Annihilation
2.5 out of 5
Did anyone else see the trailer for “Annihilation” and think it had echoes of Netflix’s hit series “Stranger Things?” Just that alone, along with an R rating, the awesome sound / music in the trailer, and a big name or two attached to it — got me excited to go see this film. Unfortunately, for me, anyway — it just kind of falls flat. I know it is adapted from a popular book, and it always seems that movies coming from books just don’t live up to the hype (with a few exceptions). Without having read the book — I can’t say for sure in this case — but I hope the book is better.
While the film is beautiful in its appearance (in some cases stunning), well-acted, and with a few moments of genuine tension and intensity — for the most part the story is just lacking. It drags in places where you are yearning for some sort of hint as to what it is the main characters are confronting, and then has a couple of side stories that in the end, really have no reason for being there. When you look back on those parts of the movie you’re left thinking it was just filler to get the film to a longer length. Aside from a good story — you must also care for the people in it. And in this case, you just don’t care about the characters in the film — minus Natalie Portman’s Lena. So when people are killed, or go missing, it just doesn’t matter. Finally, while the premise of the film is clear — the reasoning behind it remains elusive, and at times, confusing. I asked myself “What did I just watch?” when I left, and I found myself repeating Lena’s most often quoted line, “I don’t know.” That should have been a giant red flag right out the gate — just moments into the film she says it several times when she is being asked about the events that take place. If the main character keeps saying she doesn’t know, and she actually went through it, then how is the audience supposed to understand and appreciate the story?
Okay, okay, so I get that an alien life force has crashed on Earth, created some sort of wall or bubble, and inside that ever growing perimeter it is remaking everything to be more alien — but that’s about all you get (these are not spoilers — you can pick this much up in the trailer). But there’s no conscience in the alien life force, there seems to be no reason to what is happening. It just is. And when the conclusion began to transpire on the screen, I was saying to myself, “This better not be the end, this better not be the end,” and then…It was the end.
Last week, “Black Panther” tore up theaters across America. Because it was good, and you had the feeling something special was happening. “Annihilation” had a similar opportunity — as the main character and indeed the main secondary characters were all women. While they all do a fine job with the material that was handed to them — it was the material that ultimately kills the movie in my opinion. It’s just too thin, doesn’t develop over the course of the movie, and finally leaves you unsatisfied when the credits roll. I wanted this movie to work — I really did, and for you it might. But if I had to spend some money at the theater again this weekend, I’d go see “Black Panther” again.
