If the movies Arrival and Ex-Machina had a baby, this would be it.

Rating: 7/10 (22 March 2020)

When Annihilation came out last year on Netflix of all places, it has been on my list to go and watch but aside from starring Natalie Portman, there was little buzz around it so I put it under the "Watch Later" category. Read that the reason it was released directly to Netflix was due to creative differences between the producer and distributor. Back then direct to Netflix sounded like a death sentence and for this movie it was, only getting a theatrical release in the US, Canada, and China since the director did not want to change the movie because the distributor found it too intellectual and therefore not accessible. The movie bombed and even failed to breakeven but is it a testament to how bad the movie is? Not necessarily.
We follow Lea (Portman) who takes over the mission his husband (Isaac) "survived" from, unable to give her answers after being gone for a year and suddenly comes back like an empty shell of his former self. Lea along with a team of women, damaged in their own ways, set out to find anything they can from this mysterious glow that started engulfing a certain area in the US. Portman, as expected, delivers while Isaac was shooting this and the Last Jedi back-to-back like literally, he would walk from one studio to the next if he had to shoot scenes for both movies on the same day. Tessa Thompson has been everywhere (Thor, Westworld) but she brings in something new to each character. Gina Rodriguez did okay but I thought Michelle Rodriguez would've been more imposing.
So, the final verdict? The distributor wasn't wrong that Annihilation may come off as too intellectual and therefore the audience might distance themselves from it. But the producer and director were also right to keep it the way it was. The movie moved slowly but it was engaging enough that it will keep you wanting to find out what's going on even if you know it will possibly lead to your demise. Which is the theme of the movie really, the propensity of humans for self-destruction. We see it in our eating habits, on how we disregard nature and the propagation of fake news. No matter what we do we are going to die, it's just a question of whether you will run towards it, or have readied yourself to face it when it's your time, or if you will fight it. My only regret is not watching this on a bigger screen. The visuals will have your mouth watering.