Annihilation (2018)

[Tony208]

When people say ending do they mean the lighthouse or after?

Right now a 4-4.5 out of 5. Need to rewatch.

[Blu Lemmy]

Well after that post....I'll stay clear of this thread.

[KilloWertz]

Originally Posted by Blu Lemmy

Well after that post....I'll stay clear of this thread.

Exactly. While I only skimmed (maybe because it's early and I'm not awake yet), wow, really? Might as well put a big neon sign at the beginning of the post saying that they were positing complete bullet points from almost the entire movie. Obviously either them or a mod needs to spoiler tag the post.

[6373billy]

Great News! Annihilation is getting a blu ray release in the United States. Available to pre order now on Amazon but no UHD. Also iTunes is available as well. Up On DVDReleaseDates.

[Rodney-2187]

Got tickets for this today. Somebody add a poll!

[Frank TJ Mackey]

There is a lot to like, but some of the main critical reviews that are mixed or negative I understand now.

The film moves very slowly throughout. But I was always interested in what was going to happen next. Great visuals. It's a film that definitely needs to be seen a second time.

Not as good as I was hoping, but definitely makes you think about it afterward and worth seeing.

I'd give it a solid B.

I liked Ex Machina way better than this. Granted, that's one of my top films from a few years ago.

[Predatorix38417]

Originally Posted by darkness2918

The Cloverfield Paradox is also Paramount & is on Netflix.

Was Paramount, but they sold the distribution rights to Netflix so technically it's not a Paramount movie anymore.

[Underworld54]

Originally Posted by Predatorix38417

Was Paramount, but they sold the distribution rights to Netflix so technically it's not a Paramount movie anymore.

It is though still Paramount, the kept the right for the home video release and a theatrical release in China if they can get one or even want one.

[eiknarf]

Originally Posted by 6373billy

Great News! Annihilation is getting a blu ray release in the United States. Available to pre order now on Amazon but no UHD. Also iTunes is available as well. Up On DVDReleaseDates.

Yeeeeaaahhhh!!

"America, F&$k Yeah!
Comin' again to save the motherf&$kin' day, Yeah"

Lyrics by
-Matt and Trey

[ITDEFX101]

I really don't know how I feel about this movie.

There were times I was curious where this movie was going with the story, other times it kind of reminded me of Silent Hill and so on.
There were some scenes where the dialog was so bad some people in my viewing laughed.

Thoughts

[Show spoiler]
I thought they should have explained it more how that one girl decided to walk away and become a tree/plant of her own.

So the ending is basically both the husband and wife are hybrid clones of their human selves that were destroyed inside the Shimmer? So being male and female, they could possibly produce Alien/Human hybrids and destroy the planet?

-I had this weird feeling that Lena was the one with the cancer in her body when she was teaching the class and showing the visuals to the class.

-The bear scene was messed up. All that time I thought someone was actually alive inside of the bear screaming for help.

-I am not sure it's worth a second viewing. I understood the mimic scene but the thing in the middle where the woman got transformed into I was like what the hell is that suppose to be?

-Is this support to transform the planet and all life into something else?

[Sozo]

I quite enjoyed this film. It's definitely spaced-out. Really, the only thing I didn't care to see on the screen that I felt had no real bearing on the story was

[Show spoiler]the affair

. But I liked the ending, and the final bit was a mind-bending trip.

4/5

[eightslicesofpie]

I thought this was pretty excellent. The

[Show spoiler]moaning bear

was so creepy, as was

[Show spoiler]the refraction Lena

. The whole climax is really a wild ride, from the visuals to the music to just everything.

Despite how much I enjoyed watching it, I still don't really get what it's "about." Obviously self-destruction etc. etc. we even had the psychologist talk about it, but I don't really see how that theme tied into the plot in a significant way. We had

[Show spoiler]Lena cheating on her husband, "self-destructing" their relationship

, as well as

[Show spoiler]Lena literally self-destructing the duplicate self

, but I'm struggling to see what the movie is actually saying about that theme through these two moments.

But like I said, despite my inability to connect the dots in this regard (and please, someone try to explain it to me because I'd love for it to be clearer on another watch), I really enjoyed the movie and think it's a worthy follow-up to Ex Machina.

Also, what do y'all think of the ending?

[Show spoiler]Was it duplicate Kane, but real Lena who's been mutated by the shimmer? Are they both real but mutated? Or both duplicates? I sorta feel it's the first option.

[ghostsofjoy]

Originally Posted by Sozo

I quite enjoyed this film. It's definitely spaced-out. Really, the only thing I didn't care to see on the screen that I felt had no real bearing on the story was

[Show spoiler]the affair

. But I liked the ending, and the final bit was a mind-bending trip.

4/5

[Show spoiler]I feel the only purpose it served was to explain why her husband volunteered to go into The Shimmer in the first place, knowing full well that he likely would not be returning to her and, to a lesser extent, her guilt from it motivated her to do the same.

Originally Posted by eightslicesofpie

I thought this was pretty excellent. The

[Show spoiler]moaning bear

was so creepy, as was

[Show spoiler]the refraction Lena

. The whole climax is really a wild ride, from the visuals to the music to just everything.

Despite how much I enjoyed watching it, I still don't really get what it's "about." Obviously self-destruction etc. etc. we even had the psychologist talk about it, but I don't really see how that theme tied into the plot in a significant way. We had

[Show spoiler]Lena cheating on her husband, "self-destructing" their relationship

, as well as

[Show spoiler]Lena literally self-destructing the duplicate self

, but I'm struggling to see what the movie is actually saying about that theme through these two moments.

But like I said, despite my inability to connect the dots in this regard (and please, someone try to explain it to me because I'd love for it to be clearer on another watch), I really enjoyed the movie and think it's a worthy follow-up to Ex Machina.

Also, what do y'all think of the ending?

[Show spoiler]Was it duplicate Kane, but real Lena who's been mutated by the shimmer? Are they both real but mutated? Or both duplicates? I sorta feel it's the first option.

[Show spoiler]That bear scene in the house was brilliantly executed and tense as hell. Definitely my favorite moment from the entire film.

As for the ending, I would say that it was Duplicate Kane and real Lena but partially refracted. I think the moment where the Duplicate Lena crushed her against the door probably altered her being quite a bit.

[eightslicesofpie]

Originally Posted by ghostsofjoy

[Show spoiler]I feel the only purpose it served was to explain why her husband volunteered to go into The Shimmer in the first place, knowing full well that he likely would not be returning to her and, to a lesser extent, her guilt from it motivated her to do the same.

This probably explains my questions about how the theme ties into the plot. It was what I sorta suspected, but at the same time I was a little unclear about when

[Show spoiler]the affair

took place--maybe I'm just a dingus, but something in one of the scenes made it seem to me like

[Show spoiler]they were sleeping together after Kane had already gone to the Shimmer and she thought he might be dead, but maybe I misconstrued that entirely or more likely he WAS gone somewhere, but it was just another mission somewhere else.

I know it was intentionally dreamlike and disorienting but I think they could've made things like that a little more clear, since obviously

[Show spoiler]he would have been going on other missions throughout their relationship so it's hard to pinpoint what was being talked about without specifically naming the mission.

[ghostsofjoy]

Originally Posted by eightslicesofpie

This probably explains my questions about how the theme ties into the plot. It was what I sorta suspected, but at the same time I was a little unclear about when

[Show spoiler]the affair

took place--maybe I'm just a dingus, but something in one of the scenes made it seem to me like

[Show spoiler]they were sleeping together after Kane had already gone to the Shimmer and she thought he might be dead, but maybe I misconstrued that entirely or more likely he WAS gone somewhere, but it was just another mission somewhere else.

I know it was intentionally dreamlike and disorienting but I think they could've made things like that a little more clear, since obviously

[Show spoiler]he would have been going on other missions throughout their relationship so it's hard to pinpoint what was being talked about without specifically naming the mission.

[Show spoiler]Although ambiguous (at least to me), I think it started before he left and ended after. I also inferred something had happened between them, be it a full-blown affair or not, during their exchange at the beginning of the film; he had some gall to invite her to his house with his wife after having had an affair with her that she ended.

[Sozo]

Originally Posted by ghostsofjoy

[Show spoiler]I feel the only purpose it served was to explain why her husband volunteered to go into The Shimmer in the first place, knowing full well that he likely would not be returning to her and, to a lesser extent, her guilt from it motivated her to do the same.

I like that thought. Because

[Show spoiler]he knew of the affair, correct? So when he said he was leaving "right now," he left knowing he wouldn't be coming out and that their relationship was broken. The way he reacted to her leads me to believe he had accepted their relationship was essentially over.

It still leaves me feeling uncomfortable,

[Show spoiler] because their relationship was shown to have good moments, and I think I would have preferred her motivation to come from that.

But I can at least get on board with it not being unnecessary to the overall story.

[Sozo]

Originally Posted by eightslicesofpie

This probably explains my questions about how the theme ties into the plot. It was what I sorta suspected, but at the same time I was a little unclear about when

[Show spoiler]the affair

took place--maybe I'm just a dingus, but something in one of the scenes made it seem to me like

[Show spoiler]they were sleeping together after Kane had already gone to the Shimmer and she thought he might be dead, but maybe I misconstrued that entirely or more likely he WAS gone somewhere, but it was just another mission somewhere else.

I know it was intentionally dreamlike and disorienting but I think they could've made things like that a little more clear, since obviously

[Show spoiler]he would have been going on other missions throughout their relationship so it's hard to pinpoint what was being talked about without specifically naming the mission.

I was disoriented about that at first because

[Show spoiler] the guy said something like, "You haven't been with him for a year," or something like that--and Kane had also been in the Shimmer for about a year.

[Frank TJ Mackey]

Originally Posted by Sozo

I was disoriented about that at first because

[Show spoiler] the guy said something like, "You haven't been with him for a year," or something like that--and Kane had also been in the Shimmer for about a year.

[Show spoiler] I didn't realize the affair was such a big part of everything in this upon first viewing. Will have to revisit.

[ghostsofjoy]

Originally Posted by Sozo

I like that thought. Because

[Show spoiler]he knew of the affair, correct? So when he said he was leaving "right now," he left knowing he wouldn't be coming out and that their relationship was broken. The way he reacted to her leads me to believe he had accepted their relationship was essentially over.

It still leaves me feeling uncomfortable,

[Show spoiler] because their relationship was shown to have good moments, and I think I would have preferred her motivation to come from that.

But I can at least get on board with it not being unnecessary to the overall story.

[Show spoiler]Yes, that’s what I took from it, anyway. Given his profession, it could be assumed he volunteered because it was the right thing to do but as the women in Lena’s group showed, every one of them was there because they were broken in their own ways; most people with something to live for, to go home to, are not going to walk into the unknown like that, especially considering nothing and no one has made it back out.

[The Great Owl]

The last few posters nailed it, it seems.

[Show spoiler]People enter the Shimmer because they have inherent self-destructive tendencies. (Lena's affair, Kane's venture into the Shimmer after learning of Lena's affair, etc.)

The mysterious entity mirrors and refracts Lena at the end. By doing so, it also mirrors Lena's self-destructive nature, and then destroys itself and its home.

...until the final reveal with Lena and Kane, that is.