Writers: Alex Garland, Jeff VanderMeer
DOP: Rob Hardy
Cast: Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Oscar Isaac
A biologist signs up for a dangerous, secret expedition where the laws of nature don't apply or it is just very hyperactive.
It's on Netflix and do watch it without knowing anything about it. So don't read on if you haven't seen it. How it came to Netflix for international release was that the Studio heads at Paramount thought that it was too cerebral. They clashed with Scott Rudin and Alex Garland on its final cut. So they gave a two week window to release it in USA and China after which it got released on Netflix this week.
It is an adaptation of Jeff VanderMeer's first book with the same name from 'Southern Reach' trilogy. What happens in the area they are exploring, where something from space fell, is that cell activity is very heightened and evolution is on steroids. People outside have no idea what's going on and are not sure about the motive of whatever that is happening inside. The point is that it has no motive and just a property. This is what people find hard to fathom when it comes to evolution. Gene replication is a property and evolution happening due to errors in replication or mutations has no end goal. There is no motivation, purpose or end goal, just a propensity to replicate. They gradually learns that the area that they are exploring is acting like a prism for cell replication and all the mutations are leading to all sorts of species coming out of it. It makes sense up to this point and the last act of the thing mimicking didn't make much sense but it is a good cinema trope. It can be seen as the explanation of what was happening to 'The Thing' on the John Carpenter movie.
The film will also remind one of Ridley Scott's Alien. It works as a sci-fi movie, monster movie and a horror movie over the course of it. He had cited self destruction as a theme he wanted to highlight in the film and it is even stated explicitly stated in the movie by one of its characters. It is visually stunning, well acted and got a trippy soundtrack. It has a similar ending to Ex Machina and on whole I enjoyed it even more than it. And Ex Machina was great by the way.
Rating: 4.75/5
No comments:
Post a Comment