Annihilation (2018)

Though I didn't really like Alex Garland's Ex Machina (but I'm planning on giving it another chance), I was really excited about his latest film, Annihilation, and really pissed off that everybody outside of the US got to see this on Netflix instead of cinemas. It has an upside though, no money wasted if the movie sucked, but that was not the case. 

A year after his disappearance, Kane (Oscar Isaac) goes back home to his biologist wife Lena (Natalie Portman) but he doesn't remember where he's been and how he got home. He suddenly gets sick and is rushed to a hospital. Once there, in order to help Kane, Lena joins a team made up of an anthropologist (Tuva Novotny), a physicist (Tessa Thompson), a psychologist (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and a paramedic (Gina Rodriguez) and embark on an expedition into the Shimmer, a mysterious electromagnetic field.

It's a pretty simple plot that unfolds at a quite slow pace, it does have a few twists here and there but nothing that mind-blowing to leave you speechless, the final twist included which I saw coming miles ahead. There are many plot holes, several unnecessary subplots and nothing makes sense basically since nobody really cared about answering the questions posed. And yet it's engaging and very enjoyable.

The characters too are flawed but they all have interesting backstories --revealed through flashbacks or a few lines of dialogue--, they are developed and we get to know each main character both emotionally and psychologically. Sure, most of the things they do don't make any sense (above-mentioned plot holes) but it's still fascinating watching them in the Shimmer, how they react to the weird and bizarre happenings and I was invested in the characters' fates.

Paramount Pictures, Netflix

Natalie Portman gives a very good performance as Lena. She is able to deliver, at every moment, complex emotions only through her facial expressions, she carries the whole film and gives it its emotional charge. The support provided by Jennifer Jason Leigh and Tessa Thompson is pretty solid too, and Oscar Isaac gives yet another great performance. I did find, however, Gina Rodriguez and her character utterly annoying. She is miles away from Jane Villanueva, the role she is most known for, and I give her credit for playing such a different role here, fact remains she was annoying.

As for Alex Garland, while his script hasn't won me completely, I liked his direction. He skillfully built tension and suspense and delivered an exciting science-fiction film enhanced by a magnetic score and even more magnetic visuals.