Beautiful, yet ruined

Rating: 6/10 (14 March 2018)

"Annihilation" is the film I looked forward to after seeing the trailer. I expected a serious film with serious plot and characters, not the usual hiccups we see in films that are, by now, seen a thousand times...and by that I mean characters that are slow, slow-paced scenes for no reason, characters being careless and irresponsible, usual things happening as in gun getting stuck, or leaving weapons behind, lacking proper survival instincts, etc etc etc.
Unfortunately, this film had all of that in it and I found it painful to watch it in some moments.
It should have gone a bit faster, there was no need for characters being sooooo slow, those scenes just made me go 'oh come on hurry up already!'...
Why does it take them so long to take a gun and shoot a bear?
Why does a gun jam when they're about to shoot a giant crocodile?
Why are there repeatable scenes in the film, I have to say that I really found that 'intimate' scene out of place. I understand we had to see she cheated on her husband, but must that scene repeat twice?
Every film nowadays needs to have these sudden inappropriate scenes that make me sweat under my clothes when watching films with family. Could have packed that better...
Apart from that, the characters were beyond naive and just bad. Unprepared, making silly conclusions and acting completely out of place as if the place was absolutely safe and that it was totally all right to drag things on and wait for the night to fall!
Everyone sleeping over in the watchtower for safety...with doors open, with one person keeping guard in a miniature building below the watchtower? That scene had me so confused...why not all stay together and protect each other that way? Close the door and stay on the higher ground as a group!
Going out into the forest to look for the missing team member...on her own, going far...aware that there's a huge bear/predator that killed her?
Yes these are such huge flaws and I can't believe it how such things just keep happening in every film that shows such huge potential.
"The Arrival" also showed a ton of potential, but my my was it slow...it dragged on and on and on...
"Annihilation" had huge potential, the effects are gorgeous, the subject is interesting and something that showed a lot of promise, I loved the plot and the idea of the Shimmer, but why oh why did it have to be done in such a naive way?
The atmosphere was sooo good, so was the soundtrack. Had the film been scrapped off of these useless moments and sped up a little so characters aren't slow as snails when having to react...I'd give it a 10/10.
Unfortunately, I am giving it a 6/10. 6 primarily because of soundtrack, effects and interesting plot. Other than that, a hugely missed opportunity.