Review of Annihilation (2018) by Richard S — 25 Mar 2018

I recently finished reading the novel Annihilation which I enjoyed to an extent but a lot of it was lost on me and I found I couldn't really connect with any of the characters who all felt very anonymous. In Alex Garland's film the characters are a little more fleshed out, given names and back stories which I felt helps the viewer to connect. The storyline stays pretty close to the novel in that a team of specialists are sent into a site of an environmental disaster known as Area X. Previous teams sent in have all suffered various grim fates and the area seems to be evolving it's own species of plants and animals. As the team heads towards the epicentre which is a lighthouse they become suspicious of the reasons each of them is there and are slowly being stalked by something sinister.

I thought the film was ok, it was a lot easier to get to grips with than the novel. The highlight was near the end and the discovery of what was in the lighthouse which visually was mind blowing and it was also a bit of a head-spinner story wise (especially compared with the revelations regarding the lighthouse in the book which are somewhat different). It was just a shame that the journey to the impressive ending was a bit of a slog. One other thing I very much enjoyed was the creature who emits the noise of the last person or thing they killed made, that was very creepy!

Despite not enjoying this as much as his first feature, Ex Machina, it is still obvious that Alex Garland is a visionary director and if rumours are correct , I'm very curious as to what he will bring to a Swamp Thing movie!