ANNIHILATION REVIEW

ANNIHILATION (2018)

Director: Alex Garland

Rating: 8.7

Welcome to my newest review in Geek for Hire, where I will give you my opinion on one of the most interesting films I've seen this year, from the director of Ex Machina: Annihilation.

The plot, which is pretty complex, is about a biologist and former soldier, Lena who joins a special team of scientists that venture into a quarantined area called The Shimmer where they will find a different kind of lifeforms which I won't tell you because I won't spoil the fun.

First of all, I'm a huge fan of Alex Garland, I think he is a brilliant writer which is shown in movies like 28 Days Later, Sunshine, Dredd and his directorial debut, Ex Machine, one of 2015's best movies. Even though he touches upon familiar themes and genres, he handles them with subtlety like a good brit, eventually my hype button was activatec when hearing about his next flick.

Then, the distribution problem began, due to a certain producer's idea that people were too dumb to enjoy this movie, it was released in theaters in North America, and then released worlwide on Netflix, where we find some great TV quality and not so much in movies. 

I would've preffered to watch this movie on the big screen, because unlike you, my dear readers, I'm located in my hometown of Bogota, Colombia. Annihilation fullfils a moviegoing experience that is missing these days, many will be upset with its pacing and will be frustrated by not getting it on the first viewing, but believe me, after watching it you might want to revisit it.

Let's talk about the cast, Natalie Portman, ¿Where the hell was she?, she won the Oscar for Black Swan, did the Thor movies and apart from Jackie, she didn´t do anything interesting or memorable for the past couple of years, in Annihilation she gives one of her best performances in recent memory, I enjoyed her character because even though she is a brilliant person, she is a human being with flaws and is very grounded unlike many sci fi protagonists. Portman's four co stars also shine a lot, Jennifer Jason Leigh was terrific, I'm glad that her career is back on track since she was one of the hottest stars of the 90's, Gina Rodriguez from Jane The Virgin is wonderful as the most emotional character in the film and Tessa Thompson was great as well, especially on a scene that involves plants.

There are some really disturbing scenes in this film that thank goodness don't requiere of jumpscares, the scares are well handled due to Garland's competent use of silences. The movie's third act is pretty bizarre in a good sense, and believe me when I tell you that the most pivotal sequences had my jaw dropping, which increased my frustration at not being able to appreciate it in a theater.

Mi biggest issue with the film is the lack of proper screentime for the supporting characters, if there had been more time to know them, the more I would've cared for them when things went bananas, the epilogue could've been longer and more unsettling and the film's ambiguity could've been explored more.

Putting that aside, Annihilation is a great movie that takes its time to setup its plot and universe, it's a damn shame that it underperformed at the box office, movies like this are a perfect antidote to the simplistic and constant popcorn plots that Hollywood is shoving us nowadays, I hope this film reaches a cult status at least, so in the future it can be more appreciated than it was on its release. Annihilation's style and pacing won't be everyone's cup of tea, but at least give it a try to watch something different.

This was my review of Annihilation, tomorrow another entry on Classic Sundays and next week my reviews of Jessica Jones Season 2 and Ready Player One. If you liked this blog, you can comment and share it, it is not just mine, it's yours as well.