Alex Garland’s ‘Men’ Gets Polarizing First Reactions

We were monitoring the absolutely polarizing test-screening reactions that Alex Garland’s “Men” was garnering in February and March. The film was said to be the writer-director’s most inaccessible movie yet.

So it comes as no great shock that first reactions from critics are just as polarizing as we thought, if not more so. This is clearly a movie that will infuriate a lot of people. I’ll be seeing it next Wednesday.

The writer-director of “Ex-Machina” and “Annihilation” is reuniting with A24 for this latest film. Jessie Buckley plays a woman who goes on a solo vacation to the English countryside after the death of her ex-husband.

“Garland’s MEN is a bit like Malick going from THIN RED LINE to TREE OF LIFE. Don’t expect a hard sci-fi vision, just expect a vision: an intense surrealist twist on the Final Girl trope. Will lead to more questions than answers but theories will abound.” — Eric Kohn

“I’ll say this for Alex Garland's half-formed but fully intriguing MEN, which cleaves much closer to the abstruseness of Annihilation than its discourse-baiting title might suggest: it's rare to see a movie that evokes Richard Curtis and Lars von Trier in almost equal measure.” — David Ehrlich

“Alex Garland's MEN is going to be even more of a conversation-starter than ANNIHILATION or EX MACHINA, but I suspect there's going to be much less agreement about what's going on. It's intense, opaque, challenging, and visceral as hell. It'll make people angry, at the very least.” — Tasha Robinson

“Alex Garland’s MEN is, of course, psychologically terrifying but funnier than expected thanks to a versatile Rory Kinnear. Jessie Buckley continues to amaze. Thematically layered & vividly constructed with an unforgettable final sequence. Lots to absorb on just a single viewing.“ — Matt Neglia

“MEN: Alex Garland's most nakedly horror movie, and also his weirdest. A surreal folk horror film that starts off as an unsettling home invasion thriller and gets stranger (and gorier) from there. I loved it?? Audiences will hate it!” — Hoai-Tran Bui

“MEN felt to me a bit like Alex Garland's take on and response to ANTICHRIST, though he doesn't possess either Lars Von Trier's wild abandon or his compulsion to provoke. Wasn't all that into it, though Jessie Buckley continues to be terrific in a tough role” — Allison Willmore

”Men” will be released in theaters on May 20th.