Few surprises in recent years have been as impressive as “Ex Machina.” The directorial debut of “28 Days Later” and “The Beach” screenwriter Alex Garland, it had little buzz in advance, but proved to be an incredibly taut, clever, surprising little sci-fi chamber piece that shed new light on the A.I. story, with a terrific cast of Alicia Vikander, Domhnall Gleeson and Oscar Isaac.
It won terrific reviews, proved a hit at the box office (it was the second biggest indie of 2015), and even won an Oscar for Best Visual Effects, beating out competition like “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” and becoming the least expensive movie to take the prize since “Alien.” As a result, Garland was firmly put on the map as a new directing talent, and nearly three years after “Ex Machina” debuted, he’s soon set to return, and Entertainment Weekly have debuted the first official still from the new movie.
“Annihilation” is Garland’s adaptation of Jeff Vandermeer’s best-selling sci-fi novel (the first of a trilogy, though Garland has suggested that his movie will be a stand-alone), about a group of scientists who head into an environmental disaster zone to investigate its cause, and to find the missing husband of one of their number. Garland’s assembled a killer cast for the movie — Natalie Portman as the lead, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gina Rodriguez and Tessa Thompson as her team-mates, plus Oscar Isaac as Portman’s husband and “Interstellar” actor David Gyasi and “Ex Machina” veteran Sonoya Mizuno in support too. The image here sees Portman investigating a sinister-looking alligator.
We’ve read the book, and it’s strange but rather brilliant — expect something more akin to Tarkovsky’s “Stalker” than most genre pics. Hopefully Garland’s adaptation can live up to it: we’ll find out when “Annihilation” opens on February 23rd. Maybe it’ll bow at Sundance first?…
