Annihilation Discussion Thread

haha yep .    I saw it high as hell and the last 15 - 20 minutes were like a religious experience or something lol.      

Overall, I dug it a lot.     8.5/10

Great question and would also like the answer to it! lol    the strumming guitar felt so damn out of place and if I had my way would have used something similar to what we heard at the end.  .     

I also agree that this film had some issues with it.    I found the Gina Rodriguez character to be pretty worthless and served no purpose (she felt so out of place next to her much more talented co stars imo)

Even despite its faults,  this was definitely a great/refreshing cinematic experience (the part at the light house is worth the price of admission alone!).    I'm sure a lot of casual film goers will despise this though haha.

Pretty mediocre imho

I'll have to see it again so I can focus more on the details and so I can check if there are any holes in my theory, but I think the reason why they used the guitar music throughout the movie is because it represents the happy memories Lena has of her relationship. It plays throughout the movie as a refraction of Lena's memories that she's trying to hold on to, which is also why we see the flashbacks throughout her journey and not before going into the shimmer. Even with all the terror going on around them her goal to save her husband keeps her somewhat grounded and reminds her of what she fights for and why she needs to survive. She basically wants to go back to the good old days and that's why she thinks about them (represented by music) while we also see how she screwed up (). Then the final section of the movie comes around and it (we all know what) happens. She loses all hope for a good ending to the story, so her memories of the past are not important to hold onto anymore. The comforting guitar sounds disappear. Without a real goal to fight for all that is left is survival in a hostile and completely batshit crazy place, which is then represented or 'refracted' by the haunting alien-like soundtrack. At least that was my take on it after a first watch. This movie is up to interpretation is many ways. It's really fun that there's a movie like this that people can discuss even in the smallest details like the music used. I was a bit caught off guard when the guitar sounds kept coming back throughout the movie, but I like it more now that I think about it. I also think it makes the sudden psychedelic alien type soundtrack at the end more impactful.

Fully agree and just want to add that I cant recall when last a piece of music allevated a movie to such a higher level. Its utterly alien yet memorable at the same time. They used it in the trailer also and I instantly recognised it when I saw the movie. Like a seed was planted into my subconcious mind....

Sending movies like Annihilation straight to Netflix denies us the chance of seeing them as their makers wanted us to see them - in the dark, projected on a huge screen, our phones in our pockets and our attention fully invested. Worse, it’s yet another symptom of an increasingly risk-averse studio system: if Paramount thought that Annihilation had a chance of becoming a sleeper hit, it would’ve given it a worldwide theatrical release. Instead, it’s effectively cutting its losses, saving money on prints and advertising, and placing the film in the hands of Netflix.

Less than a decade ago, movies like District 9 and Under the skin gave us cinema experiences we’ll never forget. It’s sad to confront the possibility that, in a few more years, films as unusual and captivating as those will be the preserve of our living room televisions.