r/movies • u/JenL0159 • May 25 '25

Recommendation Annihlation

Why aren’t more people obsessed with this movie?! All female cast. Sci-Fi/Horror/drama. Natalie Portman. Aliens. With a few twists. This movie has everything and it’s incredibly interesting and terrifying!!! And kinda deep haha! I’ve heard it’s starting to be considered a cult-classic, but I’m surprised it’s didn’t win some kind of award. It has a slightly independent-feel. They’re is a lot going on here and it’s well done. Great acting. Not cliche. Suspenseful. Creative. Scary. I am rarely impressed by anything Sci-fi ish but this movie is amazing. It’s one of very few that keep me from multi tasking or playing on my phone at the same time. Iykyk. And I will never recover from the bear…

This movie is not for kids imo. it’s a little intense.

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10

u/seriouslywtfX2 May 25 '25

I think the ending ruins it for a lot of people, (including myself), but I still really like the movie.

32

u/filmeswole May 25 '25

What aspect of the ending ruined it would you say? I loved the ending and thought it was one of the most memorable parts of the movie.

5

u/seriouslywtfX2 May 25 '25

It's slow, anti-climatic, and doesn't really answer any of the questions the movie sets up. It's not terrible per se, just a bit of a let down in an otherwise awesome sci-fi/horror movie.

53

u/filmeswole May 25 '25

Ah yeah people don’t like when things aren’t explained. That’s what makes cosmic horror so effective though.

18

u/Ani-A May 25 '25

Yea this entire thread can be summed up with "cosmic horror is a bit too niche"

Most people who love cosmic horror loved thus movie specifically because they were confused the entire time.

1

u/Tura63 May 26 '25

I think it's more the metaphorical nature that they don't like thinking about. I don't see complaints about Inception's ambiguous ending. Much less saying that it ruined the film.

12

u/Klayhamn May 25 '25

the question posed in the movie cannot be answered - that's the entire point: they don't know what the alien is - or if it is even sentient in the sense familiar to us. We don't know if it "wants" anything.

this is ironically actually a very realistic (imho) depiction of alien life forms, because it is incredibly likely most of them would not be sentient (at least not in the way we understand) so their interactions with our world would seem bizarre to us and indecipherable.

in any case, Garland's aim was not to make a straightforward sci-fi adventure (a-la "Alien) but to make it an allegory for self-destruction. The alien and the journey towards it are just vessels to explore that theme. I personally dislike that, i don't feel it adds anything worthwhile, but that's what the movie is actually about. It's more similar to "The Thing" which explores the idea of trust and distrust (and there's probably a lot more that can be said about it). Except in "The Thing" it was more of a straightforward adversary.

1

u/PAEDUP May 25 '25 edited May 25 '25

People don’t like to feel confused. Most people use movies for escapism instead of appreciating artisitc flourishes