AAA Movie Review: Annihilation (2018), American Science Fiction Psychological Horror Movie

"Annihilation" is a literary sci-fi film directed by the famous director Alex Garland, who was nominated for the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay Award for his sci-fi work. The combination of realistic philosophical and entertaining interpretation has become an important symbol of his balanced market and art. The work of "Annihilation" was adapted from the original work of the well-known novelist Jeff VanderMeer's the original work of the same name "Destroy", which was defeated in 2004 against Liu Cixin's "The Three-Body Problem". This novel won the prestigious award of the Nebula Award, which is enough to see the depth and complexity of the original text of the film. The more this kind of work, the bigger the bottleneck faced when it is adapted into a movie. The director himself needs to present the literary narrative and the illusory mysterious principle in a visual way, which is undoubtedly huge for the director and the entire creative team.

SOURCE

For the adaptation of "Annihilation", the director himself once said that he did not completely read the original work, just intercepted some of the paragraphs and recombined it. The film became the movie "Annihilation" that the audience now sees. On the one hand, the downside is that the film has a great separation from the original core, and in the restoration of many details, it is even more difficult to lose a thousand miles. But on the other hand, the benefit is that it is precisely because of the adaptation of the director's self-re-creation that the final presentation of the film can be as self-explanatory as possible. Of course, the loophole still exists. Therefore, we can see that there is a lot of entertainment elements in "Annihilation", and the entertainment sci-fi film with literary temperament is the most general feature of this film. It satisfies the audience's three scenes of classic science fiction. The plot needs, complemented by whimsical fantasy elements and ambiguous humanity struggles, coupled with the wonderful performance of Natalie Portman after the film, creating a large-scale suspense sci-fi atmosphere.

SOURCE
On the other hand, director Jeff VanderMeer has preserved the literary atmosphere inherent in the original text of the film, in an attempt to insert an explanation of the principles. It is slow-paced narrative to explain the scientific principles and exploration process of genetic changes in the film. It’s just a pity that the director’s performance in this area is not satisfactory, and his ability has not been able to tell the theoretical support and the convincing arguments of the hard science fiction. He only throws a few gene points. Obviously, it is not enough to set off the authenticity of the development of the film science fiction plot. Therefore, the film's epic feeling and the sense of heaviness are slightly weakened.

SOURCE

It is worth mentioning that the crystals created by the film in the art design, the humanoid plants, the light barrier and the extravagant energy form of the alien life, make the whole film have a good visual experience. The experience, to a large extent, made up for the shortcomings of the film narrative and became one of the biggest highlights of the film. The film continues the individual's entanglement and doubt about life form and self-consciousness, revealing the creation. At the end of the film, Lena is another person who can become a person through gene duplication. Are two humanoid bodies that embrace each other and have human emotions? Is it a person for each individual? There used to be a saying that the cells of the human body will be updated every seven years. The film's subversion and reflection on the traditional laws of nature not only makes people feel a little shudder and fear, but also makes people behind the director's philosophy to more maintain and respect the miracle of nature and the many possibilities of the future of the people.

---

Movie URL: https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/300668-annihilation?language=en-US
Critic: AA