Critic Rating
(read reviews)User Rating
Director
Alex Garland
Cast
Natalie Portman,
Jennifer Jason Leigh,
Gina Rodriguez,
Tessa Thompson,
Tuva Novotny,
Oscar Isaac
Genre
Horror,
Science Fiction
Lena, a biologist and former soldier, signs up for an expedition in search of her husband, who vanished mysteriously in an autonomous zone called "the Shimmer." Inside lies a biological disaster of alien origin and incomprehensible horrors that defy the laws of nature in this mind-bending blend of science fiction and horror.
A sci-fi horror film with an ample amount of well-made and well-acted scenes that stick with you, even when you’d rather they didn’t, and not always for their graphic content. I would watch an ANNIHILATION sequel in a heartbeat, but tragically, Alex Garland is determined to avoid the franchise track. A thrilling, if frustrating, mind-bender.
A gorgeous, thought provoking film that doesn't seem to know the answers to any of the questions it raises. Much less satisfying than ex machina. However, the bear scene is some of the most terrifying cinema I've ever witnessed. I was also very interested in the parallels, both visual and thematic, between this film and the classic Lovecraft story "The Colour Out of Space." I know this was based on a separate short story, but the allusions were so obvious they had to be intentional, right?
This film is obviously an artistic achievement and very thought-provoking, but it leaves me with a sense of frustration that I find with a lot of Alex Garland's work. He seems to ask interesting questions and then leaves them unanswered - not in a way that I find particularly meaningful. For example, this film asks questions about identity, change, and grief, and seems content to leave things open in a way that doesn't necessarily change the terms of his questions or offer any greater insight into them than at the start of the film.
Screen Daily by Tim Grierson
Able to generate dread and awe with equal skill, Annihilation is an absorbing amalgam of genres and influences, all coming together to produce a dazzling creation as vivid as the hybrid life forms our heroes encounter on their perilous journey.
The Telegraph by Tim Robey
Portman’s high-tension acting, her inability to relax, suits the material down to the ground. It’s one of her best performances, moving through credible grief and bewilderment, but facing up bullishly to her fears by the end, and finding some kind of exhausted resolve to interrogate them.
Empire by Jonathan Pile
Drawing on mythology and body horror, Annihilation is an intelligent film that asks big questions and refuses to provide easy answers. Sci-fi at its best.
Chicago Sun-Times by Richard Roeper
Garland (adapting a novel by Jeff VanderMeer that is the first of a trilogy) does a masterful job of building the mystery, dropping plot hints like so many bread crumbs, jolting us with “gotcha!” moments.
The Playlist by Rodrigo Pérez
Annihilation is mesmerizing and its awe-inspiring conclusion will leave your mind blown and splattered against the wall. In its final, surreal biopsychological moments the movie goes to an astonishing interstellar gear.
Uproxx by Vince Mancini
It proudly exists on a visceral, sub-verbal level; that’s part of the magic of it. It’s a movie that’s easy to spoil and hard to describe, where mystery is most of the point and interpretation tends to cheapen. Which is to say: just go see it.
IndieWire by Eric Kohn
At once a gripping jungle survival thriller and an alluring sci-fi puzzle, Garland’s heady gambit confirms he’s one of the genre’s best working filmmakers.
Tampa Bay Times by Steve Persall
Alex Garland’s Annihilation is a bracing blend of cerebral sci-fi and grindhouse terror, a genre movie that’s more, maybe too much for some viewers.
Consequence by Clint Worthington
It’s one of the most arresting, affecting science fiction movies of the last few years, and certainly one of the best films to see release in 2018 thus far. It’s ambitious and haunting, which makes its international streaming release all the more tragic.
Entertainment Weekly by Leah Greenblatt
It’s the kind of film that leaves you dazzled and a little shell-shocked — and not entirely sure whether your own moviegoing DNA hasn’t been altered a little in the process.
Variety by Peter Debruge
For those willing to put in the effort, Annihilation achieves that rare feat of great genre cinema, where we are not merely thrilled (the film is both intensely scary and unexpectedly beautiful in parts) but also feel as if our minds have been expanded along the way.
Screen International by Tim Grierson
Able to generate dread and awe with equal skill, Annihilation is an absorbing amalgam of genres and influences, all coming together to produce a dazzling creation as vivid as the hybrid life forms our heroes encounter on their perilous journey.
The Hollywood Reporter by Todd McCarthy
To be sure, the climax delivers copious amounts of blood and guts and tension and look-away temptations. But there are enough interesting surprises, in addition to the narrative promise, to provide for the presumed, and now quite desired, sequels.
ScreenCrush by Matt Singer
It is tough, bleak, brutally intense, and genuinely scary - not in the cutesy cathartic way of most horror films, but in a way that makes you ponder the nature of existence and leaves you with a pit in your stomach.
TheWrap
A psychological mystery laced with environmental disaster and alien-scary juju, Alex Garland’s elegantly unsettling Annihilation is here to shake up your night at the movies in the most mind-bendy way possible, but without foregoing the pleasures of an ambitious sci-fi entertainment.
TheWrap by Robert Abele
A psychological mystery laced with environmental disaster and alien-scary juju, Alex Garland’s elegantly unsettling Annihilation is here to shake up your night at the movies in the most mind-bendy way possible, but without foregoing the pleasures of an ambitious sci-fi entertainment.
The Film Stage by Jordan Raup
A shimmering example of what Hollywood sci-fi can achieve when the aim is high, Annihilation is a gripping, mystifying adventure and proof that a transportive experience is more rewarding than a story with clean-cut resolutions.
New York Magazine (Vulture) by Emily Yoshida
To mistake Garland’s succession of haunted-house-like spectacles as Acid: The Place would be missing out on so much emotional work that he’s doing. (Although, the squeamish should be warned those spectacles range from mildly disturbing to gory and disgusting to absolutely terrifying.)
The Guardian by Benjamin Lee
Annihilation is more than mere visuals and it will shock, fascinate and haunt whatever screen it’s watched on.
IGN by Jim Vejvoda
Annihilation isn’t always as consistently well-executed or involving as it might have been, and it’s told in a manner that robs the story of some much needed life-or-death suspense, but overall it’s a bold undertaking that doesn’t play it safe and features some strong performances.
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