Rating of
3/4
Refractions of Life in the Smart Sci Fi Genre
cacb3995 - wrote on 03/15/18
In recent years we’ve seen the rise in a tendency that has come to be known as “smart science fiction”. Movies like “Arrival”, “Interstellar”, “Looper”, “Ex Machina”, even “Mad Max: Fury Road” are clearly genre pieces, but they seem to rely heavier on the ideas they are portraying rather than the high-concept eye-candy that is characteristical to the genre. Whether these films are truly smart or not is up for debate, but the tendency is clear. Alex Garland, director of one of the aforementioned films, namely “Ex Machina”, is back this year with another project that fits this mould. Boasting great visuals, a thought provoking story and a strong central performance by Natalie Portman, Annihilation rises as an early candidate for one of the year’s best.
The film tellst the story of Lena (Portman), a biologist whose husband Kane (Oscar Isaacs) unexpectedly returns home after being away on a covet mission for a year, but he is not well upon his returning. As it turns out, he was sent to a region known as “the shimmer”, a place where the laws of physics don’t seem to apply. Lena and Kane are intercepted by a secret government organisation on their way to the hospital and are taken to Area X, a base of operations regarding the shimmer. Seeing that Kane’s health doesn’t get better, Lena volunteers for the next mission inside the shimmer. Along with a group of other female scientists, Lena goes into the shimmer hoping for answers, but what they’ll find there will heavily shake their perception of the world.
Full review at: https://breakingthefourthwallsite.wordpress.com/2018/03/15/annihilation-refractions-of-life-in-the-smart-science-fiction-genre/
