3. Annihilation
Although it was sold more as action movie, Annihilation is far more comfortable in the mold of twisted, mind-bending sci-fi. The plot involves five female scientists headed into an alien phenomenon called “The Shimmer” only to discover the rules of time and biology start to become warped within.
To dismiss Garland’s trippy expedition as woo-woo nonsense would be missing out on so much emotional work that he and Natalie Portman are doing. In his hands, the annihilation of the film’s title is first and foremost psychological, and it casts a bone-deep dread over the film.. The film departs significantly from VanderMeer’s great book, but it, too, is about something that can’t be uttered.
