It tries to be more complicated than it actually is.

Rating: 6/10 (15 March 2018)

I suppose this might just come down to personal preference but I personally find that Annihilation tries too hard to be overly intellectual/complicated, and I find it interesting how this seems to be a trend in cinema in recent times. If you think about how sci-fi movies were made decades ago, they were usually a lot more action oriented with a plot that is fairly obvious. You also had movies like Blade Runner for example which on the one hand is fairly cheesy as you'd expect from an 80s movie, but at the same time it has a deep thought provoking plot. There are even modern examples like Inception in the same way is deep thought provoking, and can even be somewhat complicated, but what I'm trying to explain here is that these movies don't try to be overly complicated. They have a plot which is easy to grasp and understand but at the same time has depth.
The problem with movies like Annihilation is that it tries to use an underlying theme with which runs throughout, you're suppose to try and be intellectual and understand these themes and supposed metaphors in order to appreciate the plot and for it to provoke further discussion. Where I find this goes wrong for Annihilation is that I don't feel like the theme is particularly interesting or thought provoking, and whereas it may have worked if used more subtly as a side theme and for the rest of the movie to have a more solid plot, Annihilation commits fully to the theme which results in a bizarre and in my opinion pretty weak ending. In short what I mean is the movie tries to be more complicated than it actually is which in turn weakens the plot.
Annihilation does contain some satisfying action sequences, horror, special effects and acting, all of which bring the quality of the movie up a notch. However I'm not particularly impressed with the directing, with too many slow sequences where nothing much happens to the point where it becomes a bit tedious to watch. It works in movies like 2001:A Space Odyssey where the setting and artistry of space welcomes the slow pace, and also Blade Runner does this well with beautiful stylised shots and an amazing soundtrack. Annihilation doesn't have these same qualities and therefore the slow pace just doesn't work. I mean sure some of the CGI looked pretty nice, but that doesn't mean I wanna watch a slow pan of the scene for 10 seconds if it has nothing else going for it.
In conclusion, it's safe to say Annihilation isn't going to be a cult classic. It's merely a nod to a particular theme or set of themes running throughout humanity/society. If you fancy watching a bit of horror, and some decent suspense then you may enjoy the ride at least to some extent. However I think that's about all the movie has going for it, and so with a weak plot and poor directing it overall ranks low in my book.