You'll definitely be watching this when it lands.
Sci-fi has always been a genre that asks questions, pushes the boundaries and engages with the weighty issues of humanity, but there are moments when it incorporates horror elements to create something that's truly classic.
Films like The Thing, Alien, The Fly, and Predator have all received cult status and after the
overwhelmingly positive reactions to Annihilation came through, the reviews are equally as glowing.
You may already know that the film's director, Alex Garland, was the man who directed the wonderful Ex Machina and he's also one of the most prolific screenwriters alive - 28 Days Later, The Beach, Sunshine, Dredd and Never Let Me Go are just some of his previous work.
Based on Jeff VanderMeer’s best-selling Southern Reach Trilogy, Annihilation kicks-off after a group of soldiers enter an environmental disaster zone with only one soldier coming back alive, although he's seriously injured. In an attempt to save his life, his wife Lena (Natalie Portman), a biologist, volunteers for another expedition into the zone to figure out what happened to him.
What's unique about Annihilation though is that it's not getting a cinematic release in the UK and Ireland.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0m3cPEbwwhg
Clip via - Netflix UK & Ireland
Despite the fact that it stars Natalie Portman and Oscar Isaac,
THR reports that David Ellison, the head of Skydance Productions, was worried that the film was “too intellectual” and “too complicated” for paying audiences to understand.
Rather than release the film in theatres, the film studio struck a deal with Netflix to effectively bypass the cinema altogether outside the US, Canada, and China.
Granted, some people might argue that this is a clear sign of a poor film -The Cloverfield Paradox is a fine example of this - but the opposite appears to be true with Annihilation, especially based on these reviews.
Take a look:
NPR - "Writer-director Alex Garland has made an atom bomb of a movie, fiery and all-consuming and quite unnatural. It fills every inch of our heads with its beautiful terrors."
USA Today - "On one hand, it's a brainy take on horror tropes, and on the other an empowering female-led mystery with an underlying roller coaster of weird leaving nightmares in its wake."
The Hollywood Reporter - "Annihilation is a ferocious, feral, female-centric update of fearsome monster classics like The Thing and Alien."
NY Post -"Ambitious and messy, 'Annhilation' will likely leave you with more questions than answers. Mine is: "When can I see it again?"
US Weekly - "Several months from now, you'll still be thinking about that unsettling closing image. Wow."
Rolling Stone - "Alex Garland's bracing brainteaser has the courage of its own ambiguity. You work out the answers in your own head, in your own time, in your own dreams, where the best sci-fi puzzles leave things. Get ready to be rocked."
You can make your own mind up when Annihilation is released on Netflix on March 12th.
