Director: Daniel Espinosa
Writer: Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick (Screenplay)
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Rebecca Ferguson, Jake Gyllenhaal, Hiroyuki Sanada, Olga Dihovichnaya, Ariyon Bakare
Plot: A team of scientists aboard the International Space Station discover a rapidly evolving life form, that caused extinction on Mars, and now threatens the crew and all life on Earth.
There may be spoilers the rest of the review
Verdict: Scientific Alien
Story: Life starts as a team of astronauts Commander Ekaterina (Dihovichnaya), engineer Rory (Reynolds), Doctor David (Gyllenhaal), Pilot Sho (Sanada), Research Leader Hugh (Bakare) and Quarantine enforcer Miranda (Ferguson) are working on collecting samples from Mars.
Collecting a hibernating life form named Calvin that Hugh helps bring back to life, Calvin comes off friendly as it starts to grow but after a mistake in the lab it looks like Calvin has returned to it’s dormant state.
When Hugh finds a way to bring Calvin back once again it takes a turn for the worse as Calvin is deadlier than they could imagine. The crew must fight for survivor once Calvin breaks Quarantine but they must also consider Calvin’s threat to Earth if it ever makes it back.
Thoughts on Life
Characters/Performance – David is the man who is about break the record spent in space, he is the doctor of the crew and slowly becoming addicted to being in the peace of space. Miranda is the emotionless scientists who must put away feelings to make the correct decision for mankind. Rory is the confident engineer who keeps everything light hearted when he is under pressure and the rest of the crew. The remaining members of the crew are all what you expect to see in this style of film.
Performance wise, Jake is the lead and is good throughout without reaching the levels we know he can even though we do get glimpses, Ferguson is also good continue to grow her reputation. Reynolds is fun throughout his time in the film with the remaining cast all good well.
Story – The story is interesting because it focuses on the real idea that humans are searching for life from another planet or space in general. The idea of doing any research in space works because it would appear safer. These are the good elements of story the rest is just another way of telling us the Alien story, unknown lifeforce wants to kill everything to survive and the tea must fight to survive. This starts well but turns into everything we have seen before.
Horror/Sci-Fi – The horror involved in this film isn’t the most original because we have seen most of it before, but the sci-fi side does start very interesting.
Settings – The film is set completely in space inside the space station which I do think works well because it shows the quarantine levels the characters must protect Earth.
Special Effects – The special effects are fine with the creature looking good in moments but other times you can see the CGI.
Final Thoughts – While I do think this will be better than Alien: Covenant and I liked the scientific side of the film but in the end we have seen it all before.
Overall: Solid but nothing special in the sci-fi genre.
Rating
