Sunday, May 6, 2018

Two Paragraph Review: Annihilation (2018)

Annihilation is the movie about change, more precisely the horror that lies in the same change when it's unknown. The brilliant book on which the movie is based showcases a type of horror which is hard to explain but very easy to experience. In this new rendering of the story Alex Garland, the film’s director and writer tried his best to capture the same essence even though I bet he fully understood that he will at least partially fail. However, the full result of his effort is not a fail by any means.

Instead, it's one of the best sci-fi movies based on a horror premise that was made recently. This is seen in the fact that the movie gains steam as it progresses. For me, that's almost always a really good cinematographic sign and Annihilation is no different. While the initial character exposition scenes are shaky, once the main plot of the movie gets underway the film quickly finds its focus. Naturally, the great cast of the expedition further underlines this idea with their great performances. Natalie Portman, in particular, does an excellent job as the Biologist, which isn't a big surprise, but the rest of the women are not far behind. Thanks to them and Garland’s vision of the novel, Annihilation is a movie that is a must-watch for every sci-fi fan out there.