Better Late Than Never on the Movie "Annihilation"

With all the streaming options available now I have been catching up on a ton of movies that I have wanted to watch, and now have the time. I will be writing about two of them the next two days, and I want to do the good one today.

So, I recently watched the movie "Annihilation" and boy oh boy did I love this movie. I remember seeing the preview awhile back, probably over a year ago, and thinking that it looked pretty good. I then saw that it was directed by the same guy that did "Ex Machina", and that pretty much sealed the deal for me. I also heard some people talk about it, mainly RD, and they all seemed to find something to enjoy about the movie. I had a free afternoon on Tuesday and I decided that it was the perfect time to check it out. I was blown away.

The simple synopsis of the movie is that a group of women, some soldiers, some with wild pasts, decide to enter this weird, alternate universe called "The Shimmer" to see what is going on. Natalie Portman is the main character, and her husband, played by Oscar Issac, went to "The Shimmer", and came back a totally different person. Portman plays a biologist, and she wants to know what happened to her husband. She wanted to find out why he was so different. To find out what happened. She joined a group headed by Jennifer Jason Leigh, and it included Gina Rodriguez and Tessa Thompson. They enter this "Shimmer", and things are not what they seem. There is wild vegetation. The animals are weird hybrids. The days seem short but are actually months long. Compasses don't work. Timing is all odd. It is nuts.

I loved every second of it. I like weird sci fi movies that stay with you days and days after watching it. I have not stopped thinking about this movie since I finished it. I texted RD immediately to tell him how much I loved it. I told my wife all about it. I did the same with my parents. And when they asked me what was so good, or why I liked it so much, I have a plethora of answers.

First off, the story is really good, and fairly easy to follow. The imagery is some of the coolest and most unique stuff I have ever seen in a movie. The monster, the hybrid animals, are cool and scary and wild and memorable. The acting is top notch. The direction is cool. The colors are as colorful as "Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2". And I dig this director. I was blown away at everything in this movie. When you see some vegetation that looks like people, I was blown away. When the crazy stuff starts to happen, I'm trying my best to not spoil anything because this movie needs to be seen by everyone, I was stunned and shocked and pleased in all the right ways. The alien in this movie was one of the coolest things I have seen in quite some time. Everything that happened in "The Shimmer" was totally cool and fresh and like nothing I have ever seen before. Natalie Portman is so good in this movie, and when she has a solid script, she really knocks it out of the park. Also, I want to shout out Gina Rodriguez. I have only ever seen her do comedic stuff, but in this movie she is rough and gruff and I was on board. Also, shout out to the people who let women be the guiding force, the strong people in this movie. That doesn't happen enough, and when it does, it works.

I really think "Annihilation" is going to be fondly remembered as a very solid movie. This is another step in a good direction for director Alex Garland. To follow up "Ex Machina" with this, I am stoked for the future. "Annihilation" is a great movie that I highly recommend. Also, go into it knowing as little as possible like I did. The movie will blow you away.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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