Alex Garland’s career in Hollywood goes back 23 years as the screenwriter of 28 Days Later, the zombie film that reinvigorated the genre. Since then, Garland has established himself as both a writer and a director in the industry. He’ll even be returning to his original franchise later this year with the release of 28 Years Later, the first in a new trilogy of sequels.
This month, Garland’s latest movie, Warfare, hit theaters with an unflinching look at what it’s like to be in a modern war. To celebrate Garland’s prolific career, we’re looking back at every Alex Garland movie to date and ranking them from worst to best. The one movie we’re leaving out is 28 Months Later, since Garland only contributed uncredited rewrites to that sequel. Thus, putting it on this list wouldn’t be a fair assessment of his abilities.
9. Men (2022)
Men may be the Midsommar of Alex Garland movies, and not necessarily in a good way. The narrative is more than a little muddled while following a widower, Harper Marlowe (Jessie Buckley), as she visits a remote English village. Harper’s late husband, James (Paapa Essiedu), apparently committed suicide in the aftermath of an argument with her.
One of the first men that Harper meets on her trip is Geoffrey (Rory Kinnear), the owner of the house she’s renting. And it’s impossible for Harper not to notice that every man she sees in the village bears a striking similarity to Geoffrey. That includes the enigmatic naked man who pursues her and the various faces that haunt her in the town. The setup was intriguing, but the payoff never quite justifies it.
Rent or buy Men on Prime Video.
8. Never Let Me Go (2010)
Never Let Me Go presents an unusual love triangle between childhood friends Tommy (Andrew Garfield), Ruth (Keira Knightley), and Kathy (Carey Mulligan). But as conceived in Garland’s script, the world this trio lives in isn’t our own. In fact, it’s heavily implied that even their identities aren’t their own.
The narrative doesn’t let the viewer see much of the world where humans can live to be nearly a century or older. It does show the strain on the trio’s connection when only one of the young women pairs up with Tommy while leaving the other alone without anyone to love. The bonds they have are the only thing truly real about the lives they’ve led, and it would be too much of a spoiler to explain more than that. It’s enough to say that their lives are destined to be short.
Rent or buy Never Let Me Go on Prime Video.
7. Sunshine (2007)
Sunshine has a premise that’s pretty far-fetched even for a sci-fi film. Garland’s second script for director Danny Boyle imagines a world where the sun is dying, and the crew of the Icarus II has the desperate mission of guiding a special bomb to the star to reignite the sun. Cassie (Rose Byrne) is the captain of the Icarus II, but their mission changes when the crew discovers the Icarus I dead in space after failing to complete its mission.
Sharing more about the story would require revealing the fate of certain characters. Boyle cast his 28 Days Later leading man, Cillian Murphy, as Robert Capa, with Chris Evans as James Mace, Cliff Curtis as Searle, Troy Garity as Harvey, Benedict Wong as Trey, and Shogun‘s Hiroyuki Sanada as Kaneda. That’s a fantastic cast, and having so many familiar faces makes it harder to predict who will survive.
Rent or buy Sunshine on Prime Video.
6. Civil War (2024)
If there’s ever really another civil war in the United States, it probably won’t come down to California and Texas making a united stand against the federal government. That kind of makes it obvious that Garland is an English filmmaker and not an American director. Regardless, Civil War does offer a glimpse at how quickly humanity can be abandoned on the battlefield as atrocities abound.
In what may be the closing days of the war, journalists Lee Smith (Kirsten Dunst), Joel (Wagner Moura), Jessie Collin (Cailee Spaeny), and Sammy (Stephen McKinley Henderson) undertake a harrowing journey through the warzone in the hope of interviewing the President of the United States before the conflict ends. That forces the group to examine the reality of the war around them, and there’s no guarantee that they’ll all survive the trip.
Watch Civil War on Max.
5. Annihilation (2019)
Pay close attention when watching Annihilation. Garland doesn’t share a lot of exposition in this film, and it’s easy to be confused by the story. The short version is that something from another world has created the Shimmer, a portion of the Earth that is being changed into something alien and unfamiliar. Animals and plants within the Shimmer are being transformed, and a soldier named Kane (Oscar Isaac) is one of the few who managed to survive in the zone.
Kane’s wife, Lena (Natalie Portman), and an all-female scientific expedition including Dr. Ventress (Jennifer Jason Leigh), Anya Thorensen (Gina Rodriguez), Josie Radek (Tessa Thompson), and Cassie “Cass” Sheppard (Tuva Novotny) enter the Shimmer to learn more about it. The answers they seek may also ensure that it’s a one-way trip for this group.
Watch Annihilation on Paramount+.
4. Warfare (2025)
Warfare feels uncommonly real for a war movie because it’s based on the experience of Ray Mendoza, a soldier who co-wrote and co-directed the film with Garland. The film features D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai as Mendoza, a communicator for a team of Navy SEALs during the second battle of Ramadi during the War in Iraq.
Elliott Miller (Cosmo Jarvis) is badly wounded early on, and his fellow SEALs face overwhelming odds as insurgents surround their position. It’s a tense battle for survival that takes place in real time. A lot of unpleasant things happen over the course of the next 90 minutes. This is one of the most uncompromising war movies in years, and it doesn’t glorify what the SEALs went through.
Warfare is now playing in theaters.
3. Dredd (2012)
Pete Travis may be the director of record for Dredd, but according to star Karl Urban, Garland directed the majority of this film. In the United Kingdom, Judge Dredd’s adventures in the 2000 AD comic are legendary, but the 1995 American Judge Dredd movie failed to capture the spirit of those stories. Dredd clearly has a lot less money to play with than Sylvester Stallone’s incarnation of the character, but Urban makes the role his own. And like his comic book counterpart, this version of Dredd never takes his helmet off.
Olivia Thirlby also has a very compelling turn as Cassandra Anderson, a rookie judge with psychic powers. Anderson’s evaluation mission becomes more deadly than she or Dredd expected when the pair of judges are locked in a massive apartment complex by drug lord Madeline “Ma-Ma” Madrigal (Lena Headey). Almost everyone living there is beholden to Ma-Ma, and the judges have a huge price on their heads as they fight their way up.
Watch Dredd on Max.
2. 28 Days Later (2002)
Garland and Boyle really hit a home run out of the gate with 28 Days Later. While the film does reveal the origin of the rage virus that turns humans into killing machine zombies, the setup of Jim (Cillian Murphy) awakening from a coma to find the world transformed is just about perfect. Thanks to some smart filming choices, Murphy really seems to be wandering the streets of an empty London.
Unfortunately for Jim, it isn’t long before he runs into the infected. Only a handful of survivors are left who can assist him, including Selena (Naomie Harris), Frank (Brendan Gleeson), and Hannah (Megan Burns). The survivors’ only hope is a military blockade that offers the hope of a cure and sanctuary. But those hopes may be in vain.
Rent or buy 28 Days Later on Prime Video.
1. Ex Machina (2015)
Despite Garland’s uncredited experience on Dredd, Ex Machina is considered his debut as a director. The film stars Domhnall Gleeson as Caleb Smith, a programmer summoned by his boss, Nathan Bateman (Oscar Isaac), to a remote location. The purpose is to see if Caleb can relate to Ava (Alicia Vikander), an incredibly human-like AI in a robotic body.
Bateman’s first mistake was giving Ava a beautiful face and voice to go with her artificial body. Ava is not only aware of her beauty, but she also uses it to manipulate Caleb. Ava says that she desires her freedom, but what would the consequences be for unleashing a being like her into an unsuspecting world? Caleb may find out the hard way.
Rent or buy Ex Machina on Prime Video.
