Synopsis: Lena, (Natalie Portman) a biologist and former soldier, joins a mission to uncover what happened to her husband inside Area X -- a sinister and mysterious phenomenon that is expanding across the American coastline. Once inside, the expedition discovers a world of mutated landscapes and creatures, as dangerous as it is beautiful, that threatens both their lives and their sanity.
Honestly, I was excited to see how director Alex Garland, would bring Jeff Vander Meers book Annihilation alive, for the movie going masses... I've read the book, and am a fan of Jeff Vander Meers work. He has an intriguing writing style, added with the Scfi-Horror feel, which are both genres I love and I can honestly recommend reading his Southern Reach Trilogy, which includes Annihilation, Authority and Acceptance.
That said, I was highly disappointed with the adaptation of Annihilation for screen. Although it had some great moments, a creep factor (nicely added to, by the off putting, background music) and the occasional, that was cool, moment, it was choppy in story line, had unnecessary added content not in the books, which was nothing more than a 'time filler' and was honestly boring and 'painful' to watch when pros and cons were weighed up. Even how corpses were found, the tower etc. was very different from Jeff VanderMeers description in the book leaving the frustrating question of 'why?' The writers, director, had an easy to follow, descriptive and detailed road map within the pages of Annihilation and failed in epic proportion.
The ending (when Lena, makes the lighthouse) was more like a interpretational dance scene, than scfi-horror and honestly poorly done. Even the creatures (although cool in potential) were poor in execution and design. They looked fake, when they could have been more realistic looking if a little effort in detail, graced the priority ladder.
So would I recommend watching Annihilation? No - unless you haven't read the books, and have a taste for choppy and poorly done story lines and confusion. Leave this one on the shelf.
Trailer courtesy of Paramount Pictures.