Annihilation Is Surely Ambitious Yet Sadly Underwhelming

Annihilation, directed by Alex Garland
Reviewed by Kristy Puchko

Alex Garland carved out a reputation as a stellar screenwriter with cerebral sci-fi fare like the zombie thriller 28 Days Later, the space-set adventure Sunshine, and the clone-centered romance Never Let Me Go. Then he shocked and awed critics and audiences alike with his directorial debut, Ex Machina. The high-tech fairy tale showed a crisp visual style that played beautifully with Garland’s heady, philosophizing script, and was roundly proclaimed one of the best films of 2014. So it was with great anticipation that critics awaited his follow-up, Annihilation. And while many have breathlessly sung the praises of Garland’s loose adaptation of Jeff VanderMeer’s novel, this critic was left cold…

To read Puchko’s full review, go to Riot Material magazine: http://www.riotmaterial.com/annihilation-surely-ambitious-sadly-underwhelming/

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