Annihilation is the latest film from Alex Garland, whose debut film Ex Machina, was a critically acclaimed work of sci-fi filmmaking. Garland sticks with that genre with his adaptation of the Jeff VanderMeer's book Annihilation. The adaptation is loose as Garland, after reading the book, wrote the screenplay based on his memory of the book, never referring back to it so that he could retain the "dream-like" quality of the story.
Annihilation follows the story of a biologist who enters into a natural phenomena called "The Shimmer," that seems to be having an impact on the environment around it. Within the deeper story we find evident themes of self-destruction, refraction, creation and metastasization. These themes are well explored as a work of science-fiction, but a film in this genre would not be complete without stunning visuals and world-building which this film does so well. It also includes a creature so unsettling that the mere realization that it exists on film will make you recoil while also grinning with delight.
In this podcast we give our full review of Annihilation while also discussing the film's many themes. It is a thoughtful work of science-fiction cinema that deserves to be seen in theaters.