Annihilation

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Alec B @AlecMichaelB 5d Annihilation is a visually arresting and hauntingly atmospheric sci-fi film, but like the novel, it leans more toward environmental allegory and philosophical ambiguity than traditional sci-fi thrills. Despite strong performances and striking imagery, the story raises far more questions than it answers, leaving its surreal concepts—The Shimmer, the doppelgängers, the warped biology—intriguing but often frustratingly opaque. The film captures the same sense of disorientation and unreliable perspective as the book, yet its reality-bending finale and loose interpretations make the narrative feel even more elusive. A fascinating experience, but one that may leave viewers admiring the ambition more than feeling satisfied by the journey. See more Mark D @markud 6d The movie pretends to be something it isn't, and looking at the movie through the wrong lens means none of it has any meaning. Just a pretty chain of events with slightly slow pacing. Watch it as if it's a metaphorical psychological movie rather than a sci-fi and you'll have a great time. See more TheMovieSearch R @TheMovieSearch Nov 30 Alex Garland’s Annihilation is one of those films that arrives with a reputation for bold ideas and cerebral sci-fi ambition, but for me, the experience was far more bewildering than enlightening. While the movie has developed a passionate fan base, the storytelling felt so scattered and opaque that it was difficult to connect with anything happening on screen. Rather than feeling mysterious or thought-provoking, the narrative played like a puzzle missing several key pieces, leaving the entire structure unstable and unsatisfying. Natalie Portman anchors the film with a performance that is steady and committed, which is something she’s known for. But even her presence can’t fully salvage material that never decides what it wants to be. Portman often elevates the projects she joins, yet she also ends up in films where the ambition of the concept doesn’t match the strength of the execution. Annihilation falls squarely into that category. Her character has emotional complexity, but the film gives her very little grounding to make the journey fully resonate. Visually, the film leans heavily into surrealism and high-concept science fiction, but the emphasis on style over clarity becomes a major obstacle. Instead of feeling hypnotic or immersive, the constant shifts in tone and logic make the story feel disjointed. Scenes that should build tension or thematic weight instead collapse under the confusion of what the audience is supposed to interpret or feel. The movie jumps between ideas so rapidly that nothing ever settles into something cohesive. The screenplay is ultimately where Annihilation falters the most. It struggles to balance philosophical exploration with narrative structure, resulting in a film that feels abstract to a fault. There’s ambition in the attempt to craft something intellectually rich, but ambition without grounding leads to chaos, and that’s where this script lands. The emotional core is underdeveloped, the plot threads feel mismatched, and the dialogue rarely supports an understanding of what’s at stake. Directionally, Garland pushes for a mood of lingering mystery, but the execution leans too far into obscurity. The pacing drifts, the tone wavers, and the final act depends heavily on symbolism without offering enough clarity to leave a meaningful impact. Rather than feeling haunting or profound, the film ends up feeling muddled. It’s the sort of experience that some viewers might interpret as deep, but others—myself included—are left simply wondering what the point was supposed to be. In the end, Annihilation struck me as a confusing and frustrating experience rather than an intriguing one. Its scattered storytelling, uneven script, and overly abstract direction kept me from connecting with the characters or the journey at all. While some may appreciate its experimental approach, I found it to be a disorganized and emotionally flat sci-fi outing that never pulls its ideas together. It’s not a film I can recommend. See more Nov 23 *SPOILER* I understood it but didn't. I felt empathy for the creation and I thought a lot of it was beautiful, possibly some of the parts others think is gross. It is still alive as it clearly changes form which it knew it would. It desires but it does not want for example I desire a new start but I do not want a new start as this may not be possible and therefore I am content to just be, in whatever form as I know I exist and I will always exist and this is enough. I thought the scientists were silly to think the new creation dead. The ending to me implied that their DNA became intermingled with the creation which symbolises the 'Shimmer' field becoming part of the world (although now no longer visibly different) instead of covering an enclosed space that was gradually expanding. I see this as more possibly more detrimental to the planet (as we know it) in the long run as we can no longer see the expansion visibly. See more Vasiliu A Nov 23 I enjoyed the mystery and the originality that embodied assimilation true evolution or involution, the alien human like figure wanted to embodiment of all creature as one reducing to on top omega being for what reason clearly remained a mastery, but the bear was a proof of what would have become of it if it wasn't terminated a slightly evolution but with a beast figure . I enjoyed everything and the sound effect and music background where top... See more Ken W Nov 1 Almost really good, just too slow and confusing. Close to Alien level. See more Read all reviews

Annihilation

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