Annihilation Review: 8 Ups & 2 Downs

Downs

2. The Totally Pointless Frame Narrative

Alex Garland makes a bold and not entirely successful creative decision right at the start of the movie by presenting the film's events within a frame narrative.

Biologist and former soldier Lena's (Natalie Portman) journey into the bubble-like alien construct known as the Shimmer has already taken place when the film starts, readily spoiling the fates of herself and her team as scientist Lomax (Benedict Wong) debriefs Lena about what took place.

This immediately strips a decent portion of the movie's tension away, and considering how little the frame narrative impacts the overall plot, it could've easily been done away with entirely.

Whether Garland employed this technique himself as a means to make the story more accessible or it was mandated by original distributor Paramount, it's a jarringly conventional flourish in a film that absolutely doesn't need it.