Ex Machina writer/director Alex Garland has a new movie coming out titled Annihilation, and the trailer is nothing short of captivating. For sci-fi fans, it looks like Garland has got another masterpiece headed our way. Lest you forget, Garland was also the writer of the Danny Boyle-directed zombie apocalypse film 28 Days Later, and wrote the novel The Beach that the movie adaption starring Leonardo DiCaprio was from. If anyone questioned where the science-fiction genre of films was headed, Garland is one of those directors that’s keeps it authentic an in true spirit.
Annihilation is based on Jeff VanderMeer’s best-selling “Southern Reach Trilogy” series of novels and stars Natalie Portman as a nameless biologist. The premise is that a secret agency (known as the Southern Reach) is conducting expeditions into an area in the United States called Area X where nature is reclaiming itself from civilization. In the book, four women (an anthropologist, biologist, psychologist and surveyor) enter the mysterious space, but in the trailer it appears there are five women (although it’s hard to be sure if all are female) on the initial exploration.
Jennifer Jason Leigh (The Hateful Eight), Gina Rodriguez (Deepwater Horizon), Tessa Thompson (Creed), and Oscar Isaac (Ex Machina) also star in the film. And one of our favorite actors, Benedict Wong from Netflix’s Marco Polo series, can be seen in the trailer as a scientist examining Portman’s character.
The film hasn’t been rated by the Motion Picture Association of America, but given the rating of Garland’s previous films it will likely be Rated R. The Paramount Pictures / Skydance production is slated to hit theaters in the U.S. on Feb. 23, 2018.
