* Directed by Daniel Espinosa
* Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Rebecca Ferguson, Ryan Reynolds, Hiroyuki Sanada, Olga Dihovichnaya, and Ariyon Bakare
The Plot: A crew of astronauts aboard a space station located above Mars obtain a satellite containing an organism from Mars that grows from a minuscule cell to a small scaled alien life form. However, the alien continues to grow and finds a way to escape aboard the ship and must kill other living beings for reasons (that are in spoiler territory). So, the crew must defend themselves and not allow this creature to destroy them and then other lives on Earth.
Now, I'm a sucker for films set in space! Science fiction films set in space are my jam, so the more glimpses I saw of this film the more intrigued I became. When I saw the first trailer I thought it looked like an okay space adventure that did feel rather familiar to other space epics that I enjoy like Gravity and obviously Alien. I felt there needed to be a change there, but the last trailer proved that the filmmaker's intent wasn't going to copy those movies, but bring something new to the table and have different events happen with different types of characters while being inspired by those other films. Thankfully, that ended up being the turnout for this film in the first place. I really had a great time with Life and feel it's probably one of the better science fiction and horror films in recent years. Not to say it'll end up being amongst one of the best in the categories of sci-fi and horror, but there were so many positives to take away from the experience.
First off, the ensemble cast they had lined up for this film were all very solid in their roles. They all played very likable and charismatic characters coming off of a very well written script and it probably is easy to have them be throw away horror movie characters. No spoilers about the events that happen, but this film is the case where I did root for these characters and genuinely felt bad for them for the situations they were in. There was enough to latch on to in terms of knowing the background of some of these characters and the film didn't gloss over them like they were no big deal. They felt like actual people dealing with this issue and the way it's conveyed by solid performances and a pretty great script by Deadpool screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, I couldn't have been more impressed.
Like I said earlier that there definitely was inspiration from a film like Alien, but the film is able to derive from that by having different types of events happen in this environment with different personalities of characters. It could've been easy to follow the same exact formula of Alien and other space adventures as well, but it's orchestrated in a way that feels fresh. I like that it took conventions from other films that we're used to and still made it its own. Also, the way this film ends, there was a moment where I felt it was copying off of another space movie and I would've left disappointed. However, the way it plays out totally caught me by surprise and this may end up going down as one of my favorite endings of the year. I couldn't stop thinking about it when I left the theater and I still can't stop!
The visuals in this film were also quite impressive with really top notch and detailed CGI space imagery. The CGI creature effects might bother people, but I completely bought into it. I thought the visual effects were as good as they could've been and I had no issues there. The production design of the space station interior also looked great and really there couldn't have been any better talent with the elements shown in camera. I like that the movie had a sleek look since it was set in space, but to go along with it the cinematography was very good as well. I was actually surprised how long some of the first few shots were towards the beginning of the movie and from there it went back to the standard cuts to one shot then another, but there were still some very well composed shots throughout the movie besides the beginning.
Even the tone was very well balanced as well opening on a hopeful note with a hint of awe and wonder and then transitioning into the conflict, which worked perfectly. I really was invested in the build-up and the suspense utilized in the more intense scenes was incredible. If there were issues I had with the movie I'd say even though the film took liberties on being different than other sci-fi/horror movies maybe it did feel a bit familiar at times. Also, even though the sound design and score were decent they probably didn't leap out to me that much, but these are merely nitpicks in the end. I felt maybe this film was a little standard at first with its look and feel, but the more I thought about it and let it marinate I've come to the conclusion that I loved this film. It did as solid a job as it could to create an intense sci-fi horror thriller with characters you actually cared about. I have a feeling it will be one of the most underrated films of the year, but I'm glad I was able to experience it as of recent.
Verdict: A-
I highly encourage you to seek this one out while it's still in theaters. It might not blow you away as much as it did for me, but it's still a very entertaining time at the cinema. It was just a movie that really satisfied my needs and the talent involved delivered in as great a fashion as they could. I really look forward to seeing this film again and picking it up on Blu-Ray. Definitely go see Life. Stay tuned this week because I'll be reviewing the original 1995 Ghost in the Shell as well as its remake starring Scarlett Johansen. I haven't seen the original and the remake looks visually intriguing, so I definitely can't wait to see them and compare the reactions. For more updates follow me in the links below:
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Thank you all so much for taking the time to read this review and be sure to see some movies and all that good stuff!
Take care :-)
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