Annihilation was written and directed by Alex Garland and is the direct adaption Jeff VanderMeer's trilogy Southern Reach. Annihilation stars Natalie Portman as biologist, Lena, who signs up for a dangerous mission leading her into an environmental disaster zone where rules of nature don't apply. Let me be honest and open right up front. I loved Annihilation. Quite a bit, almost everything about this movie was unexpected and masterfully filmed. I will say if you are not a fan of Science Fiction this movie will be very challenging to watch. It is by far a strong genre film. As a fan of Science Fiction I really found this movie to be exciting and a fun watch. My first thoughts on Annihilation were hard to form as this is a film that really pushed me in my suspension of disbelief and willingness to go where the director was taking me. After I bought into the vision that Garland had for this film, I was swept away by a very fun and exciting movie that immediately left me asking for more.
Let's take a look at some of the best parts:
1. Production- Annihilation is one of the best looking films I have ever seen. I thought everything about this movie was stunning, from it's cinematography to it's spectacular use of CGI it was masterfully put together in a way that it all felt fluid and real. The quality of production within Annihilation was the best of the best. This is a movie that deserves to be seen on the big screen. It is sad that the deal for this movie fell apart and it will be sent straight to Netflix. Annihilation is a movie that will have it's best viewing experience on the big screen with an audience. I would've loved to see how beautiful this movie would play on an IMAX screen.
2. Direction and Tone- The direction of this movie was fantastic. This movie had one of the most intense and creepy sequences I have seen in a while. I was blown away by the vision of Garland. Annihilation is a movie that I don't think could be type cast. While it was a very well defined Science Fiction film, it was a movie that switched tone several times but it did so in excellent fashion. One thing I noticed within Annihilation, Garland would switch from an intense tone, to a light and easier tone and then back to a serious one. He did so in a way that it felt natural and it almost became a character. It did allow for the audience to kind of guess where the film was going but this is a movie that spoilers aren't a horrible thing to have. So having a sense of where the film was going with the tonal shifts, it just created a very fun and enjoyable experience.
3. Mystery- Annihilation was one of the best Science Fiction mysteries I have seen in a long time. I don't think there was a moment I was lost or felt uninterested in the story being told. At all times I was engage and engulfed in the story and mystery of this movie, causing me to long for a solid conclusion. A large part of why this movie had a wonderful mystery is the story telling aspects. Garland utilized flashbacks in a very fresh and creative way. Flashbacks can be a very useful tool to tell stories, but they can also be very dangerous if done incorrectly. Fortunately, this was not the case with Annihilation. It was an expertly crafted mystery.
4. Writing- Garland did a spectacular job at writing the screenplay for this movie. The concept of this movie is one that is hard to translate to a screen. However, Alex Garland managed to bring this movie to the big screen in a way it felt original and fresh. He had exposition conversations without them feeling boring. We got to find out about this world through the eyes of our characters and that was refreshing. There were no news stories, or paper headlines. The story of this film was just rolled out naturally. I wish I could say this about more films that have come out recently.
Annihilation was not a perfect film by any means:
1. 3rd Act- The 3rd act of this movie was by far the weakest of the film. A large part of this is due to Garland's decision to abandon what made this movie unique. He abandoned the consistent tonal shift he had going for the movie. The pacing of the 3rd act was super inconsistent as well. It would be extremely rushed but then falls back to a slow building film. The inconsistency with pacing and tonal shift created a 3rd act that felt like it was just a part of a different movie entirely. It does get back on track toward the finale of the movie, but by then the damage had already been done.
Overall, I really enjoyed Annihilation. I thought Alex Garland created a world and characters that were very exciting and extremely well developed. The beauty of this film was in the excellent mixture of practical and CGI camera work. I do recommend going to see Annihilation in theaters as it was a very well made Science Fiction film. The 3rd act was a little inconsistent with the rest of the film but that doesn't mean it was bad. It just distracting from the rest of the movie. I am going to give Annihilation an A-.
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