I Came In Expecting the Unexpected and I Got....Sorta What I Expected?

Rating: 7/10 (23 March 2018)

I became interested in Alex Garland's work after watching Ex Machina a year or so ago. I was absolutely mesmerized by the writing and pacing, as well as the philosophical depth, of such an intense and unsettling film. When I began seeing the trailers and marketing for Annihilation, I had this feeling that this film was going to be beyond the horror sci-fi it was advertised to be. In a sense, I knew that the film was going to be as philosophically pleasing as Ex Machina, and beyond the scope of the typical horror sci-fi genre.
Fast forward to me finishing Annihilation. I walked out of the theater with a mixed response. On one hand, it's a thought-provoking science fiction horror film; on the other hand, it's an incomplete story told with masterful direction. So here are my thoughts:
The cinematography and design of this film are fantastic, that's without question. The film goes to great lengths to describe the world underneath the Shimmer, a world where biological rules are ignored and blur into hauntingly beautiful mutations of life. The design of the film is artwork in itself, the results of an expansive imagination that blends the genres of nature and horror. Much of the imagery in this film is beyond the likes I've ever seen in a sci-fi film. It's incredibly creative yet wholly familiar.
The pacing and direction of this film as a horror film is gripping; I found myself holding my breath during several key climactic moments (that more or less involved excruciating and toe-curling gore). It's so incredible that the very design of the film and the way it's directed makes just looking at the mutated imagery of the Shimmer's effect on nature stomach-churning; Garland takes great care in establishing suspense and letting it pay off with the unimaginable.
The story was unsatisfactory and riddled with plot holes. Maybe I was expecting too much, but I felt the film the was trying to portray a philosophical and abstract message with the film but failed to do so. The subplot of the film (involving Natalie Portman's character's personal life) doesn't seem to tie to the main plot and its devices, and feels incomplete. The supporting characters' backstories are explored but doesn't seem to have much relevance in terms of symbolism with the main plot. Anywhere where I can find an interpretation/abstract meaning of the film, I'll find it, especially for an Alex Garland film, but this one was tough to interpret, and thus felt incomplete for me. Too much attention was brought to the subplots and not enough was given to connecting them to the main plot.
That said, the film manages to maintain interest in the story; it plays off as a mystery, slowly peeling the intricacies of its world and story layer by layer, keeping its audience invested as they try to unravel the fantastic elements of the story. I overall was happy with how intense and horrific this piece of art is, but felt the story was lacking and too ambiguous to develop any meaning from it, whether it be on a plot level or a philosophical one.