Film Review - Annihilation (2018)

Annihilation is based off of the novel and is adapted by Mr Alex Garland who made the Dredd reboot in 2012 with Karl Urban and Ex Machina in 2015 with Oscar Isaac he also plays Kane in this movie a soldier who returns home from a mission to his wife a biologist and former soldier Lena (Natalie Portman) but she is drafted by Dr. Ventress (Jennifer Jason Leigh) for her own mission into the Shimmer a strange portal that landed on Earth from Space but accompanying them are Tessa Thompson, Gina Rodriguez and Tina Novotny but what they find inside may shock and disturb them.

For the first two thirds of this movie I was really on board, Garland continues the 70s esque Sci Fi feel that he started with Ex Machina here very well where ideas and the human condition form the basis of the Science Fiction elements instead of laser beams and ray guns and that type of Star Wars feel of Science Fiction that became more popular when that film became a hit.

His direction also feels much more confident with lots of wide open shots and muted colours and long edits again recalling the spirit of early 70s and late 60s Sci Fi films like 2001 or Silent Running and also he has a very game cast of actresses who give it their all but before I go into them I want to talk about Oscar Isaac’s role and he’s okay but doesn’t really get an awful lot to do he feels a little bit like a plot device at times.

But the 5 main actresses are all great both as a unit and individually Portman is delivering some of her best work here and it’s a real shame that she hasn’t gotten more chances like this one as she shows a real grit here and an ability to carry a film with real ease, Thompson continues to go from strength to strength with her work here plus her work in Thor Ragnarok and Creed there ain’t anything this woman can’t do, Ms Leigh is very solid as the team leader and Ms Rodriguez is basically doing the Vasquez role from Aliens and she does it very well and Ms Novotny is also good here.

But oh boy oh boy does this movie go right off the deep down and goes Kerplunk Kerplunk Kerplunk and loses its thribble in the third act and up until this point I was completely on board with the film but after that climax I just feel like I’ve watched a bad knockoff of Alien from the early 80s with the Giger esque designs, the crew getting picked off one by one until one remains and the characters doing the same stupid things that people in Sci Fi films tend to do like looking down a hole or at a strange thing or firing a gun and so on and so forth.

And I do not take any pleasure in saying any of that because I was really enjoying the movie up until then but this is a classic case of a film being sabotaged by its third act and it sadly undid a lot of the positive feelings I had for this movie beforehand but I can’t say that as much thinking about the full film in context of its beginning, middle and ending.

And so that was Annihilation and sadly it is a big disappointment, the first two thirds were so good and I was really on board with it that it made the letdown of its third act feel even worse than it normally might have, if you’re a Sci Fi fan check it out but if not then I cannot recommend it I’m afraid and I take no pleasure in saying that, 1 out of 5.