Six astronauts are aboard the International Space Station on a mission to intercept a scientific capsule returning from Mars containing samples, rocks and other exciting science-y things. The capsule is successfully captured and they start fooling around with samples.
Like seriously fooling around. I’m talking reanimation stuff. What could possibly go wrong? *sighs*
Obviously they are successful and a cute, blobby alien thing is born. The cute blobby alien thing grows and grows and they even let some kiddies from Earth name it.
Then it dies.
But it isn’t really dead and it isn’t really just a cute blobby thing and at this point we are reminded that in space, no one can hear you scream.
Life is truly terrifying for a few reasons. First, this is all happening just above Earth, not in some far distant future in some far distant universe. We have the ISS circling Earth and they have sent machines to Mars so who is to say what really goes on.
And how can we really be sure this isn’t actually happening? For real happening. I think to believe otherwise if a little naïve, to be perfectly honest. This alone is enough to unsettle you as the movie unfolds and the team unravels.
But enough of my tin-hatting…
There is nothing truly outstanding about this movie itself. The actors are great and it’s a good mix of characters. Actors floating around in zero gravity isn’t quite as exciting as it was when, say, Apollo 13 was released. No one does a bad job but there is no Ridley either.
The script is a little passé, given the subject matter. It’s a little too one-dimensional and a little too obvious at times. There are a few surprises but yeah nah.
The gory special effects are pretty good though with some new and interesting ways to die. That was rather excellent!
But I can’t get past the story and it really does come back to the forefront here. It’s the ‘what ifs’ that kept me wondering for days after. All the ones I mentioned earlier and a thousand more.
And that is why you should go see Life. If you are a sci fi person, it really is a must see.
4 stars
Director : Daniel Espinosa
Starring : Jake Gyllenhaal, Rebecca Ferguson, Ryan Reynolds, Hiroyuki Sanada, Olga Dihovichnaya, Ariyon Bakare, Jesus Del Orden
Running Time : 104 minutes
Release Date : In Cinemas Now
