Devs Review: Alex Garland's First TV Show Is a Dazzling Take on Determinism
With just two films, Alex Garland has already established himself as an auteur with a distinct vision in the modern sci-fi realm. Although the writer-director had previously penned the novel that inspired the 2000 thriller The Beach, along with the screenplays for 28 Days Later, Never Let Me Go, and Dredd, it was his writing and directing work on Ex Machina and Annihilation that truly established his electric visual storytelling style. Those pics present two different versions of dystopia, and yet they both ooze — in Annihilation's case, literally speaking — with a shared fear of technology, a jarring juxtaposition of nature and human architecture, and notes of absurdism that are somehow comforting.