By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close

Forums - Movies & TV - The Tragedy of "Annihilation"

arcaneguyver said:
The RLM review was the first I heard of this film, and I really want to see it now. Most criticism I hear is "it's too slow" or "I could't follow it."

That's because it wasn't a big dumb action / superhero flick designed to appeal to the lowest common denominator of movie audiences.  General audiences would rather go see Black Panther for a 5th time.



On 2/24/13, MB1025 said:
You know I was always wondering why no one ever used the dollar sign for $ony, but then I realized they have no money so it would be pointless.

Around the Network

Glad someone agrees with me. I saw it a few weeks ago. I was unexpectedly surprised at the overall quality of the film. I'm not a movie buff...very far from it but I can honestly say...after seeing this movie...it instantly became one of my favourite of all time.

PS: Spoiler!!!





I think it's her clone at the end. I'm sure of it.



Insert Coin. Press START. You Died. Continue?

Just saw it, and I must say I'm delighted with the result. Thought-provoking and ambitious. The last half an hour of the movie will for sure stick in my mind for a long, long time.

It's hard to go into it without spoiling anything, so I won't. I'll just show my anger at some Paramount people for thinking the audience is stupid, and making me see this movie on the little screen. When it's CLEARLY a movie to see on the big screen. I actually don't think it's that hard to follow.... Well, loved it anyway.



I saw the first 2mins and was like wtf is shit about and benched it for another day lol.


thanks for the post i'll give it a bit more attention this time to impress me.



 

 

Nymeria said:

Annihilation is yet another nail in the coffin for big budget risks that aren't tied to existing properties. Any time someone says "Why is Hollywood so creatively bankrupt?" point to this.  Shame that Alex Garland should be a director on the rise with this and his superb "Ex Machina" will likely struggle to get another movie made soon.

NightDragon83 said:
I find it highly ironic that an original, somewhat big budget film starring mostly female leads that isn't a dumbed down, lowest common denominator schlock fest like the 2016 Ghostbusters she-boot got hardly any press or mentions from the feminist / SJW crowd. They'll prop up the latest Amy Schumer / Melissa McCarthy crap fest and tell us that if we don't like it it's because we hate women, but they won't support a decent original film starring women.

Sad, but true.

I don't know if it will rank among my favorite movies of the year, but it was definitely worth the watch and I won't soon forget it. Quite the mindfuck. We can always use more relatively original and daring works like it.



Around the Network

So, I really want to discuss the film. The film is actually really worth a discussion, and because I don't know yet anybody who's seeing it, I keep my theory about the whole phenomena happening in here. I'll use spoiler tags just in case.

So, I think the phenomena surrounding the lighthouse goes this way. At one point in the film, we discover that what's going on is that everything (light, radio waves, even DNA) refracts in this area. The closer you are to the lighthouse, the more everything refracts. One of the most disturbing scenes in the movie shows how the voice of one of the characters mixed with the monster that kills her, mimicking even her voice. And, in the epicenter of all this phenomena, the "Annihilation" thing is capable of "total reflection". Making copies of everything that touches it. So... I think this has a physics parallelism, which is how light behaves going through a different surface. Light refracts, for example, in a glass of water, and everything we see through a glass of water is kind of messy and mixed (those will be the abnormalities of mixing a bear with a human voice for example). But light reflects in a mirror. Mimicking exactly which is in front of it. That'd be the lighthouse. 

So, the transition in the movie will be from refraction to reflection. I'm still grasping how it affects each character in a different way, because obviously the fact that every character is pretty flawed is not a coincidence. A second watch could clear that, I guess.



Nymeria said:
Lawlight said:
I hear it’s a very slow movie. I think movies don’t have to be slow to be good.

It didn't feel slow to me.  I will say parts are atmospheric, so if you find being immersed in an alien land to be off putting you may find those scenes not to your liking.  There are scenes where the acting is more subdued, but that channels the realism and sense of unease to me.  When there are action scene I'd say they are pretty intense, one in the middle in particular is terrifying in way most horror films fail to achieve.

I don’t find being immersed in an alien world offputting. I do find unnecessarily slow movies offputting though. The movie is on Netflix anyway so no huge loss if I watch it.



Nymeria said:
hollabackenny said:
The trailer looked very meh for me but everyone I know says it’s really good. Is it true the trailer doesn’t capture what the movie is really like?

I think there are aspects hard to convey in trailers such as atmosphere and sound design.  It's more about planting ideas and making you think and discuss afterward, it isn't entertaining in the traditional sense.  Some people I know that saw it stated they didn't get the big deal while watching, but it stuck with them and found themselves wanting to talk about it and even see it a second time.

I’m usually not big on sci if movies but I really enjoyed ‘Arrival’ and ‘Moon’is one of my favourite movies ever. So I guess I’ll check it out this week before it’s out of theatres. 



Killy_Vorkosigan said:
Really nice movie, a bit unsettling, uncanny visuals.

However I hate the somebody-in-the-team-cracks-and-tries-to-fuck-up-everyone trope

It affects people differently was my interpretation. It breaks down your reality and sense of self. My thinking was it can heighten aggression in those such as Anya that have a fight mechanism in dealing with stress.  On the flip side the more passive route does work either as Josie is absorbed by the plant refraction in peace loses herself.



FromDK said:
First this is not hate.. just a movie lover that saw this topic.. and have to say some :)
I saw it today.. It blows my mind that this movie has a 7.4 rating at imdb..
worst film i have seen in years.. (and i mean that from the heart) my genre and nice trailer.. but I did not like anything about it.. so super bad imo
I whent on imdb right after.. and even rottentomatos (for the first time ever) and even soo the user review on the movies imdb page give it 4 stars and totaly nail why.. I can see that many people like it.. why?
Almost all things dosent make sense and are not explained.
But if you and other like it ok and nice you do :)

This is precisely why I like it.  If there were long drawn out exposition scenes that explained it all it would have dropped in my estimation.  If an alien organism landed on Earth it likely would be mysterious and confusing, like you explaining philosophy to a dog. It's whole nature being alien made it more interesting and engaging to me.  It does give a lot of information and have read and discussed all sorts of fascinating theories that have basis in what the film tells you.

We all have different tastes, I loved it and found Thor: Ragnarok and Star Wars: The Last Jedi to be awful movies people clearly loved.  No issue with differing worldviews when it comes to art.