Okay, but not like the book.

Rating: 6/10 (20 January 2019)

It's not entirely like the book, which I guess explains the title phrase, "based on."
The movie had the same creepy horror/sci-fi/suspense elements as the book, but it wasn't laid out in the same way as the book - meaning the sequence of events were out-of-order. The creatures/animals were different than described, there was a lot more gore, there was no mention of "a tower," and people did not die as written.
I have to think of this movie as a separate story. It's not exactly "Annihilation," but an adaption of Annihilation - which I guess is what the director was going for (after watching his explanation in interviews). I find this interesting since the director praised Vandermeer for his "original ideas" yet refused to bring them to life on screen without putting his spin on it first.
I can't say if I necessarily liked the movie. I would have preferred to watch a film similar to the book, and this movie should have been called something else since it seems to exist on its own.
I also do not understand why at the end of the movie the Biologist's "duplicate" was made to destroy the lighthouse and all of the alien vegetation. Does this mean there will be no second or third movie to coincide with the Southern Reach Trilogy? The only clue that there might be a continuation of the series is the revival of Kane and the image of both of them embracing while their irises shift color...signaling that they are both no longer human.
What can I say? The movie was both strange and fascinating, but I have to think of it as being an entirely separate entity.