In 2015, Alex Garland made his directorial debut with Ex Machina, a psychological sci-fi thriller that made him one of the most exciting filmmakers in the genre. He's a voice that's arrived as science fiction has thrived, alongside the likes of Arrival, Looper, Gravity, Blade Runner 2049, Snowpiercer, Her, and others. In his next movie, Garland adapts Jeff VanderMeer's Nebula Award-winning novel Annihilation, which follows four women researchers as they explore a place known as Area X.
The book is a largely analytical, psychological horror story, told as the first-person account of the biologist's journey into Area X. While the book is a slow-building thriller that carefully reveals much of the mysterious backstory of this mission and its characters, the new trailer for the film adaptation shows a more Hollywood approach to the story. This likely makes more sense as a big-budget film, showing the biologist (Natalie Portman) entering Area X to find out what happened to her husband (Oscar Isaac), who returned from his mission in pretty bad shape.
Director Garland visualizes this bizarre, dangerous place with stunning beauty and darkness. Given what he accomplished with Ex Machina, Garland's Annihilation is certainly an early one to look forward to in 2018.
Matt Miller is a Brooklyn-based culture/lifestyle writer and music critic whose work has appeared in Esquire, Forbes, The Denver Post, and documentaries.
