Alex Garland has made a name for himself with some of the bleakest and most visually stunning sci-fi films of the past few years. But at their core, these films are all about one thing: Humanity. Beneath the surface of any good sci-fi film is a conclusion about the way we live our lives.
Garland’s films typically point out human beings’ weakest traits. His most recent venture, Civil War, is perhaps closer to real life than to sci-fi than we would like, but the result is the same. In the film, journalists caught in the middle of a modern-day American Civil War find devastating truths on the home front. These themes are echoed in many of Garland’s films, stretching back to his beginnings in the entertainment industry.
28 Days Later
Garland’s foray into penning impressive stories began with the Danny Boyle film, 28 Days Later. Not only did it feature early work from Academy Award-winning actor, Cillian Murphy, but it was a significant change to zombie films as we know it. Bike messenger, Jim (Murphy), wakes up one day from an accident to find that the world has changed. A zombie outbreak has destroyed society, and he must find refuge with a group of survivors to outlast the sickness.
28 Days Later made zombies terrifying for the new millennium. Rage-filled and fast-running, these monsters were real threats. But at the heart of the film wasn’t the end of the world, it is how people act during it. One by one, Jim’s companions fall victim to the disease until he and Selena (Naomie Harris) are discovered by the military. This reversal of fortune may seem like a stroke of luck, but it is actually the opposite. As it turns out, when a branch of government has complete control over the end of the world, they don’t use it for good. Their abuse of power is one of the most sickening things about the film, and highlights how people devolve into the worst versions of themselves.
Dredd
By all accounts, Dredd is Garland’s directorial debut. While another filmmaker is officially credited, it is not a secret that Garland took control of the film and is its unofficial director. And what a debut it is. Based on the cult-favorite comic, Dredd takes place in a dystopian reality where nuclear bombs have turned America into a wasteland. The last dregs of humanity live in different Mega-Cities across the coast. Many reside in crime-laden tenement buildings where there is only one law. The law of the judges.
Crime has become so rampant that police have been replaced by Judges who carry out justice on the spot. Courts are a thing of the past. Karl Urban plays the titular Judge who takes a rookie, Anderson (Olivia Thirlby), under his wing for a training day she will never forget. At the end of the world, people’s true natures come out, and the only way to handle them is with a bullet. These Mega-Cities are full of corruption and crime. While outrageous, it is not so different from the world we live in now.
Never Let Me Go
Another adaptation, Never Let Me Go is a beautiful addition to Garland’s screenplays. Based on the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro, the film follows 3 friends from their childhood at the boarding school, Hailsham, into adulthood. What seems like a coming-of-age story is a devastating portrait of how people are misused. It is revealed later that Hailsham is in reality a boarding school to raise clones for organ donation. Growing up, these children come to understand that they will live short lives and most likely die after their third donation.
Ishiguro’s novel is famously heartbreaking, and the film version wastes no time finding a shortcut to viewers’ tear ducts. No adults in the film see the characters as human beings. Instead, authority figures raise children like pigs for slaughter, and see no issue with them dying painful deaths from organ failure. Garland’s script notes how the more powerful will always abuse their power and exploit the less privileged.
Ex Machina
Ex Machina is the film that made Garland a director to watch. It also happens to be a feminist take on how the robot rebellion will inevitably start. When a young programmer, Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson) gets cordially invited to take part in a visionary’s experiment, he gets more than he bargained for. He meets scientist Nathan (Oscar Isaac) and his creation, a robot named Ava (Alicia Vikander). Caleb is there to test Ava to see whether she can pass as a human, but throughout their interactions, he inevitably becomes enamored with her.
Films like Ex Machina are sci-fi at its best, demonstrating how men view women as nothing more than objects. The male characters’ actions are so deplorable that when Ava eventually escapes and traps them in the research facility, all you can think is: “Good for her.” Ex Machina cemented Garland as a true artist with a vision that would certainly yield more impressive feats in the future.
Annihilation
Garland takes Ex Machina even further in his 2018 film, Annihilation. The thesis of what makes someone a person is questioned after an extraterrestrial Shimmer starts affecting the environment. Lena (Natalie Portman) volunteers to explore the Shimmer after her husband, Kane (Oscar Isaac), returns from an expedition. Extremely different from when he left, Kane soon becomes sick, making many wonder what he experienced during his time in the Shimmer. As Lena and a team of scientists investigate the area, they start to fall as well, one by one.
Personhood is something that Garland often explores in his films, and this comes to a head when Lena returns. Like Kane, she is not who she was when she left. In reality, she may not be Lena at all, but the entity that came with the Shimmer. Annihilation is left up for interpretation in many ways, but has hallmarks of the filmmaker’s work. His characters are not glossy portrayals of people. His characters are flawed and difficult, even when they share life experiences or love. Annihilation also features a shadowy organization that only has an interest in what this technology can bring them. They send as many people into the Shimmer to experiment as possible, no matter what brutal fate awaits them. Genre films are especially adept at parsing out societal problems, something that Garland has perfected in his films over the years.
