Another Classic Enters the Sci-Fi Pantheon

Rating: 9/10 (9 April 2018)

A shame that Alex Garland's 2nd feature film is released straight to Netflix in his native country, whilst enjoying theatrical releases abroad.
This is an awesome film, that feels more audacious that it perhaps is. Whilst watching it conjures Aronofsky, Kubrick and Tarkovsky - even though it reveals too much for my tastes.
Confidently shot, with both subtle and lavish FX and design. And a refreshingly noteworthy intimate scene that is truly progressive and representative of contemporary attitudes.
What negative reviews seem to have missed with their umbrage at ostensibly illogical behaviours and strategies (giving a paramedic a gun, lookout post on the ground, etc) is that these characters are last resorts. The givernment have tried sending full military teams, presumably with all protective gear and differeribg strategies, but all have failed. And so this team is a half-baked last ditch attempt. The characters are all also yielding to the Shimmer, and open to the phenomenon, hence their less cautious behaviour than initial teams may have had. Plus, Portman's protagonist just saw her husbabd return in a spooky, almost ghost form, then puke up blood, then get whisked to a secret government place, then presented with a possible alien phenomenon. I think she can be forgiven for not bothering with gloves for her specimen sampling. They are all self destructing. Annihilation. These reviewers seem to be completely missing the point.
There are some genuinely frightening and transcendental moments - today's stoners have their 2001 - and it lingers in the memory long after the credits.