By Audrey J. Bernard
Film Reviewer
After much ado about something, Paramount Pictures and Skydance’s long-awaited sci-fi horror flick Annihilation is finally in the movies and avid sci-fi fans are getting their thrill on! Moviegoers are buzzing like crazy about the nearly all-female kick-ass cast – namely Natalie Portman, Tessa Thompson, Gina Rodriguez, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Tuva Novotny – who, under the dexterous direction of acclaimed director Alex Garland, are fierce, ferocious and fabulous! The film also stars Oscar Isaac and Benedict Wong.
Annihilation centers around Natalie’s character — a biologist and former soldier who joins a mission to uncover what happened to her husband (Isaac) — the only survivor from a troop sent into an environmental disaster zone inside “Area X” – a sinister and mysterious phenomenon that is expanding across the American coastline. After he returns gravely injured as the lone survivor, she volunteers to go into the zone to try to work out what happened to him and therefore hopefully save his life. Once inside, the expedition she discovers a world of mutated landscapes and creatures, as dangerous as it is beautiful, that threatens both their lives and their sanity. This fascinatingly frightful film — with its many grisly twists and turns — resonates long after you leave the movie.
The all-star cast attended the star-studded premiere and walked the black carpet on Tuesday, February 13, 2018 at The Regency Village Theater in Westwood, CA with the leading ladies Portman and Rodriquez destroying all in sight – not too unlike what they did in the movie. They splayed! Oscar-winner Portman looked stunning in a black gown with a plunging neckline while Jane the Virgin star Gina rocked all night in a dazzling blue and bronze Cristina Ottaviano sleeveless gown.
Written for the screen and directed by Alex Garland based on the novel by Jeff VanderMeer, Annihilation cast and crew comprises: Scott Rudin p.g.a., Andrew MacDonald p.g.a., Allon Reich p.g.a., Eli Bush p.g.a. (producers); Jo Burn (executive producer); David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, Don Granger (executive producers); Joanne Smith (associate producer); Barney Pilling ACE (editor); Rob Hardy BSC (director of photography); Mark Digby (production designer); Nina Gold CSA, Francine Maisler CSA (casting); Andrew Whitehurst (visual effects supervisor); Ben Salisbury, Geoff Barrow (music); Sammy Sheldon Differ (costume designer); Glenn Freemantle (sound); Michelle Day (set decorator); Sian Grigg (make-up and hair); Paramount Pictures and Skydance (presenters); and A Scott Rudin / DNA Films production. Annihilation opened in theatres on Friday, February 23, 2018 to rave reviews. (Photos by Rachel Murray/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures)
