Kersti Rating: 9.5/10
Worth Seeing In Theaters: Definitely yes.
MVP: See this movie. Annihilation is one of my favorite movies that has come out in recent memory. It is thoughtful, beautiful, the acting is fantastic, the characters are real, the plot is as intriguing as a plot can be. It leaves you with as many questions as answers, but it feels appropriate to the subject. The movie is very different from the book, but is still an amazingly true adaptation. I would give this movie a 10/10, except there was a tad too much gore for my delicate sensibilities.
As followers of my blog may know, I read the Southern Reach Trilogy a while ago, and have been eagerly awaiting this movie. Let me tell you, I was not disappointed. This movie was everything I wanted it to be and more. While the plots of the movie and books are very different in many respects, I would not have had it any other way. The movie feels like an extension of the world and plot. It gave me, as someone who had read the book and felt like I knew what to expect, something unexpected. I felt the same way watching this movie as I did reading the books, unsettled, thoroughly creeped out, but in a beautiful and somehow fulfilling way.
If you intend to read the books, I do still recommend reading the books first. Much of the book is build-up, and I feel the movie would sort of short circuit that build-up if seen before reading the books. However, the movie is a glorious creature that stands on its own, so if you have little to no interest in the books, the movie is a great substitute. And if you do see the movie first, the books are still worth reading, because there is so much more to the world to know, and there are still surprises there for you.
Pirate Ferret.com 