Annihilation (2018)

I was warned by a friend to not go into Annihilation expecting a faithful version of the book. So I knew this going in. I knew it as I bought a ticket and I knew this as I sat down and sat through Alex Garland's film based on his recollection of reading the book by Jeff VanderMeer.

 Annihilation 2018

The friend who warned me to not compare it to the book really enjoyed the film. I liked it ok. I just could not ignore the book. I tried, I did, but it didn't work. Because I absolutely loved that book and wasn't able to separate the two.

I enjoyed VanderMeer's book when I first read it back in 2014. At about 200 pages, Annihilation is like finding a long lost journal of someone on a trek into terror. A biologist, psychologist, anthropologist and surveyor have entered a place known as Area X. The team is the 12th expedition to search this strange area along the coast where all the other teams have either disappeared, returned changed, commit suicide, or have terminal illness. It's a weird, creepy place. I was hooked and blew through it, riveted.

I found the movie a bit less riveting. I don't, however, want to compare it to the book and say it didn't do this and they left out this and blah blah blah. Yesterday I read an article calling the film, a transformation, not an adaptation. I read that and thought "Yes. This has totally changed my perspective!"

Garland does a great job creating a world and explaining (sort of) what is causing this "shimmer" around Area X, where the book doesn't. It's an ambitious film where DNA is being manipulated and mutating right before the characters eyes. It has some good scares and a bit more gore than my companions were expecting. Plus a great cast. And while it is based on a book I think is totally worth your time, I do think this movie stands on its own as a pretty original piece of science fiction film, and is worth seeing if you can take those gory slices.

You know how I feel about slices.