I've seen so many good movies. More than Annihilation. But this is the first urgency to watch right after the movie ends. The reason is simple. Alex Garland's second directing work (Ex Machina) is fresh and unique. Opening the path of unlimited breakthroughs is the main force of the science-fiction genre (which is often forgotten by its makers), and Garland uses it to create stories, visuals, and new and mysterious worlds I've never met before. Although some viewers would hate him because like life, Annihilation is reluctant to offer certainty. 

Lena (Natalie Portman), a biologist as well as a former soldier, may not hate life but is clearly less enthusiastic about it. A year passes after her husband, Kane (Oscar Isaac) who is also a soldier, disappears on duty. So what a surprise when Kane suddenly went home even though there is a different from him. Kane was silent, answering Lena's question, then spasms, vomiting blood. On the way to the hospital, the police ambushed an ambulance, carrying Lena and Kane to a secret facility called "Area X". All takes place in just 11 minutes of duration. For films labeled "slow paced", Annihilation moves quickly from one point to the next.

The absence of bombastic moments is the reason the film is called slow. It did not take long for us (and Lena) to see "the shimmer", the area behind the rainbow-coloured electromagnet waves whose scope extends periodically. All teams sent there are gone. The opening scene, where Lomax (Benedict Wong) interrogates Lena shows if she decides to go in and be the only one who came out alive. In other movies, it will reduce the intensity. But Annihilation is not another movie. Stored a stack of interesting mysteries traced besides "is the protagonist safe?".

Garland makes "the shimmer" a playground with unlimited possibilities. Besides Lena as a biologist, there is Anya (Gina Rodriguez) the paramedic, Josie (Tessa Thompson) the physicist, Cass (Tuva Novotny) the geologist, and the psychologist and expedition leader, Dr Ventress (Jennifer Jason Leigh). But "the shimmer" ruined their scientific understanding. All organisms there are anomalies with changes in the DNA sequence. His character was stunned, even me, when accompanied by Ben Salisbury and Geoff Barrow's electronic scoring as well as a hypnotic Helplessly Hoping song, found charming designs like flower-coloured flowers to human-shaped plants (or vice versa?). Assisted by his artistic team, Garland shows the definition of "visionary".

The question is, "do the characters also want to change their structures?". Not just talking on the physical level, also psychic. These four women harbor wounds while self-destructive. Self-destruct. That's the main point of the plot as well as the key to solving the mystery of Annihilation that will reach the peak of absurdity at the climax. As revealed by Dr. Ventress. self-destruct is different from suicide, aka not end. The majority of us do it. A natural process that later leads to change, creating something new. This is what the whole story of "Annihilation", especially its weird climax is all about.  

Been watching it twice, I had the opportunity to pay attention to various details including acting Natalie Portman. Similar to the dialogues in Garland's manuscript adapting Jeff VanderMeer's novel titled, Portman's handling plays seriousness, conveying information related to his character's content implicitly through minor changes in facial expression. Annihilation is equally subtle, because again just like life, everything is not always exposed explicitly. It needs to go through a long and varied process of understanding, which according to this film, one of them is a dance battle facing aliens imitating our form and movement. 

RATING (9/10)

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