10 Movie Moments Where You Had No Idea What Was Going To Happen Next
6. Lena Enters The Lighthouse - Annihilation
Alex Garland's instant sci-fi classic Annihilation is centered around The Shimmer, a mysterious extraterrestrial zone which began to flourish after a meteor crashed to Earth.
Garland's glorious slow-burn makes it increasingly clear that anyone who enters the Shimmer is liable to find themselves subject to its influences, namely having their DNA drastically altered, potentially mutating them into something else entirely.
The epicenter of the Shimmer is a lighthouse which the meteor crashed into, and which protagonist Lena (Natalie Portman) has been working her way towards over the course of the movie.
She finally makes it there, and who among us had any idea what they were actually expecting to see inside?
Garland doesn't offer up a ton of crystalline explanations, though the sights are nevertheless unforgettable: Lena's husband Kane (Oscar Isaac) committing suicide with an incendiary grenade, Dr. Ventress (Jennifer Jason Leigh) transforming into a nebulous object, Lena facing off against a metallic doppelganger of herself, and finally burning the lighthouse down to destroy the Shimmer.
Annihilation is an expert example of how to craft an absorbing mystery that leads adventurous audiences down a largely uncharted path while still delivering a satisfying - if ambiguous - end result.