“Start from the beginning,” Natalie Portman is told in a new trailer for “Annihilation.” We’re transported to the not-so-distant past, and see the Oscar winner’s character, a biologist, hanging out with her husband (Oscar Isaac, “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”). He then embarks on a mysterious expedition, and when he comes home, he’s extremely ill.
“If I knew what happened, I could save his life,” the biologist insists. So she decides to volunteer for the same expedition he did, and heads to a mysterious, abandoned, and altogether otherworldly-looking location known as Area X. She and three other women compose the 12th expedition: a surveyor (Tessa Thompson, “Thor: Ragnarok”), psychologist (Jennifer Jason Leigh, “Twin Peaks”), and paramedic (Gina Rodriguez, “Jane the Virgin”).
The trailer includes footage of Area X, where we’re told life is in “continuous mutation” and the women face terrifying predators. We also learn a little bit about the fate of the soldiers on the last expedition — and it doesn’t bode well for this foursome.
The sci-fi film is based on Jeff VanderMeer’s novel of the same name, which is part of a series, so “Annihilation” has franchise potential. The pic is written and directed by Alex Garland (“Ex Machina”) and hits theaters February 23, 2018.
