Annihilation

If you go to see “Annihilation” you will find an intriguing, and yet confusing, movie.  The action starts out slow and even seems a little disconnected, but don’t give up.  After the first half hour, it gets better!  The story involves Lena, a biologist played by Natalie Portman, whose husband went on a secret government mission.  He mysteriously returns after having gone missing for a year,  but seems to be dying.  Government agents kidnap them both and take them to a strange (and ultimately never defined) facility. It turns out he was sent into “The Shimmer,” some kind of alien enclosure that has grown from where a meteorite crashed to earth near a light house, and is slowly expanding.  Everyone who has gone into The Shimmer has disappeared except for Lena’s husband ( Oscar Isaac).  Lena decides to join an expedition into The Shimmer in order to find out what has happened to her husband and perhaps find a way to save him.  Some real strange things happen in The Shimmer: time passes quickly, electronics don’t seem to work, people do not seem to need food, and people and animals change and mutate in some very creative and bizarre ways, physically and mentally-prior teams seem to have gone crazy.  Where did The Shimmer come from?  If it contains an alien life form, what do they want?  Are they benign or deadly? Unfortunately, “Annihilation” doesn’t completely answer these questions. The picture leaves much of the background of what is going on undefined and undeveloped.  You are left with vague hints, and it seems like it is up to you to fill in the blanks.  The team of women, lead by Portman and Jennifer Jason Leigh,, and with a great performance by Gina Rodriguez; offers a fresh approach to the composition, dynamic and goals of such teams in these sort of movies.  It does offer breath-taking special effects, imaginative scenery and an inventive ending; yet somehow, I was still left waiting for more.