I thought Ex Machina was (although flawed) an excellent movie, Annihilation was just crap though. Apart from the outfits, there was nothing even remotely military about any of them, the whole thing just didn't know where it was going or why, it was a huge confused mess. It probably would have made a good TV episode in an anthology show, but just not enough there to make a decent film. It put me in mind of Arrival (easily the worst sci-fi movie of recent times), low-brow junk masquerading as high-brow gold. Both were designed from the ground up to make stupid people think they are really smart. If a film is advertised as 'highly intelligent' they should at least be moderately intelligent, but this doesn't even come close. The fact the ending is somewhat ambiguous and there are several different theories about it doesn't mean the film is cleaver, it just means the ending has more than one interpretation. I'm not saying films should spoon feed you all the answers, in fact, I hate when that happens, It's great being able to contemplate a movie and it's meanings after the fact, the problem here is it gives you so little of worth to actually think about.
[5.4/10] The benefit of the cinematic form is that it’s malleable. A great movie can be a self-serious naturalistic drama or a zany, loosely-plotted comedy. It can have a tight three act structure or it can have a messy spillover of events that fit a different tone. You can do a million things with two-hours of screen time in a million different ways, and as a reviewer, I try to keep myself open and generous to the new and different ways inventive auteurs find to take advantage of the medium.
But the problem with Annihilation is that the things it's good at -- its visuals and its final, captivating sequence -- feel disconnected from the ways in which it is a movie. If you stripped this film for parts and just extracted certain images or scenes, you would find compelling bits and pieces. And yet, as an all-encompassing piece of art meant to tell a story, meant to introduce characters, meant to make you care about what’s going on from the first minute to the last, it falls woefully short.
The film tells the story of Lena, an ex-soldier/biologist who ventures into a mysterious zone called “The Shimmer” to try to find out what happened to her dying husband. She teams up with four other scientist/soldiers to investigate the bizarre happenings inside, where no communications can reach the outside world and from which no one has ever returned. The expedition goes predictably awry quickly, with Lena and her crew finding signs of other failed attempts while they try to make sense of the unknown phenomena all around them.
The result comes off like a Predator clone as presented by David Lynch. That description may sound exciting, or at least interesting, but the truth is that for it’s first hundred minutes or so, Annihilation is a remarkably boring film given its premise. Generic military types with barely-sketched personalities wander anonymously through the jungle where little of substance happens between the occasional, solid set piece. Director Alex Garland can’t spice up his standard issue, Star Trek-esque “hey, there’s some freaky stuff going down on that planet” narrative with anything approaching real character or intrigue. It leaves the whole exercise feeling like an hour and a half of treading water to justify the film’s grand, final showpiece.
That showpiece is a doozy. If you lopped off just “The Lighthouse” segment of the movie, apart from the doldrums of the setup and the ponderousness of the frame story, it would be an incredible short film. The demoscene-esque symmetry and variation of the energy blob that Lena confronts, the Del Toro-esque figure who consumes her teammate and withstands her bullets, the mirroring alien creature that moves just so and eventually erupts into a singular immolation, all grab the viewer’s attention and evince a mood and a vision that are abstract, palpable, and transcendent, but all but missing elsewhere in the film.
The worst part of the whole endeavor is the dialogue. There’s a thudding quality to almost every exchange, where people declare exactly what they’re thinking, robotically convey some exposition that’s already obvious to anyone with a brain, or speak in bland action movie clichés. There’s always some artifice to movie dialogue, but holy hell, nobody in the world talks like this. I initially wanted to attribute it to the stupefying effects of The Shimmer, but the truth is that everyone in the movie speaks in the same awkward, stilted rhythms regardless of where they’re in the alien zone or not. The merits of this film are far and away on the visual side, and it seems like the verbal side was massively neglected by comparison.
The runner up in that department is the characters. No individual’s personality is depicted through action, everyone’s backstory is just announced, either by another character or through the patently unnecessary frame narrative. But hey, that’s OK, because everyone is a flat, stock archetype anyway, whom you’ll forget as soon as they’re picked off or disappear or get transmogrified into something else. Even Lena, who should be compelling given her losses and purpose, is a weird blank space in the middle of the film, barely defined despite being the nominal driver of the action.
That action, thankfully, isn’t bad. Apart from that impressive final sequence, the only thing to really recommend Annihilation is its production design and aesthetic, with remixed flora and fauna that stand out amid the film’s otherwise soporific qualities. True to a film starring Natalie Portman, there’s a bit of a Star Wars prequel vibe to some of the CGI, but most of it is forgivable, and when the lights go low and the digital seams don’t show, the film’s capable of some real terror and awe.
Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for its mystery and themes. It becomes clear what’s going on within The Shimmer fairly quickly -- that whatever this entity is has been remixing and mashing up the various inputs its found on our planet is. But that doesn't stop our heroes from wandering around and puzzling over it for god knows how long. By the same token, the film tries to connect everything to a grand theme of unconscious self-destruction being our downfall, cellularly and socially, rather than external malady or directive choice. But while it’s an interesting idea, it’s lost in a sea of tepid scenes and tin-eared dialogue trying to dramatize it.
That’s the overarching problem with Annihilation. It fails at the things that you need to sustain a film: character, story, theme, pacing, dialogue, intrigue. But it succeeds at the things that could exist apart from the structure and be just as good, namely the raw imagery of the piece and the almost baletic, psychedelic sequence at the end which the audience only vaguely needs the backstory provided to appreciate. There’s things worth salvaging from this film -- bravado sequences that almost justify the experience -- but they come apart from, or at the expense of, the things essential to the form.
Annihilation is an interesting, occasionally astounding art project, but it’s not much of a movie.
In this movie everything is excellent, except for the story which is the most important part and doesn't make any sense. It's not like I expect a Sci-Fi with mystical elements to make perfect sense, but this movie's plot doesn't make even a little sense (more on that later...)
You aren't really invested in the characters and their goals, it's unclear what the stakes are and it's also unclear how the stakes raise in the 3rd act. The film does have a very good eerie and suspenseful feel to it which is good, but it get's ruined by the lack of sense in the plot and the completely idiotic behavior of the characters.
There is an obvious 'girl power' thing going on in this film which is fine, but I'll tell you what, feminists should be mad as hell with this movie. It depicts women as incapable, incompetent and stupid because of how mind-numbingly dumb the characters behave.
The most blatant example of this is the guardhouse scene. Where the women camp for the night in a watch tower in an elevated position, which has only one stairwell to the ground. The women, in their infinite wisdom, decided it's a good idea to put a guard, not in the watch tower which is an elevated position that provides a vantage point and where there are only one entrance and exit, no. They thought it's a good idea to put the guard exposed on the ground level. Furthermore, when inevitably the guard spots the monster and alerts the rest, the guard doesn't retreat to the watchtower. Instead, all the women in the watchtower go down to where the guard is and leave themselves exposed.
There are many such examples where the characters behave in extremely unplausible and stupid ways just so something in the plot could happen. This breaks immersion and makes you care less about the characters.
I was plenty interested in this one at the beginning, but once the main character (Lena) joined up with the group of girls it slowly made its way downhill for me.
I found this under a thriller genre list and was expecting the sci-fi aspect as well from the (very) brief description, but not the horror. The other characters came across as so flat and almost; I dunno, generic and cookie cutter like? Standard, overused, vague personalities. I suppose the writers didn't feel like putting any effort into them. I couldn’t remember their respective names; I kept getting them mixed up when I didn't just forget them entirely. (Not much of a spoiler right here; I just like to try and allow others to make up their own minds about some details and not be potentially influenced by what they've read beforehand.)
Things increasingly became ultra weird and creepy and wayyy too long and drawn out. The last 30-45 minutes were the worst. I was getting bored and anxious for it to just be over already. The ending was essentially a non-ending; a big build up to a two second non-surprising surprise.
As a big lover of rainbows and iridescence, I was a bit disappointed that “the shimmer” and its effects turned out to be so horrifying. I was hoping for the possibility that it was just a misunderstood phenomenon at first and a mystery to unravel, but actually be good for humanity; not destroy it.
I’m skimming over other reviews on IMDb right now and while the movie has a notably decent overall rating, it seems I’m not alone in feeling that this was tedious as hell to get through. Many didn't feel that way and loved this, but many also hated it. I felt that Ex Machina (done by the same director) was a decent film and I chose to watch it a second time. Under the Skin has also been mentioned alongside this film. While I rated that a 6 for various reasons, I didn't actually care for it personally (more like a 4) and wouldn't give it another go. I don't suppose that helps you decide whether or not to watch Annihilation for yourself, but maybe? I also read this was based on a book and that the film finale was drastically changed from it. I might look into it out of curiosity.
Oh! And how could I forget? In order to throw in some sexuality/bare skin they put in an utterly pointless scene where it's revealed that the main character was a fucking cheater. Her partner in crime loved his wife though. rolls eyes
Alex Garland has been buzzing around the sci-fi world for awhile now. He has his hooks in the community and gained a lot of popularity writing for Boyle on several of his projects--to varying levels of success, imo. Ex Machina was a big step: the directorial debut. And although it features absolutely stellar visuals and acting, the writing itself fell just slightly short of where the rest of the film took me. I make it sound worse than it is. Ex Machina truly is a magnificent movie and I do very much love it, but the script just didn't quite gel with me. It's very on rails. It didn't leave a whole lot up for guesswork in the viewing experience for me. I kind of knew exactly where we were going. That might be the point and that might be exactly why a lot of people love it, but it did detract from the film for me, even if only slightly.
And that's why I anticipated Annihilation so highly. I felt like Garland was right on the cusp of something and when I saw that trailer I had a feeling I was about to get what I was looking for. It's pretty rare, as a viewer, to see a film that feels like it's right up your alley in a way that few other projects really seem to be. And every single second of Annihilation works like that for me. The weird sci-fi, the Lovecraftian overtones, and the feeling of utter depression amidst one of the most beautiful worlds I've ever seen. It's also terrifying.
It's kind of like LOST with a more overt horror influence. It's polarizing though, I know. Some will think it's too vague, some will think it just doesn't offer a whole lot, and the cinephiles might say it's too reminiscent of Stalker (but, ugh, hard disagree). I don't care though. This is one of the best science fiction films ever made.
Annihilation is a visually stunning and intellectually challenging sci-fi film that unfortunately received a lower-key release, much to the disappointment of audiences. The movie, directed by Alex Garland and starring Natalie Portman, follows a team of women as they venture into a mysterious area known as "The Shimmer" to uncover its secrets and potential threat to humanity. The film is anchored by Portman's strong performance and supported by a talented ensemble cast. The narrative is complex and ambiguous, requiring full attention from the viewer and leaving much open to interpretation. The film's visuals and sound design are striking and make it a true cinematic experience. Overall, Annihilation is a thought-provoking and visually captivating film that should be seen on the big screen.
Annihilation es una película de ciencia ficción visualmente deslumbrante e intelectualmente desafiante que desafortunadamente recibió un lanzamiento de bajo perfil, para gran decepción del público. La película, dirigida por Alex Garland y protagonizada por Natalie Portman, sigue a un equipo de mujeres que se aventuran en un área misteriosa conocida como "The Shimmer" para descubrir sus secretos y la amenaza potencial para la humanidad. La película está anclada en la gran actuación de Portman y cuenta con el apoyo de un elenco talentoso. La narrativa es compleja y ambigua, requiere toda la atención del espectador y deja mucho abierto a la interpretación. El diseño visual y sonoro de la película es impactante y la convierte en una verdadera experiencia cinematográfica. En general, Annihilation es una película que invita a la reflexión y visualmente cautivadora que debería verse en la pantalla grande.
Something struck me as I watched this film. A single entity in a swamp presented more of a threat to mankind than all of the disposable aliens swarming the Avengers or blue beams shooting into the sky in nearly every superhero movie.
I'd like there to be more science fiction like "Annihilation". It walks an entirely female squad into a strange world where the sense of wonder outweighs the fear of the unknown. It generates a sense of dread and suspense that can be terrifying.
If you want a deep character study, this probably won't do it. This is more about the "shimmer" slowly spreading through the swamp than it is any character's personal battles or traumatic life experiences. It tries to make you feel for the team by providing some of their stories, but they aren't particularly detailed.
"Annihilation" gets crazy in the last 20 minutes in a good way. It gets even weirder than it was previously and the accompanying music added to the impact. Oh...and the bear scene is awesome.
Second review:
I watched this for a second time since originally seeing it in theaters back in early 2018.
One thing that impressed me this time is the all female squad that heads into the "shimmer" to investigate the oddity. There isn't a lot of backstory to any of the characters (other than Portman's "Lena"). It reminds me how little we knew about the all male characters in John Carpenter's "The Thing". And just like in that film, the characters in "Annihilation" are just smart, never mind their gender.
Of course, no one took any notice of that or this film and its casting because it isn't one made to appeal to the mindless masses. I know that comment may seem elitist but it's true. This is a shamefully underappreciated film.
First of all i need to say that the sci fi genre tag on this film is loose to say the least, the film does fall within this category but Star Wars, Alien etc this is not.
Secondly there are NO spoilers within this review.
Annihilation had the promise to be something more than what it ending up being. The potential for the film could have spawned a new franchise but sadly I feel they missed the mark in the end.
As echoed in other comments, the first two thirds of the film are very good. Intrigue and mystery drive the film forward in a quest to discover just exactly what the shimmer is. However the final pay off is what let's the film down and feels somewhat rushed.
The cinematography at times is simply beautiful with some fantastic shots. A divulge into the psyche of the struggling soldier is thought provoking as well as the human need for self destruction.
Annihilation seems to have got stuck in confused state of what the ultimate goal of the film should be. Hints of films such Predator, Apocolypse Now, but ultimately never delivering the ending the build up of the film promises.
Overall I enjoyed the film for what it was and I think the fact that I still liked the film even with the poor ending shows the strength of the first two thirds.
A solid 7 in my eyes.
A good concept with the Shimmer, intriguing biology and the stakes are high as it must be stopped before it spreads everywhere. It's a rough slow start before they enter it but when they finally do (without any hazmat suits or protection of any kind) it gets interesting. I was excited for the adventure and we get a cool sequence with an alligator, killer practical effects with a body in a pool and the worm intestines are nightmare fuel but then it's right back to the slowness for a good while. It nearly lost me around the 1h mark but it finally picks up and the third act kinda makes up for all that.
Not a fan of the two timelines thing with Portman's character, it ruins the stakes and I never felt like she was in any danger because of that. A few original kills. Good acting all around, Portman carried the movie and Jennifer Jason Leigh has such a delightful voice and pronunciation as usual. Nice song choices and the foreboding electronic music in the third act fits perfectly. The organism and all the visuals look great although i'm not a fan of CGI. Great ending. Not Garland's best but still a good sci-fi.
fuck that bear scene and fuck that camera footage
This is the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. movie I've always wanted. The disturbing imagery, psychological exploration, atmosphere, tension, it's all out of this world. The over-grown, disturbing, but entrancing layout of the shimmer is the long-awaited Chernobyl and Fallout-esque landscape I've wanted to see explored on-screen for years; but yes, it goes way beyond that. Ignoring it's few-and-far-between narrative hiccups, Annihilation is the one of few films in the past decade to have my full-attention start to finish. Come on, we all do this. I wasn't bouncing around ideas for my script for my review while I was watching, I wasn't thinking of other things in my mind as scenes passed by. Absolutely not, I was all in for this one. The story isn't what I'd consider too-brainy for the box office, in fact a number of it's themes are blatantly spelled out through dialogue, but that doesn't mean it isn't interesting as hell. It's just abstract, which is what may be turning off the common audience. Despite it's on the nose nature, possibly from Paramount's pressures to make the movie more accessible, it manages to delve more into it's greater questions about evolution of life itself; the whole hour and forty minute journey of this project is a jaw-dropping experience. As I humorously stated above, there are a few very disturbing and shocking scenes here, so steer clear if you're squeamish at all, I was getting Sinister flashbacks.
The thing I've hated about a lot of productions coming out, is a lot of them fully grasp their potential. What do I mean? Many works, The Dark Tower comes to my mind, for example, may introduce a compelling plot point, like the main character has a connection to this object, or, this side-character came from an abused family, I don't know, some casual beat of the story that's introduced. But a lot of times what happens, is a segment like that is brought up, only to further move the story along, and that beat is totally ignored afterwards. I keep thinking, why not make the movie longer and tap into these really exciting ideas? You've got the base, go all the way with what you can within the story's limits. Go all the way. A real-world example, Silent Hill: Revelation, the master-piece-of-shit sequel to one of my favorite movies of all time, had an added set of characters that were introduced mid-way into the run-time, and the woman in the pair basically said, "We took a wrong turn, we got lost in the fog." And all I kept thinking was, "Why aren't we seeing that? That sounds like a cool and creepy tangent."
But even beyond that, not just plot-points, central themes of a movie. What I was worried, with Annihilation, was the environment in the shimmer is so fascinating and absorbing, I began to worry at a point the movie wouldn't explore it. It wouldn't show off much of the environment and what it's effects have been on what stays in it. But thankfully, it does tap into that realm, so I am satisfied. I kept saying, "Come on, come on, you're so close, just keep going with this creepy sequence," until finally, "Yes! You did it. You went all DAE way with it. I am happy." If there's one thing I hate about movies more than any other quality, it's untapped potential. Having a cool set-up only to go nowhere. Thankfully, Annihilation goes a long way and satisfies. If you want to be creeped the hell out, go see it right now.
A joint scientific/military probe explores an unseen alien force that's taken up residence in the Florida swamplands and begun altering the wildlife. As you can probably surmise from the trailers, this is more of a slow, melancholy wander through the unknown than a guns-blazing action thriller, though there are some moments of noisy chaos.
Natalie Portman gets the close-ups, in a downplayed, nigh-emotionless role, but the unseen, undefined foreign creature has the heaviest presence. Fundamentally unfamiliar with our flora and fauna, it's been inspecting local life at a biological level, toying with genetic code and producing circus-mirror amalgamations that are just as confused about their own existence as we are. In many cases, the results are a beautiful sight to behold, but there's always a lingering sense of unease, something off and disturbing about what's unfolding before us. The worst of these experiments manifests when the human invaders are at their most over-stressed, an unsettling evening showdown with a lumbering, wailing behemoth. Not to give anything away, but it's the first time in years I've felt legitimately terrified by a monster on film.
There's a lot to unpack here, some tricky territory to navigate, and for the first hour it feels like we're walking in mud. Hurry isn't a word in Annihilation's vocabulary, even when it's being chased, and I think many viewers will find that off-putting. I'll confess that it does ultimately bear fruit, though the quality depends upon your interpretation. I enjoyed it more than the book, which gradually lost track of what made the concept so interesting in the first place, but it endures different troubles. If anything, I felt numb by the end. Slowly beaten down by the slog, the bland, frank, matter-of-fact leads and the lack of real answers. Thoughtful and interesting, but far from perfect.
Watched late last night. I liked this one and I think my rating has a chance to go up on a re-watch, which will probably happen as one of my daughters really wants to see it...
Annihilation gave a similar vibe as Arrival, a favorite of mine. Both are a kind of hard-science-fiction thriller with a slow build that leaves you with a lot to think about. Unfortunately though, and kind of a killer in these kinds of movies, I felt there were too many moments where characters in Annihilation didn't act believably...
When they initially enter the shimmer, there's no "testing" or "feeling out" of the psychedelic shimmer boundary: they just walk through as if it's not even there. I think a normal person would require some mental exertion to make such a "leap".
Then, almost immediately they all forget the next several days, waking in their campsite. Their reaction to this is near laughable: they're not worried this will happen again? They're not curious what they may have done in that time? I think most normal people would be more than just a little freaked out about suddenly, somewhat randomly, losing a few days. Especially in a hostile environment.
There was a lot I really liked about it though: there were some truly terrifying moments, and there's a strong feeling of "what the hell is actually going on here". If you can successfully suspend your disbelief in the way some characters act, this is a pretty good movie.
A couple other random spoilery comments...
Bears are scary enough on their own, the "shimmer" bear was pure nightmare fuel. Holy crap.
I also really liked the somewhat ambiguous end. My take on it is that we're all screwed.
Watched on Prime, think this is available on Hulu as well.
Review by deanzelVIP 11BlockedParent2018-02-27T17:28:27Z
I watched Annihilation on Saturday after being pretty excited to watch the movie for the past couple weeks as it was coming from Alex Garland, the director of the fabulous Ex Machina. I'm not going to lie though, I was a little bit disappointed in the end. Not because the movie was not good by any means. It was actually a very well done film with stunning visuals and art direction. It's just that I felt like it had the potential to be a "great" movie, and just fell a bit short in the last quarter/third of the movie or so.
I think that opinions on the ending sequence has varied quite a bit. Some people love it and have raved about it. I, on the other hand, felt that it was a just a tiny bit lacking and while visually stunning, not super original or "groundbreaking". I can't quite put my finger on why I didn't connect as well with the final quarter of the movie though (if that makes sense) without spoiling some major parts of the film.
While the movie is based on a trilogy of books (I've heard that it diverges quite far from the books though), the film borrows heavily from Tarkovsky's Stalker (which isn't necessarily a bad thing). The influence is noticeable throughout, not just from both movies having a Shimmer/Zone. If you're a fan of Stalker (1979), I'd definitely recommend checking Annihilation out.
As I mentioned before, the visuals were stunning, and I thought that the set pieces and scenarios that evolved over the first 2/3 of the film were very well done. I liked the balance of the film being a thriller (both physically and psychologically), while adding lots of thinking points and contemplative questions of "who we really are", "what is actual destruction", just to name a few. The cast was well done for the most part, albeit I wish that the characters other than Natalie Portman's protagonist could have been developed a bit more.
Overall, I enjoyed the movie and thought it was a grand visual experience. I was just disappointed a bit perhaps because I was expecting a bit too much coming in, and from what the first 2/3's of the movie set up. Also of note, the trailer definitely markets this film as something like a female Rambo/Predator action flick, which it really isn't. In the end, I think that I would give the movie a solid 7.5/10.