One would be forgiven for thinking a movie called Annihilation sounds a little too close for comfort to a cataclysmic retread in the vein of Batman v. Superman. And if someone told you that all signs currently point to Oscar Isaac joining the cast, you’d politely let them know that they must be thinking of the also very loud sounding X-Men: Apocalypse, where he’ll join fellow motion captors and prosthetic prisoners Lupita Nyong’o, Josh Brolin, and Idris Elba in what sounds like the cell to be! in franchise jail. But no earplugs necessary, just your rapt attention, because Annihilation is writer/director Alex Garland’s follow-up feature to Ex Machina and a rousing science fiction thriller by the sound of it. Per Variety - not only is Isaac set to partner up for another dance with the director but join what is already shaping up to be the most promising and diverse fist pump of an ensemble for a 2017 release.
On second thought: maybe hold onto those earplugs. While no one can hear you scream in space, here on Earth the names “Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tessa Thompson, and Gina Rodriguez” are enough to break the sound barrier. Annihilation, based on Jeff VanderMeer’s novel of the same name, tracks the expedition of a four-woman team charting a mysterious territory chocked full with deadly unknowns of both chemical and zoological varieties. Portman is set to play the biologist – whose husband (Isaac) may or may not be dead – while the other three top-tier actresses will gear up as an anthropologist, surveyor, and psychologist. Point me to the nearest fainting couch!
Where to begin. How about the mere fact that Black Swan, Amy Archer, Sam White, and Jane the Virgin are about to do a Mission Movie together that promises a journey into the unknown packed with scares and science? This could be the Ghostbusters of paranoid, alliance shifting, contamination adventure movies. Television’s brightest shining star, and reliably sharp eye of the storm, Gina Rodriguez is one big screen smash away from the boundless stardom she’s projected since before her Golden Globes speech. Tessa Thompson perfected the art of cool and detached authority in Creed and Dear White People, so she’s a no-brainer for this crew. And Isaac? He’s just the cherry on top of the sundae.
Which of this beloved quintet would you most want watching your back while on expedition?