Though not without flaws, Annihilation is a strong sophomore directorial effort from Alex Garland.

Rating: 8/10 (1 March 2018)

Natalie Portman stars as Lena, the centerpiece of a five woman team sent into The Shimmer, a nameless stretch of American soil cordoned off from the rest of the world by some sort of otherworldly barrier. This barrier appears to be expanding in size, and affecting whatever gets caught in it a number of beautiful, gruesome, and beautifully gruesome ways. Barring one exception, no one and nothing that has crossed into The Shimmer has returned to talk about it.
Lena, a biologist with an inner desire for redemption based on occurrences not immediately known to the audience, joins Dr. Ventress (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and three other women of various scientific backgrounds (Gina Rodriguez, Tessa Thompson, and Tuva Novotny) in what would appear to be a suicide mission into this fantastical mass of lush landscapes and frightening creatures in hopes to collect data on what exactly is the cause of this phenomenon.
Any further discussion of the plot would delve too deep into spoiler territory, and a film like this deserves to be seen with as little known about it as possible, so as not to ruin any potential surprises. This is a film that's at its most fun when you, along with the actresses onscreen, are gradually unraveling layers of mystery not only regarding The Shimmer, but their own psyche.
Annihilation, loosely based on the Southern Reach trilogy by Jeff VanderMeer, is a slow, ambiguous, yet visually and thematically arresting film that easily rivals the quality of director Alex Garland's previous film, Ex Machina. Though he has seen modest success in the screenwriter's role for many years now (The Beach, 28 Days Later, Dredd), Garland's prowess has proven to translate well from paper to screen in the director's chair. Many quiet and intimate moments are had here as a number of challenging questions are posed and largely left open for interpretation. For this reason, Annihilation-- for all its strong points-- will lead to be a rather polarizing film. That's not to excuse every instance of these quieter scenes; there are time jumps in the film that largely feel unnecessary, especially ones involving a subplot between Lena and one of her coworkers.
Those who see the trailer and expect an excess of gunplay and violence for the film's two hour running time may feel this movie to be lacking, but filmgoers who can appreciate a deliberate pace should welcome those quiet parts, as it is that deliberate pace that makes the inevitable moments of horror and despair all the more gripping. There is little to prepare you for just where this film is headed, and when things get horrifying, those moments stick with you. One particular sequence involving one of The Shimmer's dangerous wildlife should provide ample amounts of nightmare fuel for an unsuspecting audience. The haunting soundtrack does well to compliment the dazzling special effects at work here, the latter made possible by the same FX team behind Garland's aforementioned directorial debut, Ex Machina.
Fans of more intelligent science fiction should not want to miss this film while it is still in theaters. Annihilation is a movie that deserves to be supported, not dumped out onto Netflix as soon as possible by a faithless studio. And while the slow pace may be considered too slow for some, it is a journey into the surreal that is well worth taking, and should make for quite the conversation piece long after the end credits roll.