Annihilation
***Warning, may contain spoilers, but this movie is difficult to review without them***
I'm going to start by saying that i highly rate Alex Garland movies. I loved Ex Machina, for example. I also rate Natalie Portman as an actress so I was a bit surprised when Garlands latest movie, Annihilation went straight to Netflix. When a movie has a top director you would think it would be shown in the cinema.
Still, the good thing with it going to Netflix is that more people will see it. Firstly, after watching the movie I really didn't know what to make of it. See, the reviews are really good it's a high scoring movie. However some people have said they didn't really understand it and I have a foot in this camp.
Annihilation is a story about a meteorite that crashes to earth carrying what I guess is either alien DNA or an alien virus. Anyway, once the meteorite crashes to earth the, let's say virus spreads, and the area it consumes gets bigger and bigger, transforming everything in it's path. First Army guys, then female scientists are sent into study the phenomenon and, hopefully stop it.
What is confusing are many things. Firstly, the genre. One minute it's a sci fi movie, then it's kind of a love story, then it's a horror movie, then it's sci fi again. The movie doesn't know what genre it is. That for me is a huge flaw. Ex Machina worked because it was sci fi. You knew what it was. This is just confusing.
Another thing that is confusing is the ending. Do we win? Even now I'm scratching my head going 'huh?'. You are probably now beginning to see why this review is actually the hardest movie I've ever had to review simply because I don't know what the movie was. I don't even fully understand the story. I was honestly watching bits of the movie then having to rewind them to watch them again because I didn't get it and I'm sure many others will do the same.
That said, there are some brilliant scenes in the movie that do increase it's overall star rating. The horror aspects are on the whole, although not always (a certain talking bear scene is an example of more weirdness), really done well. The crocodile scene being a great example of this. Also the copycat scene was very good.
However, the movie was just too odd, too bizzare and way too confusing for me. It's not awful, it's just very, very weird. Because of the good bits in the movie it is better than a typical three star movie but certainly not good enough for four stars in my eyes.
In conclusion, as it's on Netflix you may as well watch it, but I think you will end up as confused and scratching your head as I was. Better than a 3 star movie, not good enough to be a 4 star movie so 3 and a half stars duly awarded. Odd.
*This review is all my own work, please don't reproduce without my permission thank you
I'm going to start by saying that i highly rate Alex Garland movies. I loved Ex Machina, for example. I also rate Natalie Portman as an actress so I was a bit surprised when Garlands latest movie, Annihilation went straight to Netflix. When a movie has a top director you would think it would be shown in the cinema.
Still, the good thing with it going to Netflix is that more people will see it. Firstly, after watching the movie I really didn't know what to make of it. See, the reviews are really good it's a high scoring movie. However some people have said they didn't really understand it and I have a foot in this camp.
Annihilation is a story about a meteorite that crashes to earth carrying what I guess is either alien DNA or an alien virus. Anyway, once the meteorite crashes to earth the, let's say virus spreads, and the area it consumes gets bigger and bigger, transforming everything in it's path. First Army guys, then female scientists are sent into study the phenomenon and, hopefully stop it.
What is confusing are many things. Firstly, the genre. One minute it's a sci fi movie, then it's kind of a love story, then it's a horror movie, then it's sci fi again. The movie doesn't know what genre it is. That for me is a huge flaw. Ex Machina worked because it was sci fi. You knew what it was. This is just confusing.
Another thing that is confusing is the ending. Do we win? Even now I'm scratching my head going 'huh?'. You are probably now beginning to see why this review is actually the hardest movie I've ever had to review simply because I don't know what the movie was. I don't even fully understand the story. I was honestly watching bits of the movie then having to rewind them to watch them again because I didn't get it and I'm sure many others will do the same.
That said, there are some brilliant scenes in the movie that do increase it's overall star rating. The horror aspects are on the whole, although not always (a certain talking bear scene is an example of more weirdness), really done well. The crocodile scene being a great example of this. Also the copycat scene was very good.
However, the movie was just too odd, too bizzare and way too confusing for me. It's not awful, it's just very, very weird. Because of the good bits in the movie it is better than a typical three star movie but certainly not good enough for four stars in my eyes.
In conclusion, as it's on Netflix you may as well watch it, but I think you will end up as confused and scratching your head as I was. Better than a 3 star movie, not good enough to be a 4 star movie so 3 and a half stars duly awarded. Odd.
*This review is all my own work, please don't reproduce without my permission thank you
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