Annihilation (2018)

Audiences handed Annihilation a C CinemaScore, and honestly, the movie seems kinda proud of it. Alex Garland doesn’t care if you’re comfortable, and he doesn’t care much about backstory either. The five women heading into the Shimmer are mostly one-line summaries, and the framing device, Lena being questioned in a white room afterward, lets air out of the tension. Everything else is so strange and lovely it gets under your skin. Flowers grow in impossible shapes, colors slide across every surface like oil on water, and one creature makes a sound you’ll never fully shake. Natalie Portman plays Lena cool and closed off, which fits a woman carrying a secret. Jennifer Jason Leigh is spooky calm as Ventress. The lighthouse finale is weird in the best way, all mirrored movement and no talking. It made just $43.1 million worldwide on a reported $40 to $55 million. An 8.2 because it still haunts you a week later. $5,197 says you spot a rainbow sheen on a puddle this week and step around it.

What works: The Shimmer is one of the most beautiful and unsettling places sci-fi has built, and the wordless lighthouse finale is unforgettable.

What doesn’t: The team is thinly sketched, and the interrogation framing tells you who survives, which drains suspense from the trip.

Who it’s for: Sci-fi fans who want questions instead of answers and don’t mind leaving the theater a little rattled.