Annihilation tells the story of Lena (Natalie Portman) a biologist who joins three women on a mission to a excavate the quarantine zone known as the shimmer-which contains a mutated environment that is as deadly as it is fascinating. Conceptually speaking the story of Annihilation is sound as it featured engaging elements worthy of any sci-fi tale. However the way the movie went about delivering this story is where I find myself at odds with Annihilation. The main plot is fairly straightforward and easy enough to get into. However elements likes Lena’s backstory as well as Lena conveying the events to a group of scientists were not handled well as these factors just took me out of the story. Rather than adding to the plot these aspects came off as contrived and it made the movie’s narrative feel very sporadic. Furthermore the thematic elements to the story, although ambitious, were a bit lackluster. It felt like the themes were trying to be thought provoking, but they were not fully explored within the story itself and because of this they just come off as minute details. The plot was by no means boring (although the pace could be slow at times) as I was interested to see how things would play out and this certainly made up for the plot’s lack of substance.
