Adapted: Annihilation

Adapted from Book to Movie:

Annihilation

If you are the scientific type, someone who loves the beauty of biology, and appreciates a touch of science fiction blended in to the mix, then this is the movie for you. The movie has some visually stunning moments. Watching cells divide in some of the interstitial moments is captivating and the landscapes inside Area X were beautifully rendered. While the movie has interesting moments throughout I caution devoted readers to expect the novel to be accurately portrayed. In fact, I would call this more of an "inspired by" rather than "adapted from" movie.

Annihilation is a novel written by Jeff Vandermeer which explores how biology and psychology can turn against us. The plot centers around an uninhabitable place known as Area X. Expeditions have been attempting to explore and gather data from this region, but thus far no one has returned. This story follows the latest group of researchers, all women, who are being sent to pick up where the other groups have left off.

This was a novel that I listened to on audiobook. The narrator is a biologist who is tracking her findings in a field journal. What makes the book so fascinating is the unreliability of this character. Throughout the novel what she was recording could only be verified from her viewpoint, which often left me wondering what the truth really was. Is she really just a passive observer who witnesses amazingly difficult to explain phenomena? Or is she more culpable that she lets on? You quickly realize her memories are incomplete and possibly altered. Although she comes from a place of facts her testimony puts all of her research and knowledge in question.

The movie, starring Natalie Portman as the biologist, naturally loses some of that mystery. The film plays up the science fiction elements of the world, which makes it feel much more real than the novel could allow, but also takes a lot of the imagination out of the story. This vivid depiction does allow for that beautiful landscape to take shape. I wish I could have felt a bit more of the confusion you feel while reading the novel. For example, at the center of Area X is a tower... or is it a tunnel? The narrator is unsure and has difficulty describing it in a way that would help you clearly picture the place she goes, but that lends itself to the instability and eeriness you feel as a reader. You lose that unsettled feeling when you are able to see the buildings clearly.

I also felt the movie tried to flush out the character of the biologist a bit more than was strictly necessary. It seems they were trying to explain motivations for her and her husband's actions leading up to the expedition. Unfortunately, I felt it detracted from the main story, which I felt should have revolved around the team of researchers as it did in the novel. Instead, you get a lot of focus on the pre-expedition and post-expedition details and miss a lot of crucial and suspenseful events that happened in the novel throughout Area X.

One scene in the movie did feature a cameo appearance by another novel I would highly recommend.While relaxing on a couch next to her husband we can see what the biologist is reading, , The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. A nod to another science-loving literary work and a bit of foreshadow for the plot.

Annihilation is the first in the Southern Reach trilogy. Authority and Acceptance are the other titles, neither of which I have yet to read. I enjoyed Annihilation enough that I have the other two on my to read list. As for the movie version, it has some good points and might worth a Netflix night at home, but if I didn't use MoviePass I don't think I would have been happy to spend movie theatre prices on a big screen viewing.