An intense and beautiful sci-fi/thriller with shades of horror. Even though Annihilation is based on a book series and has influences of Tarkovsky's Stalker and Solaris, with a little Alien thrown in, this still feels like a genuinely unique movie.
Don't believe the haters, this is a beautiful, challenging, (and flawed) movie. There were things I didn't like about this, but it showed me things that I've never really seen on the screen before. Which is saying something in any genre, but especially SciFi!
Alex Garland's second movie is not as satisfying as his freshman directorial effort, Ex Machina, in large part because the characters are thinly developed and there isn't much emotional resonance.
Unfortunately it wasn't a very cerebral sci-fi either and I found myself agitated over even the basic illogical story elements (... machine guns but not body suits? Are space monsters more plausible than dangerous air?). Some of the artistic choices are more successful, and there are some good scenes, visuals and ideas sprinkled about, but overall it does not work.
i think a lot of people missed some of the motifs of the film and are not taking too kindly to it. here's one big thing most people have missed when i read talk about this film.
the final scene in the "basement" of the lighthouse is supposed to look like the inside of a fresnel lens which is what a lighthouse uses to focus light across distances. this is the reason the "alien" is passing everything through a prism, because that was it's first interaction with this new unknown world
i suggest people who didn't like the movie watch it again and try to pick up more closely on a lot of the themes the story uses especially the "cancer" theme and you might enjoy it more
A bit of a disappointment after the hype and coming off of Ex Machina, but there is a very evocative atmosphere contained in the music and visuals and the concept is used as an interesting meditation on depression and suicide.
One warning: Ex Machina was hard sci-fi where everything makes scientific sense. Annihilation is very soft sci-fi where the events might as well be powered by magic.
8/10
Different & Beautiful. What a nice feeling inside my body and mind after I finished it. Good music. Good CGI. Good cinematography. Great suspense. Great acting by Portman. But will I see it again?
Annihilation is, on the face of it, similar to Arrival - a female lead (in this case, a female ensemble), a hard sci-fi mystery (though not as procedural a result), unknowable aliens, a flashback structure, and powerful atonal music. In the story, a team of scientists enters a "shimmering" field in which DNA from one organism seems to infect organisms around it, and through by-turns beautiful and horrific encounters, hopes to make it to the center of the anomaly. The film's subtext is how we change throughout our lives, in particular how was are transformed by trauma. Different characters in the piece react differently, whether it's by facing, rejecting, denying, or embracing who they've become. Trauma and loss are at the forefront, so the cancer motif is not surprising. Director Alex Garland does not seek to explain things beyond the metaphorical grounding, and simply leaves what is unknowable as a sensory experience, and lets ambiguity do what it does best - make the audience ask questions and give the film a life of its own once the lights have come up. As with Arrival, I was intellectually engaged, but it kept me at a distance emotionally.
A journey into a deadly and mysterious "shimmer", the ever growing epicenter of which is a lighthouse on the coast... so obviously you send in one failed expedition after another through hazardous terrain and swamps where it's several days / weeks walk instead of, you know, maybe sailing a ship straight up to the shore where it's a 10 minute stroll away.
Christophter Nolan fans take note! You will love this film as it stupidly overexplains Every. Single. Thing. Constantly...repeatedly, depressingly. And on top of that it sucks plot hole shit.
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Comments 1 - 15 of 31
peterskb45
An intense and beautiful sci-fi/thriller with shades of horror. Even though Annihilation is based on a book series and has influences of Tarkovsky's Stalker and Solaris, with a little Alien thrown in, this still feels like a genuinely unique movie.manwithpetgull
Tried to be Stalker, ended up as It Comes at Night meets Arrival meets The Arrival.Kinchski
Don't believe the haters, this is a beautiful, challenging, (and flawed) movie. There were things I didn't like about this, but it showed me things that I've never really seen on the screen before. Which is saying something in any genre, but especially SciFi!misterderp
Machinegun wielding scientists with short-term memory loss who didn't bother using 5500-year-old technology: writing.greenhorg
Alex Garland's second movie is not as satisfying as his freshman directorial effort, Ex Machina, in large part because the characters are thinly developed and there isn't much emotional resonance.Unfortunately it wasn't a very cerebral sci-fi either and I found myself agitated over even the basic illogical story elements (... machine guns but not body suits? Are space monsters more plausible than dangerous air?). Some of the artistic choices are more successful, and there are some good scenes, visuals and ideas sprinkled about, but overall it does not work.
Svaneborg
Absolutely loved the music!skillwithaquill
Pure sci-fi horror and existential dread. A+theZeffo
THAT CAMCORDER STILL HAS BATTERY AFTER 6MONTHS!?!?!??aniforprez
i think a lot of people missed some of the motifs of the film and are not taking too kindly to it. here's one big thing most people have missed when i read talk about this film.ChrisReynolds
A bit of a disappointment after the hype and coming off of Ex Machina, but there is a very evocative atmosphere contained in the music and visuals and the concept is used as an interesting meditation on depression and suicide.One warning: Ex Machina was hard sci-fi where everything makes scientific sense. Annihilation is very soft sci-fi where the events might as well be powered by magic.
moldypoldy
Evolution (2001) without the jokes.Emiam
8/10Different & Beautiful. What a nice feeling inside my body and mind after I finished it. Good music. Good CGI. Good cinematography. Great suspense. Great acting by Portman. But will I see it again?
Siskoid
Annihilation is, on the face of it, similar to Arrival - a female lead (in this case, a female ensemble), a hard sci-fi mystery (though not as procedural a result), unknowable aliens, a flashback structure, and powerful atonal music. In the story, a team of scientists enters a "shimmering" field in which DNA from one organism seems to infect organisms around it, and through by-turns beautiful and horrific encounters, hopes to make it to the center of the anomaly. The film's subtext is how we change throughout our lives, in particular how was are transformed by trauma. Different characters in the piece react differently, whether it's by facing, rejecting, denying, or embracing who they've become. Trauma and loss are at the forefront, so the cancer motif is not surprising. Director Alex Garland does not seek to explain things beyond the metaphorical grounding, and simply leaves what is unknowable as a sensory experience, and lets ambiguity do what it does best - make the audience ask questions and give the film a life of its own once the lights have come up. As with Arrival, I was intellectually engaged, but it kept me at a distance emotionally.MrDoog
A journey into a deadly and mysterious "shimmer", the ever growing epicenter of which is a lighthouse on the coast... so obviously you send in one failed expedition after another through hazardous terrain and swamps where it's several days / weeks walk instead of, you know, maybe sailing a ship straight up to the shore where it's a 10 minute stroll away.Zuma
Christophter Nolan fans take note! You will love this film as it stupidly overexplains Every. Single. Thing. Constantly...repeatedly, depressingly. And on top of that it sucks plot hole shit.Showing items 1 – 15 of 31