In apocalyptical mood, I watched two American disaster movies this week on Netflix, Annihilation and Left Behind.
Annihilation stars Natalie Portman as a grieving widow professor who enters an alien zone known as the Shimmer - which I think is set in Florida - in search of her missing husband. Its based on an award-winning novel of the same title by Jeff Vandermeer.
I've seen this flick before and despite being a complete box office flop I really enjoyed it. Its interesting and well-made I thought. There are strange goings-on in the Shimmer and nothing is as it seems. There are also at least two furiously large predators, which set the heart-rate going. It calls to mind other movies like The Wall [German sci-fi], The Mist and Neither the Sea Nor the Sand [based on the novel by erstwhile newsreader Gordon Honeycombe]. I won't spoil anything but I enjoyed this film. I'm surprised it bombed.
Left Behind on the other hand is not like Annihilation, although it is about the end of the world, sort of. Where Annihilation is thought-provoking and interesting, Left Behind is a banal mess worthy of the Razzies it was awarded at the time. Yet I had to watch it!
It stars once impressive actor Nic Cage in an excruciatingly naff role as a Long Island airline pilot. Normally pilots aren't naff at all but somehow the director manages to just up the cringe-worthiness of everyone and everything in this film. Imagine a terrible day-time TV movie set on a plane morphed with Sunday School. I don't want to give anything away though in case you feel oddly compelled to watch it like I did.
Amazingly when I checked Wiki the original story has a chequered history peppered with law suits and court cases. Who would have thought that this tale could garner such enthusiasm. Even more surprising are the number of sequels, which I don't think I'll be watching. Just not for me.
Left Behind reminded me of a the slow burn of the Stephen King flick The Langoliers if you've seen that. The central effect of people not being there called to mind the 80's cult hit The Night of the Comet.
Have you seen either Annihilation or Left Behind?
Watched Annihilation, but couldnt figure it out. Like a bad acid trip, with cgi. A little too pretentious, its not unlike ‘Monsters’ in that an alien presence exerts its influence on Earth. Nick Cage films are always a bit mad, try watching The Colour out of Space for an exercise in method acting!
ReplyDeleteI found Monsters boring but it launched the makers' careers so that's always good for a budget film. I may try the Colour Out of Space. Lovecraft! Yay!
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