Interesting but Ultimately Ruined

Rating: 3/10 (30 March 2018)

Imagine this: A strange, alien phenomenon is enveloping more and more area in a remote part of the countryside. You've already sent in two crack Spec-Ops teams that promptly disappeared. You don't have a lot of time before the phenomenon grows even larger - and possibly becomes uncontainable - and you still have no idea what it is. What do you do? A) Send in another team - perhaps a larger, better-trained, better equipped Spec-Ops team that is hard-wired to a team sitting on the perimeter, or, B) Send in four chunkalicious regular gals ... because ... y'know, if a team of highly trained soldiers can't do it - four Diversity Divas sure can!
You can guess which one they pick in Annhiliation.
First, the good: There are a few cool/creepy concepts and some nice visuals in Annihilation ... one in particular that will stick with you for a while, I bet. Cinematography, acting, sound, score, visuals, FX are all pretty good - nothing distracting, anyway. *Overall* the story is pretty engaging and kept my interest.
The not so good: Once again, what was a potentially decent idea/story is completely destroyed by Leftist Propaganda mixed with a generous helping of stupid. Feminist component? Check. Homosexual component? Check. White woman cheating on her husband with a black man? Check. Forced People of Color component? Check. Incompetent/Crazy white men? Check. Then, you get to the stupid: These women are supposed to be "combat-trained", yet are utterly laughable with their weapons handling and tactics. Muzzle discipline is cringe-worthy. They don't work as a team and they make ridiculous tactical decisions (like one going off on her own to search for a missing team member). They didn't bother to bring flashlights or weapon lights .... but they brought a powerful microscope! They're supposed to be documenting what they find, yet nobody is taking pictures or video - or even field notes. Their night watch (LP/OP) is set up in the middle of a field, and the person manning it is sitting there with a lantern blazing away. I'll stop there - you get the idea.
So, is it worth watching? I'd say "yes" if you don't have to pay to see it. It's an OK "shut-your-brain-off-for-2-hours" kind of movie (if you can ignore the SJW garbage). The sad part is that the movie actually could have been dramatically better - there are some good ideas in Annihilation .... but Hollywood seems to have abandoned telling stories and shifted to jamming propaganda down our throats as a business model.