 Thanks for checking out this movie review. This is for the 2018 release annihilation. This is kind of like a mix It is horror, but it's also adventure drama Thriller-y-ish sci-fi-y as well a little bit I mean, it's kind of like a mix of a lot of things and when you find out who wrote it and directed it and who and that what that person has written before You might get a feel for why that is so I'm gonna say up front I will not do spoilers for this review Because it's a 2018 release. It's very very new and I actually would recommend people seeing this film So I don't want to tell you actual events of what go on during this film, but I am going to talk about thematic Things like overall themes subtext in the film, but I'm not gonna tie it to actual events in the film So I'm not gonna tell you what happens in the film But I'm gonna tell you what themes are at play and what the subtext is basically so for some people This might actually be a pretty cool and helpful having that information going in and then watching it. So But anyway, let's talk about this and I have seen this pop a bunch of people are doing like the the best horror movies of the 2010s which I'm thinking about doing a video on it and I've seen a few people put annihilation on their list I can see where people would do that, but I can also see where people would really Be the opposite who would really hate this movie. So I have a feeling this one's kind of a I haven't heard a lot about it But it's it's been kind of a Polarizing film I could see that so Directed and screenplay done by Alex Garland who wrote 28 the script for 28 days later as well as the script for the film Sunshine And he wrote the script for and directed ex machina. I have not seen ex machina But I saw 28 days later great awesome script. I saw sunshine also really good really love the script So this individual's pedigree is awesome. I will say that his directing has moved over like his writing to directing has Translated well, I think he has a really good eye for directing directing was excellent during this film Cinematography is excellent. It looks phenomenal. It looks amazing It looks like a high-budget film and it is I think it was something like 55 million dollar budget or something like that So it's actually based off a book and it's the book is a first in a trilogy The trilogy is called the southern reach trilogy and it's by Jeff Vandermeer now. The interesting thing about this is that Alex Garland had read this first book didn't know it was going to be part of a trilogy Started working on the screenplay found out there were more books I think the second book had already come out and then he refused to read the second book because he said look I already wrote the script. I'm very happy with it I want to go this direction with this so There are things that don't Hold to the trilogy that are in the movie. So the movie's kind of taking the story from the first book And it's not even a super close adaptation from what I was reading. It's actually more of He took the overall story Garland did and it was just like here's my interpretation on this So I don't know but the the trilogy Kind of intrigues me a little bit after seeing this movie I want to kind of want to know how much ties in and how much doesn't We all know Natalie Portman. She's the big name in this but also in it is Jennifer Jason Lee Who's from you know, obviously Fast Times at Ridgemont High is my favorite movie for her more recently. She was in The Hateful Eight which she did a good job in that I Was a little middling on her performance in in this film Annihilation at time. She was really on point at other times She sounded a little weird and like whiny like her Her delivering of lines was a little whiny and didn't fit the situation or character. It was weird Um, and then tessa thompson is in this as well. That's the other name And people would know her probably best as valkyrie from a bunch of marvel films Oh and also smaller role, but benedict wong who was in um, Dr. Strange and in Endgame as well who's the other protector of the sank sanctum sanctorum or you know All that stuff if people know what i'm talking about. I don't know how much crossover there is between marvel movies and horror So some people might be like So anyway, uh, this did not make money in the box office. It actually lost A little bit. I think it was something like it was like 55 million and it cost I think they said it cost between 45 and 55 million for the budget and then box office is like 43 million So it did not do well I don't know what that will mean for alex garland as a director I mean, obviously he can point to this film and say Look, I can direct it looks outstanding. He can point to past scripts at least and say look These are outstanding scripts 28 days later in sunshine. So You know, we'll see um Oh, yeah, like I said, uh, garland said that he didn't try to mirror the book But rather portray his experience from reading the book. So that's interesting Test screening for this film was actually not good and some of the Producers had asked that a few things be changed before actually releasing it A few of the main changes is having Natalie portman's character be more sympathetic and Totally changing the ending. So like I said, I'm not spoiling anything. I'm not going to say anything about What events happened throughout this film at any point, but I will say for me personally I was half and half on the ending. I I do like the ending. I like what the ending Gives you at the end of the story, but I also don't like how they did it So if you've already seen it and you're watching this, you'll know what I'm talking about I felt like it was very drawn out in the end It seemed to be a little bit too much in my opinion It went a little bit overboard, but but the overall message the overall ending to it I liked I was good with it. I was just like maybe tone it down I felt like got a little bit too artsy a little bit too too In a sense masturbatory as far from a directing and writing standpoint, but you know Uh, I had oh and they did not make those changes by the way The producers were lobbying for these changes. They ended up not getting made and then they did something very odd They released the film in the theater and not even three weeks later. They let it go to Netflix That's such a weird thing and uh garland was really unhappy about this Some other people involved with the film are really unhappy about it I would have been if I were them like if it's going to be theatrical Let it be theatrical and let it run its course if it's going to be straight to streaming Then do it that way instead, but honestly it looks like a theatrical film It should have just been in the theater and then you could take it places well after that But you know, that's just that's just me. That's just me So that was just uh I didn't get it. I just didn't get why they did that. So uh, all right So let me get into some of the thematic stuff and kind of I wrote it down as I was watching the film So some of these ideas will um Maybe repeat a little bit but kind of change So this is kind of like the synthesis of what I was thinking as I was going through the film and I do have to read some of this verbatim because It's the the the themes in the sub text gets dense And it took some time to like really work things out in my brain about what's really going on in the film It's a thinkers film if you want to get the underlying meanings and stuff like that All right, so the film gets set up with mystery very early that and it makes you really want backstory It kind of has something that kind of hooks you immediately One little event and you're just like, okay. I need to know what's going on here. I need to know what came before this and you do kind of get that information like in bits and pieces And but you get the overall story obviously The film takes its time getting anywhere interesting I didn't really like that. It was a little bit slow Some interesting ideas are introduced and then they set them aside for boring backstory so They get back to it. What I'm referring to here is that it's kind of like Um The main storyline they're giving you pieces of and then they'll introduce a Interesting little piece of information about the main story that they're going to continue with But then they'll cut away from that for some like a flashback thing and show you something that's Insanely boring and seems like it makes absolutely no sense It does have significance at the very end when you look at the film as a whole But at the moment, it's very annoying. It's very boring. It just drag And they could have cut that stuff down a bit because there are some of those scenes that just They overdid it. It was one of those other things where it's like, okay, I get the point I know what you're showing me right now. You don't have to add extra dialogue to it That's saying the same thing over and over again. So, you know Um, they do chapter title cards in this Which is unbelievably unnecessary. They do it twice and that's the other thing they do I'm trying to think it's maybe like 20 25 minutes of the film passes Then they have a title card of like a place And then you don't see another one until Hour hour and 15 minutes later and then there's another one and then they finish out the movie. So it's like There there's no need for the title cards. It's if you're going to have those things Be pretty consistent with how you're doing them Just don't have just like one in a random place another one in a random place I mean, they weren't random. They were placed there intentionally, but it seems kind of random because Why are you doing this and then not doing it and then all of a sudden doing it again? Because when they showed the one title card title card and then they didn't show another one I forgot about it and then they showed the other one and I was just like Oh, yeah, they did one of these that that was a long time ago So it's it's a small thing, but it irked me Okay So there's an exploratory I did say in the beginning like there's an adventure aspect to us There's there's an exploratory aspect to the film And I think that is probably the coolest most interesting part of it Especially for people who don't who aren't really into films that are all about like underlying themes and subtext and stuff like that Because I know there are a lot of people who don't want their movies like that and that's fine You're that's just your mode of watching film I'm kind of an opposite person where I love having kind of like brain teasers movies where I'm like, okay now What's the underlying theme and what's the subtext? You can probably tell that from watching my reviews because I get excited about that stuff So this film is like that But I also think that you can for the most part watch it From a non-thematic non subtext Way and get some enjoyment out of it until the very end you will hate the very end in that case I think but the Adventurous exploratory portion of it is awesome. It looks amazing. It's really cool how they just kind of like slowly reveal stuff Yeah, so the meat of the movie is awesome. I love it a lot The practical effects look Unbelievable and there are some really freaky images in this film So for people who are really into horror like I am there's going to be some real nice Moments in this film for you where you're like that looks freaky. That looks scary. That looks good And it's beautiful. It is beautiful. It looks amazing. The special effects look unbelievably good. There is CGI in it But it doesn't look like crap Very nice, you can tell it's high budget I see why a lot of people didn't respond well to the ending. I wrote down Uh, that's you know while I was watching the very ending of it And I was like, oh now I see why it didn't test well with screening And the producers wanted the ending to be changed because I would have liked some of the stuff to be changed at the end You they could have done it in a different way, but You know, it was the filmmakers vision. They ended up not doing it It's still a very good film in my opinion. I quite liked it um Like I said, it looks like a theatrical release not only does it look like that from the perspective of directing And from the cinematography, but also the acting the cast is very high brow. So You're just like it seems theatrical um The acting like I said acting is good They used a lot of lens flares in this now and it's funny because it's something that People have told me before who do directing Who are directors have said that when people start doing directing and they think they're kind of like an auteur That a lot of the times they they they just gravitate to doing a bunch of lens flares And there are a bunch of lens flares in this and I noticed that so I just kind of like chuckled to myself And I was just like, ah, this is the this is the uh young director trying to become an auteur type thing that other directors have told me about so It's kind of funny. Um, but yeah, lots of lens flares. So if you hate lens flares I mean You're not gonna like it but You know, I'm fine with it. It looks cool in a few instances, but I think they never did it a little bit Uh, the backstory on a key relationship and uh on key relationship development is necessary But it's overdone and in a boring way that kind of goes back to what I was talking about about the Flashbacks just being a little bit too much. There's some real intense and gruesome stuff in this That's kind of going along with the freaky things people who are into horror are really gonna like There are some intense and gruesome stuff in this film. Um Knowing that it had a horror element to it. I expected that type of thing But with how the movie unfolded for the first, I don't know like 30 minutes Maybe I was like not expecting the gruesomeness and intensity to the level that it did get at times So it was kind of nice to get that being someone who loves horror Overall a very interesting and very creative concept to this So I guess you got to give that to jeff vandermeer the guy who wrote the books But I assume that alex garland put a lot into it as well because it wasn't like Exact adaptation so very creative very interesting concept in my opinion very outside the box This film tackles themes of change loss and uncertainty And I'm gonna go a little bit further into some of that Uh It really raises questions of how do you react and adapt to something that makes no sense For what you've known life to be and how it operates And this kind of plays a little bit into what i'm talking about with Being very outside of the box and creative it kind of challenges The characters thoughts of how things are but yours as an audience as well So you kind of have to have an open mind But let me read that again really raises questions of how do you react and adapt To something that makes no sense For what you've known life to be and how it operates And then I put down there four modes that present themselves reaction wise in this film and it's personified by characters You deny it You rebel against it You withdraw from it or you adapt to it That's what I noticed in this and it has another significance as well There's a concept introduced in this of humans having a tendency to self-destruct when things when times get challenging And that kind of plays back to what I was talking about with things kind of changing And you know the different modes, you know the the rebelling the denying That stuff and the withdrawing all can kind of lead to the that self-destructive aspect But uh one of the characters talks about you know humans being self-destructive and and it applies to Challenging situations where you know everything you've thought or everything you felt has has changed And the environment around you so Very interesting stuff One big overall theme seems to be relationships how they change How we choose to react to it what mode of reaction ultimately prevails And I'm referring to deny rebel withdraw adapt Um and how we are individually changed by it and how that shapes the relationship itself So I think in the end one of the biggest themes one of the biggest subtexts and I'll and I'll read a A writing my last writing that I put down here that kind of speaks to this but it's about A relationship the whole thing Well, I'll I'll save that but it's about a relationship in general and it's about Those four different modes of how you can react to something that changes And in this instance, it's about the change that happens in a in a romantic relationship in particular I believe but it can apply to a lot of things And by me telling you this I'm not ruining anything about the actual events of what goes on in the film because like I said This is subtext it's themes. So there are other things actually going on, but I think it's kind of metaphor for this relationship and what's going on with You know figuring things out So my last quote and I'm going to read this one twice because it's a little dense the way I wrote it and I took a lot of time to Construct it. Although after I read it, you may be like that's not that dense. That's fine. I'm sorry. I apologize I had a time if that's the case Okay, just think of the entire movie as a series of metaphors Showing the internal struggles and journey to react to relationship change And find the personal adaptations you ultimately need to remain in that relationship I'll read it one more time real quick Just think of the entire movie as a series of metaphors showing the internal struggles And journey to react to relationship change and find the personal adaptations you ultimately need to remain in that relationship So kind of goes back to a bunch of this stuff that I kind of already talked about So I apologize if I was kind of repeating some of the themes and some of the stuff So sorry about that, but I will say I think it would be interesting to rewatch this. I've only watched it once at this point I think this is a film that you could really dig super deep into And take a lot of segments of the film and like super break them down because it's it seems that dense with metaphors small and large Um And maybe at some point I would like to do that, but you know based off what I'm saying I'm sure you could tell I recommend this film I definitely recommend this film But like I said the ending kind of is a little bit to me But there's a lot of really awesome stuff. So Five star rating half stars in play. I'm gonna go ahead and give it a four I can't take it up to the four and a half because the ending Is way too much It's it's it's a little over the top and how it's kind of out of kilter in the beginning With you know, some of the slower moments and doing the flashback stuff. So Yeah, if it's more if there was some more editing on it and the ending was changed I bumped it up to a four and a half maybe even a five But I'm going to four, but it's a very solid four highly recommend this film People go out and check it out now if you have already seen this film Go ahead and make some comments down here. We will do spoilers in the comments section So if you haven't seen the film yet Don't venture into the comments section too far I mean, you can make a comment yourself, but don't read the other comments really Unless you've already seen the film But I would recommend seeing the film then coming back. I watched it on hulu when I'm posting this so Maybe it's still there. It was originally on that flex now. It's on hulu. So Highly recommend it, but put some comments down there and let me know your thoughts on annihilation I know it will probably get mixed Emotions some people be like total garbage and some people be like it's amazing and I can see both ways I can see where people see it both ways to be honest. So Thank you so much for checking this out. Please do me a favor real quick. Hit that subscribe button That's your best way to keep me motivated to do these and pay me back for my time Because I don't make money on this at all, but growing my Viewer base always motivates me. So thanks everyone for checking this out until next time. Keep it brutal