Annihilation of a Decent Idea

Rating: 1/10 (5 March 2018)

A meteorite strikes a lighthouse on the southeastern US coast and a mysterious 'Shimmer Zone' begins expanding from the impact point. The government keeps the event a secret and sends military units into the area, but none of these personnel ever return. After about a year, the special forces husband of an ex-Army biologist called Lena suddenly shows up at their home, remembering little of the previous twelve months and immediately falling seriously ill.
After this 15 minute prologue, Lena joins the next all-female expedition. The five women enter the zone, witness disturbing events and discover their communications devices no longer work. Rather than return to base and report these discoveries, they push on, arguing among themselves and making more foolish decisions until they resemble dim-witted teenagers in a slasher pic. The military and scientific background becomes increasingly unbelievable as routine action sequences and some uninspired CGI overwhelm the film's grown-up possibilities.
Many sci-fi fans will recall JG Ballard conceived the original idea of an expanding zone where the laws of nature are transformed. By comparison to Ballard's 1966 novel 'The Crystal World', Garland's movie version of Jeff VanderMeer's copycat concept is a conventional adventure yarn spiced up with some sci-fi mumbo-jumbo. 'Annihilation' ends up as inconsequential as Garland's 2007 'Sunshine' screenplay - and after 'Ex Machina', it's a major disappointment.