High-concept sci-fi movies are far and few between which is why Annihilation had me in the theaters.   

Natalie Portman’s hard-edged, emotionally worn down protagonist Lena carries this character study as she pursues what happened to her husband in the mysterious Shimmer – a growing alien force-field that may threaten humanity. Thus, she gets caught up in the military investigation and eventually finds herself on a team of five damaged women going into the Shimmer after years of failed missions.   

Some may describe this sci-fi horror piece as open ended, intellectual or even vague – and they wouldn’t be wrong. Yet my viewing experience was succinct and satisfied as I enjoyed the movie’s philosophical tale quite a bit.   

SPOILERS, YOU FOOL!

The viewer is never given a direct explanation on the Shimmer’s mythology because that’s not the point. The theme instead explores change and the difficulty people find in facing it through a gnostic journey to the light(house) of the inner self (alien).   

Never bored with my attention always grabbed, that’s not to say the film didn’t have its flaws.   

As a whole, it’s completely over-designed and comes across as animated at times – which is hard to fault the SFX team considering how gorgeously absorbing some of the scenes are and how unique that bear sequences was – one of the most memorable moments in recent cinema.   

The subversive nature of the folk music made for an originally ominous despair but the mixing on the climax was so blunt and loud I had to actually cover my ears.   

Most importantly, I found the cinematography to be narrow in scope. Although I don’t doubt this was by design, it felt counter-intuitive for such a big canvas – which unfortunately made me question why I needed to see it in the theater in the first place.   

And that very point reflects where American sci-fi cinema currently stands – small in scope and character focused. Not necessarily bad or the wrong direction, but it incidentally highlights the fight between theaters and streaming, and begs the question:   

Who are these filmmakers making their movies for? And what happened to all the visionaries?   

As much as I dug this movie and would recommend it, Annihilation felt like, from its onset, to be designed for the streaming audience, even in its television-like rapidly edited tone. Thus, there was no reason for me to see it in the theaters as I know it’ll be just as good, if not better, in the comfort of my own home.   

But unlike Portman’s character facing her mistakes before moving on, partially if not wholly changed, for better or worse, I wonder at what point theaters will begin dying off if they don’t adapt to the ever evolving landscape of contemporary cinema (which brings to mind a recent article @doitvoluntarily just wrote.)