Annihilation – Movie Review

I saw Alex Gartland’s  ‘Annihilation’ a little while ago but this is the first chance I have had to review it. While it is not a straight up horror film, I feel that fans of horror sub-genre’s such as sci-fi horror and body horror would be very open to this film. So here we go!

First of all Natalie Portman (Black Swan) was a great choice for the lead role of ‘Annihilation’, her acting range through out the story is used to great effect as she appears emotionally vulnerable as well as strong and in charge and many other moods and emotions in between. Jennifer Jason Leigh (Existenz) also gives a very strong performance as an assertive team leader with something to hide. While the rest of the cast do a fine job, not bad by any means, I feel Portman and Leigh are the only two stand outs that come to mind.

Gartland’s screenplay for this film is full of layers and layers of cryptic goings on that requires a strong eye for detail and this is matched by what he was able to do as a direction, bringing his screenplay to life. As the team of protagonists head out on an expedition in to a mysterious, mutated plane referred to only as “the shimmer”, we see what feels like an alien world presented before us by the means of beautifully composed shots and eye catching visuals. The way in which Gartland brought “the shimmer” to life with the special effects team is a particular highlight of the film.

The world building (of sorts) through out our protagonists’ journey is my favourite aspect of the film as we learn so much about the creatures in this plane, what happened to those who ventured here in the past, and eventually the cause of it all. This was all achieved through great story telling and character exploration and very little was left to exposition which I was thrilled to see. This story telling was definitely the strongest aspect of the writing for this film, while the dialogue was enjoyable enough, it did not grab me nearly as much as the way in which the characters’ exploration spoke for itself.

As well as visual effects, sound plays a very prominent and interesting role in ‘Annihilation’, not only does the score by Ben Salsibury and Geoff Barrow bring the journey to life through out the film, but sounds created by certain creatures bring a a great amount of realism in to this very unfamiliar plane. There a particularly chilling scene in which sound is used to great effect to build certain expectations, only to have a very unsettling and startling reveal.

There is then a moment at the climax of the film (no spoilers, don’t worry) where the visual and sound effect work together with incredible acting from Natalie Portman and mesmerising choreography that create a very interesting and captivating sequence.

But is ‘Annihilation’ scary? Personally for me? Not really. However, there are a few scenes which are by the means of intense, drawn out scenes of peril, gruesome discoveries and heart pounding, suspenseful sequences. Couple that with the big picture existentialism that runs through this film then it can be a very uncomfortable and unsettling watch. So, while this film was not that scary to me, it is still and effective and very enjoyable watch if you are at all interested in science fiction, horror and most importantly, movies that make you think. I say most importantly because as of late, a great deal of horror films that are intended to have a message and make the viewer think have clashed against mainstream audiences who are looking for something to switch off to.

So, with all that said, I am going to give ‘Annihilation’ 76%!

Have you seen ‘Annihilation’? If so what did you think about it? Let me know in the comments and lets talk about it!
If you like the sound of what you have read, it is on Netflix right now, so go check it out!
If you have read this whole review before ever looking in to anything about this movie then you can check out the trailer below!
Thanks for reading!