Writer-director Alex Garland’s work reaches new heights with “Annihilation,” a bold and innovative sci-fi horror thriller.

This is the kind of film where you might find yourself turning to your movie-mate and whispering, “How GREAT is this!” just as your companion is putting the popcorn under the seat and is about to suggest cutting your losses and getting the heck out of there.

At times “Annihilation” has the chilling subtlety of one of those Ray Bradbury adaptations where on the surface everything appears to be normal, but we know — we just know — something’s not quite right. Other moments are big and bold, and laden with art direction and special effects that come across as cutting edge, but also influenced by 1980s-era sci-fi movie technology.

At just 36, Natalie Portman has delivered enough performances to fill a career highlight reel. Portman’s work here is as good as anything she’s done, including her Oscar-winning turn in “Black Swan.”

Portman plays Lena, a respected biologist and professor with a military background. Lena’s husband, Kane (Oscar Isaac, re-teaming with his “Ex Machina” writer-director), is a special ops soldier who was sent on a mission into an environmental disaster zone that is glowing with mysterious colors and pulsating with a protective (or is it aggressive?) life force after having been struck by some sort of bolt from the sky.

Neither Kane nor anyone else from the mission team has been heard from in a year. The presumption is they’re all dead.

In a setup reminiscent of “Arrival,” in which Amy Adams’ linguist finds herself at a military base established in the shadow of a strange, otherworldly and perhaps destructive something, Lena is taken to a secret government facility teeming with doctors, scientists and military personnel, all trying to understand and combat that inexplicable and expanding force in the woods, which seems to be on a course to consume and destroy the planet.

Determined to find out what happened to her husband in that deadly zone, Lena joins an all-female expedition, which is led by Jennifer Jason Leigh’s Dr. Ventress and includes Gina Rodriguez’ Anya, Tessa Thompson’s Josie and Tuva Novotny’s Cass.

Each of these women has a reason for volunteering to enter the belly of the beast. They’re not exactly forthcoming with one another about those reasons, which leads to a few classic sci-fi horror scenarios where they begin to question and in some cases even turn on each other.

The world inside the contaminated zone is alternately horrifying and beautiful.

Garland (adapting a novel by Jeff VanderMeer that is the first of a trilogy) does a masterful job of building the mystery, dropping plot hints like so many bread crumbs, jolting us with “gotcha!” moments and sprinkling in flashbacks that gradually reveal why Lena will stop at nothing to learn the truth about her husband and perhaps even save him, if he is alive.

There’s been a lot of talk in the entertainment media about battles over the content and the distribution deal for “Annihilation.” Last December, the Hollywood Reporter ran a piece reporting a major investor in the film expressed concerns it was “too intellectual” and “too complicated” after a less-than-successful test screening.

The esteemed producer Scott Rudin (“No Country for Old Men,” “There Will Be Blood,” “The Social Network”) reportedly had final cut on the film, and he sided with Garland’s vision. So we’re seeing “Annihilation” as the filmmaker intended it to be seen.

Kudos to Garland and the cast, but bravo to Scott Rudin, too. Apparently, you knew a masterpiece when you saw it, and you made sure we were able to see it, as well.