apocalyptic (nothing post about this wave of destruction) Southern Reach trilogy, and he had gotten Natalie Portman to agree to portray the Biologist, I decided to give him a further shot.
The Southern Reach trilogy works, in large part, because the natural world experienced in the alien vista known colloquially as "The Shimmer" (due to the way it shimmers against the Sun's light) is removed from our sense of both time and place. Entities enter The Shimmer freely, but nothing leaves.
This film is set up to imply that Lena (The Biologist) has escaped The Shimmer. This is clear from the trailers, where we see her being interrogated. This is the narrative device of the film version, Lena's interrogation session.
Candidly, I would say Alex Garland mostly adapted Annihilation with some twists that shall not be revealed by me.
So what do I think of this version that mostly adapts the book?
I think the majority of the audience who sees this film will probably find this to be metaphorical, much like Kubrick's 2001. That too was a departure from the book, and the film has permitted scores of film scholars to have raging arguments about what it all meant.
This is precisely what Garland was shooting for with his adaptation of Annihilation. On that standard, I would say he mostly got there.
The actors turn in wonderful performances. Everything is understated. All actions possess controlled and yet sublime subtext. Natalie Portman, Tessa Thompson, Gina Rodriguez, and Jennifer Jason Leigh all turn in wonderful work as the survey team at the heart of the narrative.
Oscar Isaac is very solid as the Biologist's husband, a career Army man named Kane.
The photography is sharp, and the effects are wonderfully realized. The creatures on display in the Shimmer are all well crafted. My favorite is definitely the Alligator.
The music is interesting as it verges from folky to atmospheric and synth.
The ending bothered me profoundly. I will not tell you why here. But if you must know, send me a message.
A solid effort.
3 stars out of 4.