Annihilation: A Novel: 1 (Southern Reach Trilogy)

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a b Fleming, Mike Jr. (March 26, 2013). "Paramount, Scott Rudin land 'Annihilation', First Installment of Southern Reach Trilogy". Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved January 11, 2022.

a b McNary, Dave (31 October 2014). " 'Annihilation' Movie Gains Momentum at Paramount with Alex Garland". Variety . Retrieved 26 April 2015. I understand that it's a trilogy, I get that it's a mystery, so the author can't explain all on the very first book, but I think that any novel has to bring some kind of closure on itself. Also, some explanations could be appreaciated. You don't have to explain everything but at least something. Lena follows Ventress to the lighthouse, where she discovers Kane's remains and a videotape. In the footage, Kane leaves an instruction to find Lena before killing himself with a phosphorus grenade. After the explosion, a doppelgänger of Kane steps into frame. As the expedition gets smaller she becomes more and more desperate to understand why AREA X exists.

a b Wappler, Margaret. "The boundary-pushing fiction of Sean McDonald and his new FSG imprint, MCD". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved 2018-02-24. Kroll, Justin (April 29, 2016). "Natalie Portman's 'Annihilation' Adds Containment' Star David Gyasi". Variety . Retrieved June 7, 2018. This central portion of the film is by far its most intriguing. Garland maintains a persistent sense of dread as the explorers’ nerves begin to fray. Is there something in the Shimmer intent on killing them? Will they go mad and kill one another? As the biologist leaves, she notices the psychologist at the base of the lighthouse, seriously injured and likely soon to die. When the biologist approaches, the psychologist screams “annihilation!” at the biologist over and over. After calming down, the psychologist explains that she had leapt from the lighthouse because she was being chased by what she thought was the biologist. The psychologist confirms the biologist’s theories about the anthropologist’s death and explains that Area X is expanding. After the psychologist dies, the biologist finds a scrap of paper on the psychologist and learns that “annihilation” is a hypnotic suggestion meant to induce suicide.

The great thing about Annihilation is the strange, elusive, and paranoid world that it creates . . . I can't wait for the next one.” — Brian Evenson, author of Last Days Area X has been cut off from the rest of the continent for decades. Nature has reclaimed the last vestiges of human civilization. The first expedition returned with reports of a pristine, Edenic landscape; the second expedition ended in mass suicide; the third expedition in a hail of gunfire as its members turned on one another. The members of the eleventh expedition returned as shadows of their former selves, and within weeks, all had died of cancer. In Annihilation, the first volume of Jeff VanderMeer’s Southern Reach trilogy, we join the twelfth expedition. There may not be enough time in the world for that," the surveyor said. Of all of us, I think she had best grasped the implications of what we had seen: that we might now be living in a kind of nightmare. But the psychologist ignored her and sided with me. "We do need time. We should spend the rest of our day doing what we were sent here to do." Kit, Borys (March 30, 2016). "Oscar Isaac in Talks to Join Natalie Portman in 'Annihilation' ". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved January 11, 2022.Due to a poorly received test screening, David Ellison, a financier and producer at Skydance, became concerned that the film was "too intellectual" and "too complicated", and demanded changes to make it appeal to a wider audience, including making Portman's character more sympathetic, and changing the ending. Producer Scott Rudin sided with the director, who did not want to alter the film. Rudin, who had final cut privilege, defended the film and refused to take notes from Ellison. [4] Other potential plot hooks are cast aside altogether. I have not read VanderMeer’s novel, but I know that Garland, who also wrote the screenplay, has taken considerable liberties with it. The book’s narrative framework—it is told entirely through the journal of the Lena character—is abandoned (perhaps inevitably), and with it a certain ability to provide and withhold information. Likewise, in the novel, the characters have been trained to respond to hypnotic cue phrases, among them annihilation, but this subplot, too, has been dropped. (Yes, Garland has excised the meaning of the word that gave the entire enterprise its title.) And so on. The psychologist nodded, appeared to consider these opinions, and asked, "Does anyone yet have even an inkling of a sensation of wanting to leave?" It was a legitimate question, but jarring nonetheless. A stairway did indeed lead down, this time at a gentle curve with much broader steps, but still made of the same materials. At about shoulder height, perhaps five feet high, clinging to the inner wall of the tower, I saw what I first took to be dimly sparkling green vines progressing down into the darkness. I had a sudden absurd memory of the floral wallpaper treatment that had lined the bathroom of my house when I had shared it with my husband. Then, as I stared, the "vines" resolved further, and I saw that they were words, in cursive, the letters raised about six inches off the wall. Kroll, Justin (May 7, 2015). "Natalie Portman Circles 'Ex Machina' Director's Next Sci-Fi Movie (Exclusive)". Variety . Retrieved January 11, 2022.

Alas, once our explorers reach their ultimate destination—and you will not be surprised to learn that not all of them reach it—the revelations it offers are at once mundane, largely opaque, and intermittently comical. (This may be the first time I’ve seen a film try to play the classic “ mirror routine” straight.) When the interrogators we met at the opening of the film later ask Lena asked what she thinks the alien force or intelligence she encountered may have wanted, she replies, “I’m not sure it wanted anything”—which is not a particularly compelling premise for a film.OK I did find some redeeming features in here and I did find some parts great ( I did give it two stars because of this). There is some great imagination here. There is some wonderful imagery here. I just wish it was more connected and there was even one little ounce of effort to try and make it make sense. I had to laugh. "No, there is no animal that communicates in this way." Or, if there were, I could not recall its name, and never did later, either. I want you to know that I cannot stop thinking of it as a tower," I confessed. "I can't see it as a tunnel." It seemed important to make the distinction before our descent, even if it influenced their evaluation of my mental state. I saw a tower, plunging into the ground. The thought that we stood at its summit made me a little dizzy. a b Spiegelman, Ian (28 February 2014). "Jeff VanderMeer: 'Power of Nature' Inspired New Sci-Fi Novel 'Annihilation' ". USA Today . Retrieved 2014-04-08.