Jean-Paul’s Rating: 4/5 stars

Bottom Line: A psychological experiment disguised as a tense thriller.

It is very difficult to come up with words to describe “Annihilation”. The only word that comes immediately to the tongue is mind-fuck. Those of you who are hoping for a classic sci-fi movie, be warned, this is definitely science fiction, but of the variety that uses its genre to tell a story that is mostly not science fiction. Yep, this is a thinker. It deals more with relationships and loneliness and loss and mortality and mental health and the definition of self. There is a lot going on here and it moves pretty quickly with ideas being thrown at you at a pace that is hard to keep up with. Perhaps that was intentional.

The story is wrapped around an extraordinary event. A meteor strikes a lighthouse and throws up a Shimmer around the lighthouse. Meanwhile, Lena (Natalie Portman), a former soldier and now a biologist, is in an almost fugue state over the disappearance her husband, Kane (Oscar Issac), who was on a secret military mission. A year after he left for the mission, he mysteriously shows back up at their house with no recollection where he’s been or how he got back. If you think it may have something to do with the Shimmer, you win a prize!

The Shimmer is beautiful and hypnotic and scary.  So much thought went into designing its otherworldly vibe. It is accompanied by a soundtrack that is half haunting acoustic guitar and half industrial gutturals. It is interspersed with moments of effective terror. The denouement has one of the trippiest extended sequences you will ever see in a movie.

The two movies are not the same, but I was very much reminded of “Arrival” when watching “Annihilation”. Both take extraordinary science fiction events and weave a story around them. Whereas “Arrival” was more about communication and language, “Annihilation” is more about states of mind and psychology. It is a very strange movie, though. Much stranger than “Arrival”. Which makes it very difficult to whole-heartedly recommend. Much like the material involved, this is more of a know thyself decision.