“ANNIHILATION” now on DVD

Alex Garland (EX MACHINA) helms this adaptation of Jeff VanderMeer’s first novel in his Southern Reach trilogy, with mixed results. Visually stunning and at times genuinely suspenseful though plotting-wise dragged out and often incoherent, ANNIHILATION is a promising attempt at crafting original sci-fi but ultimately suffers from unnecessary ambiguity, making it more a bore than something memorable. Biologist and former soldier Lena (Natalie Portman) is shocked when her missing husband (Oscar Isaac) comes home near death from a top-secret mission into The Shimmer, a mysterious quarantine zone no one has ever returned from. Now, Lena and her elite team must enter a beautiful, deadly world of mutated landscapes and creatures, to discover how to stop the growing phenomenon that threatens all life on Earth. Paramount’s Blu-ray release contains a Dolby Atmos track and a three-part documentary featurette.