![]() Want up-to-the-minute entertainment news and features? Just hit 'Like' on our Digital Spy Facebook page and 'Follow' on our Twitter account and you're all set.Paramount opened Alex Garland’s “ Annihilation” in 2,012 theaters in the United States, giving domestic moviegoers the chance to see the science-fiction thriller on the big screen. And, given how this film's existential exploration will now be compared to the likes of 2001: A Space Odyssey, it's a move that paid off tremendously.Īnnihilation is available on Netflix now. It's conclusively tied up in such a manner that it alters the meaning of the title. Garland's Annihilation is a standalone story that doesn't lead into the other two books in the Southern Reach Trilogy. It's this ending that is the biggest difference between VanderMeer's novel and the film. We then see a Shimmer flicker in her eye, indicating that she will never be the same again (and possibly that it was even the clone version who returned from Area X and not the original Lena, though that's ambiguous). From a literal point of view, her cells have been mutated, and symbolically, the person she thought she was has been completely annihilated. When she returns to the clone copy of her husband it's implied that she, too, is no longer the same person. Lena burns down the lighthouse, which appears to eradicate the effects of Area X. The ending and how it differs to the source material When Lena finally enters the tower, she learns that the original form of her husband killed himself with a phosphorus grenade, and was replaced with an alien clone of himself. The Shimmer originated from this point, which leads them – or at least Lena and Dr Ventress – to believe that it may hold some answers. Throughout the course of the film, the women's objective is to reach a lighthouse that was struck by a meteor. The lighthouse and that majestic dance sequence From this, it's hard to ignore the idea that everything they're seeing inside the Shimmer is a symbolic manifestation of the troubles in their lives. It seems like far too much of a coincidence that women experiencing such pain should be the ones to enter this nonsensical environment. Between them, there's a broken marriage, a dead child, a growing cancer and a battle with suicidal tendencies. The female characters who enter the Shimmer with Lena are all going through their own personal trauma. With the help of the four women accompanying her – Dr Ventress (Jennifer Jason Leigh), physicist Josie (Tessa Thompson), paramedic Anya (Gina Rodriguez) and geologist Cass (Tuva Novotny) – she soon learns that the DNA of every living thing inside Area X is being refracted, and combined in new ways, just like the glass of water.Īll of the characters are experiencing some form of emotional pain It's a cross-species creature that simply shouldn't exist, much like the genetically-mutated plant life that infests the entire area – different types of flower grow from the same stem, which should be, as Lena quickly points out, impossible. But then there is an attack by a massive albino alligator with shark teeth. It's a shot that proves to be hugely significant when Lena later explores the inside of the Shimmer.Īt first, Area X resembles a beautiful and seemingly peaceful, fluorescent forest. When Lena speaks to Kane for the first time since his disappearance, their hands are shown refracted through a glass of water, their fingers simultaneously intersecting and separating, making any distinction between them impossible. The strange discoveries inside the Shimmer To find out what has happened to her husband and discover the cause of this strange phenomenon, Lena decides to enter the quarantined zone herself. Everything inside the bubble's walls is ominously classified as "Area X", as if to signify some form of of extra-terrestrial involvement. He's been inside the "Shimmer" – a mesmerising, dome-shaped membrane that is constantly expanding over a swampland region of southern Florida. Without any satisfying explanation, Kane suddenly returns home, but it's evident that something has changed him – he doesn't remember anything about his mission, he looks incredibly pale and promptly starts coughing up blood. Biologist soldier Lena (Natalie Portman) is mourning the disappearance of her military husband, Kane (Oscar Isaac), who has been missing in action for a year. Loosely adapted from Jeff VanderMeer's supposedly unfilmable 2014 novel – the first of his Southern Reach Trilogy – the film's premise actually starts off relatively simple. ![]()
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