Good-looking hull with superb acting but no content.

Rating: 6/10 (12 March 2018)

After seeing the Teaser Trailer for Annihilation last year I was very intrigued. I like almost everything Sci-Fi and figured it could be a more intellectual and philosophical ride than usual. So I went to buy the book-trilogy by VanderMeer and started reading to prepare for it. I don't regret that part, having never stumbled upon any of Jeff VanderMeer's work before. The books are weird, creepy and also pretty clever and special compared to other Sci-Fi I read. I felt like VanderMeer clearly outsmarts most readers.
Hearing that Alex Garland only read the first novel of the trilogy and then came up with a movie on his own had me not only sceptical but made me not rush the reading aswell. So far I'm done with book two.
Garlands Ex-Machina was great, I loved it despite some story-telling flaws. What he did with Annihilation made me angry after having read the books. I don't know if it's ignorance or arrogance but except for the very core idea of the book, he seemed to not care at all about the material.
There's an area that has a shimmer around it and manages to change physical laws and completely morphs preset dna together with other things. That's pretty much all Garland took from the book. The rest is from his own mind. No dialogue or scene have anything to do with the book from there on. The protagonists actually had to tell the audience they're getting crazy because the scenes didn't picture it well enough to see.
The acting was great, especially from Natalie Portmann and Tessa Thompson (underrated but will get there I hope. I managed to stumble upon most of her work since Veronica Mars). The setting reminded me of the videogame The Last of Us but not of the books from VanderMeer. Still beautiful though. (Heck if Garland made a movie of the game with that setting it could have been awesome).
Watching the movie as standalone without the novels it got adapted from, it still makes for a very murky experience, due to lack of backstory about the travel into Area X and the lack of motivation from the protagonists. Also, the eerie background-sounds were great. The guitar-songs in some scenes felt completely out of place for the setting.
Therefore my rating is 6, because of the cinematography and the very good acting overall.
After seeing the movie on netflix, I can see why Paramount decided to not drop it in cinemas outside the US and China. It was not worth it and I am still sour about that fact. I am not looking forward to Garlands next work like I did after Ex-Machina.
If you like Sci-Fi and haven't read VanderMeer's Southern Reach Trilogy, give it a try. You won't be disappointed.