Annihilation

— I wasn’t really aware of what I was getting into when I stuck “Annihilation” in the DVD player but since it had Natalie Portman in it and she’s rarely in something that, at the least, isn’t a little off center, I gave it a try. Previews made it look like a creepy sci-fi flick where four women, all scientists, venture into an area called “The Shimmer,” where earlier groups had gone and never returned. In fact, one of the women, a biologist named Lena, lost her husband to The Shimmer and her professional interest in cell mutation ties in with the fact that The Shimmer is growing or mutating. I was impatient with the first half of the film and even came close to pulling the DVD out of the player and calling it quits but I’m glad I didn’t. Midway through, things jumped into something much less formulaic, and symbols and layers of meaning started hovering around some pretty tense action until a final scene where things blossom into a more spiritual realm of survival and our protagonist's core is forever altered by the experience. It’s certainly worth seeing if you’re a fan of old school, eerie sci-fi.

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[2018. 115min. Directed by Alex Garland. Starring Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tuva Novotny, Gina Rodriguez, and Tessa Thompson.]
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/annihilation-2018