Review #1,321: 'Annihilation' (2018)

The debate surrounding Netflix's validity as a cinematic platform was in full swing last year, with Cannes Film Festival announcing that the streaming service will no longer be able to enter their original movies into competition, following a negative reaction by audiences who jeered and booed whenever their logo flashed on screen. Should only movies released in cinemas be classified as 'true cinema', or is this just blatant, ignorant snobbery? Great directors such as Steven Spielberg, Ingmar Bergman and Rainer Werner Fassbinder have all produced fantastic work for the small screen, so should films be judged on their quality alone, regardless of how they were released to the general audience?

With The Cloverfield Paradox, Netflix have proven they can offer an alternative to a production company sweating on the success on something they have poured millions of dollars into. The fact that it was a steaming pile of hot mess aside, Cloverfield drew far more viewers than it would have ever dreamed of if released on the big screen. With Annihilation, director Alex Garland's first film since 2014's fantastic Ex Machina, Netflix were used a compromise when Paramount weren't happy with the film's ending, which they were concerned would be 'too weird' for a mainstream audience. Garland stuck to his guns, and Annihilation is now available to us as the director intended. Despite the mass of crap they produce on a monthly basis, the billion-dollar company clearly love cinema, supporting artists without being too concerned about whether or not it will make money, as the subscriptions will still be paid regardless.

The strongest argument is that when the final product is as thrilling, engaging and original as Annihilation, who the hell cares if it was projected onto a cinema screen or not? (It did receive a limited release elsewhere, but not here in the UK) Garland's second movie backs up the idea that the 28 Days Later and Sunshine scribe is one of the most important voices in science-fiction at the moment. Loosely based on the novel of the same name by Jeff VanderMeer, Annihilation sends a group of women into an scientific anomaly known as 'The Shimmer', without making a big deal of the absence of a male lead one would expect from such a genre piece. Our protagonist is Lena, played by Natalie Portman, a cellular biology professor grieving over the year-long disappearance of her husband Kane (Oscar Isaac). Believed to be long-dead, Kane suddenly reappears one night, unable to recall where he has been or how he made it home. After he starts to cough up blood, they are both abducted on the way to the hospital at gun-point by a special government unit and taken to a secret facility called Area X.

It's here that Lena learns of The Shimmer, a mysterious oily dome covering much of the southern coast and constantly expanding. Many have made their way into the otherworldly place, but none, save Kane, have made it back out. Communication cuts out as soon as anyone enters, so the one overseeing expeditions, psychologist Dr. Ventress (Jennifer Jason Leigh), is just as clueless as anyone else. She plans to join the team recruited for the next expedition, which consists of physicist Josie Radeck (Tessa Thompson), paramedic Anya Thorensen (Gina Rodriguez), and anthropologist Cass Sheppard (Tuva Novotny). Keen to uncover the truth about Kane's time spent within the Shimmer and how he made it out alive, Lena persuades Ventress to allow her to join the group, using her military background and scientific expertise to plead her case. Things quickly turn weird as they pass through the seemingly inexplicable border, as the unit wake up to find they have been in there for three days and cannot remember a thing. As they venture further into the Shimmer and towards a lighthouse believed to be sheltering the source of its power, they witness the law of physics increasingly defied and reshaped.

Annihilation had the same effect on me as 2016's Arrival. It feels important to a stagnating genre, offering both riveting set-pieces and exploring areas of science that will have you constantly engaged in order to have any hope of understanding the story's revelations. As plants start to interbreed, strange animals emerge as terrifying amalgamations, and time feels like it has no place or purpose, the film offers convincing explanations. You may not work them out until days later - and Annihilation will likely linger for a long time afterwards - but it will all make sense, even if the climax offers one of the strangest, most beautiful, and undeniably creepiest scenes in recent memory. But this isn't just for science boffins. A found-footage moment that brought back terrifying memories of Event Horizon and an encounter with what can only be described as half bear/half wolf with a scream to give you nightmares only heighten the growing sense of unease as the movie progresses. Garland has the courage to run with his ideas and glory in the ambiguity of it all, and he can only be commended for refusing to alter his vision for any gutless studio heads. Cannes should really reconsider.


Directed by: Alex Garland
Starring: Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gina Rodriguez, Tessa Thompson, Tuva Novotny, Oscar Isaac, Benedict Wong
Country: UK/USA

Rating: *****

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,112: 'Doctor Strange' (2016)

While the focus for the Marvel Cinematic Universe of late has been on sequels and superhero mash-ups, producer Kevin Feige and his team are more than aware of the heavy roster of iconic crime-fighters which have yet to grace the screen and who fans are crying out to see. Yet they are also clearly wary of the trappings of the origin story; the obligatory introductory movie which must cover how the hero came to be and have him face-off with a bad guy in order to establish their ass-kicking prowess. This was cleverly side-stepped in Captain America: Civil War earlier this year, with Tom Holland's Spider-Man and Chadwick Boseman's Black Panther both being eased into the universe in somebody else's movie.

But there is one cult favourite that hadn't been given the modern-day treatment by Disney and Marvel Studios, and one who hasn't graced our screens since the unintentionally hilarious 1978 TV movie starring Peter Hotten. Doctor Strange, originally created by a true unsung hero of the comic-book world, Steve Ditko, was a counter-culture favourite in the 1960's for its psychedelic imagery and Eastern mysticism, particularly popular amongst students and Pink Floyd, with the latter incorporating one of Strange's trippy panels onto the cover of their A Saucerful of Secrets album. Strange is probably the most awkward character for Marvel to bring to a mainstream audience, but Marvel don't seem put off by a challenge, especially after they somehow turned five obscure space-travellers into one of their best and most successful movies with Guardians of the Galaxy (2014).

Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) is a world-renowned neurosurgeon enjoying the life of fast cars, expensive watches and an astronomical ego. After a car accident leaves him with mangled hands and the inability to operate, he pushes away his on-off girlfriend Christine (Rachel McAdams) and heads to Kathmandu in search of a cure. There he finds The Ancient One (Tilda Swinton), who opens Strange's eyes to magic and the astral plane, and a group sworn to protect the planet from mystical threats. With defected sorcerer Kaecilius (Mads Mikkelsen) and his zealots on the loose trying to open a portal to the dreaded Dark Dimension, Strange studies to perfect the art of magic under the tutelage of fellow sorcerers Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and Wong (Benedict Wong).

Scott Derrickson's Doctor Strange ultimately falls pray to the tropes of the origin story, treading similar water to the likes Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger and, especially, Iron Man, but manages to distinguish itself from the others thanks to some truly dazzling imagery. Derrickson, a huge fan of the early comics, stated that most of his inspiration came from one of Ditko's most jaw-dropping drawings, depicting the Sorcerer Supreme standing high above what appears to be multiple dimensions, each defying the laws of physics as we know it. Early on, the arrogant doctor is shoved head-first into a roller-coaster of alternate worlds, and the effect is extraordinary. Like one hell of a good acid trip, Strange receives a mind-fuck of an awakening, as do we. This is the kind of beautiful, hypnotic imagery that CGI was made for, to create something otherwise impossible, not to make a camera appear to glide through a close window.

Marvel have always hit the mark with the casting of their heroes, and Cumberbatch adds incredible charisma to a hero who is, at first anyway, rather loathsome. But Doctor Strange is also backed up by an unbelievable supporting cast of award-winning thesps whose presence ensures that you keep taking the gobbledegook-heavy exposition scenes seriously. Swinton is smiling and playful in a role that usually calls for a stone-faced drill sergeant, and Ejiofor adds dimensions (no pun intended) to a character who has one of the most intriguing arcs in the film, which will be of no surprise to anyone familiar with his comic-book incarnation. Mikkelsen and McAdams also make the most of underwritten roles, with the former especially adding weight to what is another wafer-thin Marvel villain. It really is one of the most impressive line-ups in recent memory, and not just for a superhero movie.

It is, of course, far from perfect. The insistence on staying with the origin formula really do hamper the potential of Doctor Strange, with the teases of the endless worlds left to explore hinting at a crazier, bolder film that could have been, but will hopefully come. Some of the supporting cast are also left hung out to dry, especially Michael Stulhbarg's Dr. Nicomdemus West, whose minuscule screen-time gives the impression that most of his scenes were left on the cutting-room floor. Still, these are gripes in what is otherwise a fantastically entertaining film, packed with action scenes that really are like nothing I've seen before, despite the ill-conceived Inception (2010) comparisons. The film's ongoing box-office success seems to signal a sequel will be inevitable, where I hope Derrickson will be granted permission to really let loose. But for now, this is yet another hit for Marvel.


Directed by: Scott Derrickson
Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Tilda Swinton, Rachel McAdams, Benedict Wong, Mads Mikkelsen, Michael Stuhlbarg
Country: USA

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,102: 'Sunshine' (2007)

Danny Boyle's under-performing attempt to rekindle audience interest in the philosophical sci-fi genre so successful in the 1970s plays out very much like an object hurtling towards the Sun - thrilling, dazzling and often overwhelming at first, before quickly burning out and being swallowed up by the enormity of the themes it attempts to explore. 2007's Sunshine ponders a future in which humanity is facing extinction as the Sun powering the planet is burning itself out. A last-gasp mission sees the crew of Icarus II travel for five years through space with a bomb the size of Manhattan in the hope of reigniting the Sun's flames.

Of course, there was also an Icarus I, captained by a man named Pinbacker (Mark Strong), which disappeared seven years earlier carrying out the same mission. When a distress signal is picked up from the lost ship, the crew of Icarus II, captained by the enigmatic Kaneda (Hiroyuki Sanada), are faced with the dilemma of either carrying on with their mission, or answering the call and picking up a second bomb in the process, and therefore doubling their chances of saving humanity. Physicist Capa (Cillian Murphy) makes the decision to set a new course, much to the frustration of level-headed engineer Mace (Chris Evans). However, navigator Trey (Benedict Wong) forgets to realign the ship's shield as it changes course, throwing the entire mission into jeopardy.

The film captures the claustrophobia and restlessness of the cramped surroundings and characters incredibly well. The crew often feel as if they are hunched over, as if being slowly swallowed up by the deadly beast that is their destination. Even the on-board garden, a self-sustaining eco-system which supplies the ship's oxygen, tended to by botanist Corazon (Michelle Yeoh), feels oddly suffocating. Boyle's trademark eye for visuals also helps give the film a sweaty, scolding vibe. An entire room on the Icarus II seems to be dedicated solely to appreciating the Sun's sheer power, as the crew, in particular psychiatrist Searle (Cliff Curtis), sit and stair in utter awe. Sunshine begins rather slow, but Boyle takes this time to sculpt an incredible sense of atmosphere.

Boyle's desire to contemplate the larger questions is ultimately the film's downfall. In the early scenes, the mere presence of the Sun looming just behind that massive shield and the way Boyle captures it is enough to start audience's comparing the star's influence to that of God, and the crew's mission to save humanity by conquering something of such unfathomable power has enough religious connotations on its own. The climax sees the arrival of a mysterious being on the ship that may or may not be supernatural, and it just doesn't work. A lot was written at the time about the Sunshine's descent into slasher territory, and although I can applaud the attempt to muddle genres and take the story in a completely different direction, I have to agree with the criticism. Instead of inviting discussion as the credits roll, it simply left me disappointed at the squandered potential.


Directed by: Danny Boyle
Starring: Cillian Murphy, Rose Byrne, Chris Evans, Michelle Yeoh, Troy Garity, Hiroyuki Sanada, Cliff Curtis, Benedict Wong, Mark Strong
Country: UK/USA

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie