A week ago, I was raving about the brilliance and importance of Black Panther. While that opinion has not changed, the film may have to take a back seat to what may not only be the best of the month but by year’s end may fall as 2018’s most thought-provoking film, Annihilation. 

Annihilation is the second film from Alex Garland, who directed 2015’s brilliant Ex-Machina. A film that is able to capture one of the year’s best screenplay awards and ensures that some of the best stories in the film can be based on ideas and not an overabundance of set pieces. Ex-Machina not only went on to win an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects but in a year where Alicia Vikander won the Academy Award for her performance in The Danish Girl, her turn in Ex-Machina was the superior performance.

Fast forward two years and Alex Garland has once again delivered a thought-provoking film with the release of Annihilation. A film that continues the disconnect between casual filmgoers and cinephiles. Prior to watching the film, casual filmgoers took to social media stating that the film made “no sense” and was “boring and confusing.” Similar sentiments were relayed about last year’s most diverse film, mother!. While the Cinemascore for the film may fall on the lower spectrum, Annihilation deserves an audience and commendation as not only a great film, but one that might surpass Ex-Machina as the superior film.

Now while it would be a disservice to lay out the plot of the film, the opening may detour casual goers as the opening scenes of Annihilation reveals Natalie Portman looking back at events that have occurred, which to some may feel it gives away most of the film’s narrative right away. Despite this assumption, Garland uses it as a plot device that turns the film into a thought inducing experience that has continued since the film concluded a few hours ago as of this writing.

One of the Annihilation‘s biggest takeaways is how the film’s title correlates with the social commentary Garland expresses about suicide and societies collapsing. The idea that no person ever commits suicide, rather than the individual self-destructs, as to societies’ own annihilation. This idea is based on that self-destruction is coded into all individuals in some form.

In terms of performances, Natalie Portman and Oscar Isaac’s chemistry cannot be ignored. This duo’s time onscreen is electric and I for one hope there are future films that the two work together on. Annihilation once again confirms that Portman and Isaac are two of Hollywood’s best actors. Gina Rodriguez and Tessa Thompson’s performances should not be ignored as the two leading ladies add a dynamic that increases the film’s impressiveness while Thompson incorporates a dynamic unseen in previous performances, as she shows a vulnerability compared to her role as Valkyrie in Thor: Ragnarok.

Annihilation may fall into the category of 2018’s most analytical films. While some prefer to go to the movies for some thoughtless entertainment, films like this deserve an audience and with the film debuting on Netflix outside of the U.S. in March, it may have the star power and direction to gain that exact audience.

Reel Talk gives Annihilation 4 Reels