Entertaining and Interesting Film...Until the Last 10min

Rating: 7/10 (3 March 2018)

I generally liked the story and acting. It was both intellectually stimulating and suspenseful...especially as we began to see the effects of the Shimmer. Portman and the other women did a good job and the acting was believable. As long as the story holds together, I am generally willing to ignore detail mistakes and the occasional faux pax that others have mentioned...leaving the relative safety of a tower, a bright light that would seriously reduce the effectiveness of night-vision goggles, etc.
However, the scenes inside the lighthouse culminating in the final transformation of the lead psychologist and the alien's destruction by fire left me groaning and unsatisfied. The open-mouth spewing of the alien's "essence" to the ceiling reminded me of the climax to "The Fifth Element". It all seemed abit too surreal and an excuse for the director to dazzle the audience with CGI in an attempt to convey some deep artistic message. Grand effects, the music crescendos up, the creature walks back into the cave ablaze, all is destroyed, and that's it. The same heady message could have been conveyed with far less grandiose and gratuitous fireworks.

I enjoyed Annihilation for 1:45...disappointed in the last 15min.