Science, thrills, intrigue, interpretive dance?
Annihilation is pretty much what I expected, which is both good and bad. It has surprises, and beauty, and creepiness. Despite all of that, it comes off as too artistic and esoteric to pull off in a movie.
It follows the aftermath of an alien meteorite crashing into a lighthouse in the American southeast. An eerily beautiful Shimmer expands out from the impact, threatening to slowly take over the whole world. Everyone and everything entering the Shimmer never comes back out, until...Natalie Portman's husband of course.
The plot mixes pure sci fi gold with parallel tracks of romance, loss, and self-destructive personalities. The characters are all colorful, but a bit one dimensional. Kudos to them rocking a full team of smart women as the main group, though.
I'll file this one under "glad I watched it, but doubt I'll ever think about it much in the future." It delivers great entertainment (the interpretive dance would give away too much plot to explain) with enough complex ideas to keep it from being just eye candy.