Annihilation

Movie Name: Annihilation
Year of Release: 2018

Director: Alex Garland

Stars: Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tessa Thompson, Gina Rodriguez, Tuva Novotny, Oscar Isaac, David Gyasi, Benedict Wong
Genre: Adventure, Sci-Fi, Drama

Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 8
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Synopsis:

Following the well received "Ex Machina", writer/director Alex Garland is back, with another equally impressive feature. "Annihilation" is the adaptation of a novel by Jeff VanderMeer, and follows the story of Professor Lena, a former military professional, who is now teaching molecular biology classes at Johns Hopkins. Lena has been dealing with the disappearance of her husband, who has been gone for a year (he's also a military professional). Her husband suddenly reappears without any recollection of anything, and immediately starts feeling sick. On their way to the hospital, they are seized by military personnel. They are taken to a secret military installation, where Lena is informed that her husband volunteered to explore an area that has been contained, since it's under the influence of an alien entity. Lena, alongside a team of 4 other women are sent to investigate what is occurring in that area, since all the teams that have been sent before, have never come back. What they find defies all their expectations.
Alex Garland who initially achieved success as a writer and screenwriter (he was responsible for the book "The Beach", and for the screenplays for "28 Days Later", "Sunshine" both directed by Danny Boyle and "Dredd", directed by Pete Travis), has been forging a very interesting career for himself as a director. "Ex Machina" was an excellent debut, shedding light on the development of AI, whereas "Annihilation" goes in a different direction, focusing on the encounter of humans with an alien entity who manipulates genes and DNA. The film smartly plays with notions of time, biology, mortality, gender dynamics, and does so in a way that is compelling, enigmatic and suspenseful. The film also manages to be superb in the sense that all lead characters are very different women, all of them carrying very different experiences and all very nuanced. It's also stylistically beautiful (thanks to the cinematography from Rob Hardy and score from Geoff Barrow and Ben Salisbury) and features another striking central performance from Natalie Portman (following her excellent role in Pablo Larrain's "Jackie"). A great film from a very interesting director.