Movie Endings Explained – Annihilation (video)

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Movie endings, they’re usually pretty straight forward right? Everything pays off, the main characters learn something, and our heroes ride off into the sunset. Sometimes though, we don’t get the typical ending from a movie, we get something much more nuanced, complex and open ended. The kind of endings that leave things up in the air for all of us to debate and theorize on until we’re blue in the face. With Movie Endings Explained, we aim to delve into some of the more ambiguous and mysterious endings to films that have left audiences scratching their heads for years, and to attempt to explain them. In most cases, a definitive answer isn’t really there, so we definitely want to hear from YOU on how you interpret the various endings we’ll be discussing with this series.

This time we’re looking at Alex Garland‘s freshly released adaptation of the Southern Reach trilogy of books, with 2018’s ANNIHILATION. The EX MACHINA writer-director brought the story to life with a stellar cast including Jennifer Jason Leigh, Oscar Isaac and in the lead role of Lena, Natalie Portman. Focusing on an ex soldier and cellular biologist, the story follows Lena as she enters The Shimmer, an unexplainable dome of light that the government can’t explain, in the hopes of finding out more about her missing husband, Kane. Anyone who enters the Shimmer, does not return, so for the group of women who take up the expedition, it’s almost certain they’ll never return. What follows is a colourful, dark, poignant and hypnotic story of life, death and DNA. Some are already likening the film’s mesmerising third act to 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, and as you would expect, the film’s abstract finale has been a bit of a head scratcher for some. So let’s try and talk it out, look at some of the clues and lightly dissect ANNIHILATION…