Annihilation is cerebral sci-fi modern art that's leaving audiences with mixed feelings

Movie Title:     Annihilation

Grade:   B

Rating: R, 1 hour 55 minutes

In a Nutshell: 
Based on the first book in Area X: The Southern Reach Trilogy: Annihilation; Authority; Acceptance , Director Alex Garland decided not to make the film an adaptation, but a “dream of the book.”  

Like most dreams, this film feels incomplete and somewhat unsatisfying in the end.

Critics seem to be falling all over themselves with this movie, but the audience I sat with hated it.  Some people saw that I was writing notes for a review, so when we walked out, they asked me what I thought.  More importantly, I asked THEM what THEY thought.  One guy shouted, “It sucked!”  Several admitted they were disappointed and felt they had just wasted 2 hours of their lives.  They were mostly guys looking for a sci-fi action flick like Alien.  The good thing was that audience members wanted to TALK about it.  I love that.

The best description I’ve heard of this film is “sci-fi modern art.”  It's one of those polarizing movies that some people will love and others will hate.

                                                  

Tips for parents: 

• Some bloody, gory, disgusting deaths.
• Tons of F-bombs and profanity.
• Twice you see the naked back side of Natalie Portman while she’s having sex.  
• Marital infidelity.
• Creepy skeletons.

Uplifting theme: 

• Humanity
• Resistance to change
• Trust

                                                   

Things I liked:

• I adore Natalie Portman.  She is both beauty and brains.
• There is a similar scene in this movie that made Sigourney Weaver famous in Alien, where she is side-by-side with a sharp-toothed monster.  Viewers who are expecting the entire movie to be another Alien will be disappointed.
• It was good to see Jennifer Jason Leigh in something again, although it annoyed me that she was always playing with something between her fingers in the first half of the movie.
• There are mostly women in the movie and they all do a great job. 
• Director Alex Garland also did Ex Machina, so people were really expecting elevated material from him.  He is great at providing social commentary and getting audiences to think.
• Beautiful, delicate, colorful images.  The "shimmer" is beautiful to look at and definitely creates that dream-like feeling that the director was going for.  The environments are an interesting hybrid of heaven and hell.
• I have really enjoyed Gina Rodriguez in Jane the Virgin: Season 1 and she does a great job in this film.  What I didn’t enjoy is that she drops F-bombs almost every time she opens her mouth.  We get it…you’re tough now.
• Surprisingly, this movie is going to be released on Netflix outside of the USA shortly after the USA theater release.
• The musical score is noticeably good.   
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Things I didn’t like:

• It is no Arrival.  I loved that movie for so many reasons.  That's a movie that was expertly crafted to REALLY make you think.  You can read my movie review of Arrival here.
• There were moments when I was actually bored.  It’s a slow burn for sure.
• Extremely cliched, disappointing ending.
• I felt like I was watching a frustrating episode of Lost - The Complete First Season where a lot of questions are presented with no answers.
• The film goes back and forth in time, which could be confusing and frustrating for some people.
• When are people ever going to learn that it’s not wise to go off alone in a hostile, unknown territory?
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Interesting lines:

• “It’s destroying everything.” – Dr. Ventress (Jennifer Jason Leigh)

“It’s not destroying.  It’s making something new.” – Lena (Natalie Portman)

• “God doesn’t make mistakes.  It’s pretty much key to the whole God thing.” – Kane (Oscar Isaac)
• “Soldier scientist.  You can fight.  You can learn.  You can save him.” – Dr. Ventress
• “Almost none of us commits suicide.  Almost all of us self-destruct in some way or another.” – Dr. Ventress

                                          @trinaboice

Want to read the books that this movie was based on?