Annihilation
A biologist signs up for a dangerous, secret expedition into a mysterious zone where the laws of nature don't apply.
Working with a mid-range budget of $40.0M, the film achieved a steady performer with $43.1M in global revenue (+8% profit margin).
Plot Structure
Story beats plotted across runtime
Narrative Arc
Emotional journey through the story's key moments
Story Circle
Blueprint 15-beat structure
Arcplot Score Breakdown
Weighted: Precision (70%) + Arc (15%) + Theme (15%)
Annihilation (2018) exemplifies precise narrative design, characteristic of Alex Garland's storytelling approach. This structural analysis examines how the film's 15-point plot structure maps to proven narrative frameworks across 1 hour and 55 minutes. With an Arcplot score of 6.9, the film balances conventional beats with creative variation.
Characters
Cast & narrative archetypes
Lena
Kane
Dr. Ventress
Anya Thorensen
Josie Radek
Cass Sheppard
Main Cast & Characters
Lena
Played by Natalie Portman
A cellular biology professor and former soldier who volunteers for an expedition into the Shimmer to find answers about her husband's mysterious return.
Kane
Played by Oscar Isaac
Lena's husband, a special forces soldier who returns from a mission into the Shimmer with no memory and critical illness.
Dr. Ventress
Played by Jennifer Jason Leigh
The expedition's leader, a psychologist haunted by terminal cancer who seeks answers at the source of the Shimmer.
Anya Thorensen
Played by Gina Rodriguez
A paramedic with a fierce personality and troubled past who becomes increasingly unstable inside the Shimmer.
Josie Radek
Played by Tessa Thompson
A soft-spoken physicist who studies the Shimmer's properties and undergoes a profound transformation.
Cass Sheppard
Played by Tuva Novotny
A geomorphologist and the team's surveyor who provides emotional grounding to the expedition.
Structural Analysis
The Status Quo at 1 minutes (1% through the runtime) establishes Lena in isolation/interrogation, covered in blood. Establishes the fractured, traumatized "after" state that frames the entire narrative as flashback.. Of particular interest, this early placement immediately immerses viewers in the story world.
The inciting incident occurs at 14 minutes when Kane suddenly hemorrhages. Ambulance intercepted by government forces. Lena and Kane taken to secret facility at Area X, the Shimmer. Her husband is dying and she demands answers.. At 12% through the film, this Disruption aligns precisely with traditional story structure. This beat shifts the emotional landscape, launching the protagonist into the central conflict.
The First Threshold at 29 minutes marks the transition into Act II, occurring at 25% of the runtime. This demonstrates the protagonist's commitment to The team crosses through the shimmering barrier into Area X. Lena makes the active choice to enter, driven by guilt over her affair and the need to save Kane or understand what happened to him., moving from reaction to action.
At 58 minutes, the Midpoint arrives at 50% of the runtime—precisely centered, creating perfect narrative symmetry. Of particular interest, this crucial beat The mutated bear attacks, killing Sheppard by using her screams. False defeat: the team realizes the Shimmer is refracted their DNA, their voices, their very selves. They are being rewritten. The horror of what's happening becomes clear., fundamentally raising what's at risk. The emotional intensity shifts, dividing the narrative into clear before-and-after phases.
The Collapse moment at 86 minutes (75% through) represents the emotional nadir. Here, Lena finds the video camera. Watches Kane commit suicide with a phosphorus grenade. The man who came back wasn't Kane—was a copy. Her husband is dead. Everything she came for is gone., demonstrates the protagonist at their lowest point. This beat's placement in the final quarter sets up the climactic reversal.
The Second Threshold at 91 minutes initiates the final act resolution at 79% of the runtime. Lena enters the lighthouse hole, descending into the alien origin point. She finds Ventress transforming into pure energy. Ventress: "It's not destroying, it's making something new." Lena synthesizes understanding: this is evolution through annihilation., demonstrating the transformation achieved throughout the journey.
Emotional Journey
Annihilation's emotional architecture traces a deliberate progression across 15 carefully calibrated beats.
Narrative Framework
This structural analysis employs proven narrative structure principles that track dramatic progression. By mapping Annihilation against these established plot points, we can identify how Alex Garland utilizes or subverts traditional narrative conventions. The plot point approach reveals not only adherence to structural principles but also creative choices that distinguish Annihilation within the science fiction genre.
Alex Garland's Structural Approach
Among the 4 Alex Garland films analyzed on Arcplot, the average structural score is 7.0, reflecting strong command of classical structure. Annihilation takes a more unconventional approach compared to the director's typical style. For comparative analysis, explore the complete Alex Garland filmography.
Comparative Analysis
Additional science fiction films include Lake Placid, The Postman and Oblivion. For more Alex Garland analyses, see Ex Machina, Men and Civil War.
Plot Points by Act
Act I
SetupStatus Quo
Lena in isolation/interrogation, covered in blood. Establishes the fractured, traumatized "after" state that frames the entire narrative as flashback.
Theme
Daniel tells Lena in flashback: "You're confusing suicide with self-destruction. Almost none of us commit suicide, but almost all of us self-destruct." Theme of transformation through annihilation of the self.
Worldbuilding
Alternating between interrogation room and flashbacks. Lena's grief over missing husband Kane, her affair with Daniel, her work as biology professor. Kane's shocking return after one year, ill and disoriented.
Disruption
Kane suddenly hemorrhages. Ambulance intercepted by government forces. Lena and Kane taken to secret facility at Area X, the Shimmer. Her husband is dying and she demands answers.
Resistance
Dr. Ventress briefs Lena on the Shimmer: an expanding alien phenomenon that has killed all previous expeditions except Kane. Lena learns she can't see Kane unless she volunteers. She meets the all-female team preparing to enter.
Act II
ConfrontationFirst Threshold
The team crosses through the shimmering barrier into Area X. Lena makes the active choice to enter, driven by guilt over her affair and the need to save Kane or understand what happened to him.
Mirror World
Dr. Ventress reveals her terminal cancer to Lena. She embodies the thematic counterpoint: someone seeking annihilation deliberately, while Lena is seeking salvation. Both are self-destructing, but with different awareness.
Premise
The team explores the Shimmer's beautiful, terrifying mutations. Flowering humans, crystalline trees, refracted DNA. Missing time, memory loss. Growing tension between team members. Discovery of Kane's video showing him cutting open a still-living soldier.
Midpoint
The mutated bear attacks, killing Sheppard by using her screams. False defeat: the team realizes the Shimmer is refracted their DNA, their voices, their very selves. They are being rewritten. The horror of what's happening becomes clear.
Opposition
The team fractures. Anya goes paranoid, ties everyone up, is killed by the bear. Josie accepts her transformation and becomes a flowering human tree. Ventress abandons them, walks toward the lighthouse. Lena continues alone, driven by guilt and need.
Collapse
Lena finds the video camera. Watches Kane commit suicide with a phosphorus grenade. The man who came back wasn't Kane—was a copy. Her husband is dead. Everything she came for is gone.
Crisis
Lena processes the truth in the darkness. She could turn back, but she doesn't. She chooses to continue to the lighthouse, no longer seeking salvation but understanding. Dark acceptance of her own self-destruction.
Act III
ResolutionSecond Threshold
Lena enters the lighthouse hole, descending into the alien origin point. She finds Ventress transforming into pure energy. Ventress: "It's not destroying, it's making something new." Lena synthesizes understanding: this is evolution through annihilation.
Synthesis
The alien entity copies Lena, mirrors her every move. She tricks it, gives it the phosphorus grenade. It burns, setting the lighthouse and the Shimmer aflame. Lena escapes as everything is consumed. The Shimmer collapses.
Transformation
Lena reunites with Kane (or his copy). Both have the Shimmer in their eyes. They embrace, two transformed beings, neither fully human anymore. The interrogator asks if it was Kane—Lena: "I don't think so." "Are you Lena?" She doesn't answer. Annihilation complete.