Out-there

Rating: 6/10 (5 September 2018)

Alex Garland's debut, Ex-Machina (2014), was an intelligent scifi-piece. The same can be said about Annihilation, though Annihilation has and will be more polarizing among wide audience - I can see many calling it pretentious, even if it possesses many familiar structural details.
Earth is under an extraterrestrial threath and a group of scientists/soldiers are sent to investigate. The premise is obviously a familiar one but the film eventually turns into ponderings about life and humanity disguised as a scifi-thriller. The film somewhat reminded me of Denis Villeneuve's Arrival (2016), but Annihilation is more out there with it's intentional and theme appropriate "weird" atmosphere that stems from it's characters and audiovisual choices.
The film has some nice artwork and all in all, for me, it was a pretty interesting viewing and it can be a retrospective grower for sure due to it's distinct atmosphere and thoughts. Still, at the moment I'm kind of on the fence whether I actually liked it or not - eccentric stuff.
Rating: 6/10