ANNIHILATION (2018)

2/27/18 - Annihilation (2018) - 6/10

I have been wrestling with this film for weeks now. Trying to figure out if I really liked it or was innately let down by it. Honestly, I still cannot quite decipher what my aethereal opinion of it is. I suppose it completely makes sense that such a simplistically complex journey of a feature leaves me lost and changed, but unable to put my finger on the details and dilemmas. When I think of it, I like it, but I don't love it.

Such a difficult time trying to reconcile the intrinsic differences between book and film. Rarely does this confound me so much, but there was something about this movie going experience that I couldn’t shake. The film was less etheric than I suppose I wanted, much less so than the book. Existentially, they are alien to each other.

I liked this film, but perhaps I was too influenced by the book, but it just wasn’t weird enough. There is a simplicity in theme, storytelling, and cause that doesn’t exist in the book. Annihilation by self being the grand epitaph of humanity is so less dreamy than living words and ineffable slug-light entities, inescapably insufficient but psyche expanding infinite. It amazes me still that even in this surreptitious mystery exploration it FELT too explicable, too scientific, too ordered. This is my own burden I bring to bear on what this film meant, but it is so sown into my mind that I can’t break free for an undiluted examination.

That is not to say that it wasn’t enjoyable or exciting. On its own merits, it is nightmarish and beautiful. There is intrigue and strangeness, spreading out and into each person/event. Otherworldly and expansive, with new sights and searing experiences unlike others. Psychologically tripy and malicious. But to the book, it just is not as special. Leaves one wondering but doesn't retain the “wonder”.

A more grounded oddity was the incessant Southern guitar melodies that were laid over so much of the film, especially at the expense of the “alien” score. The latter was so much more effective and fitting. The twangs of the strings kept pulling me out of scrutinizing the mystery and characters and more into the decision making of the creative team.

I loved the feel of the movie, building suspense and an abnormality. But the dramatic beats all felt semi-functional and only semi-matured. It oddly laid motivations, themes, and plot points bare and unadorned, but it would also leave dangling questions of other elements. A strange dichotomy of hint and delivery that still perplexes my desires.

I did like this film. There are special moments, weirdness that reminds me of the better “Under the Skin”, and a least spiritual nods to the great “Stalker”. But this is all coming as I try to reconcile and contextualize my film thoughts in comparison with the book. I didn’t love the book, but I appreciated it more as I watched the film. There just seems to be so much more going on in the mind’s eye of the book rather than the quick moving, more explained, and less bizarre cinematic experience. I have decided that I am an unable to be impartial in this instance and thus a less-than-reliable critic. I am a fan of both experiences, but the book was an unfilmable conundrum while the film is just a weird sci-fi adventure that hints at deeper personal meaning.