Annihilation blindsided me as one of the best sci-fi thrillers I have ever seen. Natalie Portman plays biologist Lena tasked to unlock the mysteries of a destructive ambiguous “shimmer.” Through her trek with fellow missionaries, the shimmer proves to be more and more terrifying keeping audiences on the edge of their seat for what horror could come next. But despite all the action in the shimmer, Lena’s life before it adds emotional depth to her character and the plot. Building a bridge between Lena and the audience makes her the perfect protagonist to root for.

Aside from the gripping plot, the imagery used possesses each and every viewer and does not leave your mind until the credits begin to roll. Beautiful use of color graces every single moment of the movie. Intense colors of mutated fungus attached to light poles and and amazing shafts of sunlight emerging through leaves show how dedicated the producers were to making the best looking movie of the year in my opinion. However during the more intense scenes colors lack any sort of color depth and it’s done perfectly. In a scene involving the death of one of the characters the only colors are deep blacks and drab grays, obviously reflecting the mood of the scene.

Accompanying the great visuals and plot the best part of the movie is actually how little information was known before the movie’s release. I went into the theatre knowing little about the plot or the fact that it would be filled with nightmare fuel. The basic plot of the movie was known, the biologist had to go into the shimmer, that was it, not a single preview for the movie even hinted at the monstrosities the shimmer would behold. But with the terrors it provided I was completely taken by storm. Just as the characters in the movies were bewildered, I was too. What makes this movie so different from other sci-fi thrillers such as Interstellar or Inception is not the fact that you have to really think about the plot to understand the movie, but it’s the fact that before the movie the characters in the movie and viewers in the theater start at the exact same place and learn with as the movie goes on. The plot is not fed to you, and by ending on an ambiguous note it leaves room for your own interpretation of the film.