Life Review

R: Language Throughout, Some Sci-Fi Violence, and Terror

Sony, Columbia Pictures, Skydance Media

1 Hr and 43 Minutes

Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Rebecca Ferguson, Ryan Reynolds, Hiroyuki Sanada, Ariyon Bakare, Olga Dihovichnaya

REVIEW: Space movies. 2017 hasn’t started well for that since the first release of the type was The Space Between Us, but leave it to Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese who reinvented the Superhero genre with Deadpool and the director of….Safe House [?] to make space movies great again [no Trump reference intended].

A crew aboard the International Space Station performs a successful capture of a space probe returning from Mars with a sample inside. The crew is tasked with studying the sample, which may be the first proof of extraterrestrial life. However, the study eventually backfires as the organism displays incredible strength and gains intelligence. Trapped aboard the ISS with the rapidly-growing organism, the crew must find out how to kill it before it manages to escape and decimate Earth.

THE GOOD: What Espinosa does with this movie right off the bat is keep you engaged. The film opens with an impressive tracking shot of Space then introduce you to the crew on board of the ISS while still maintaining its continuous shot. This goes on long enough to beat Gravity’s one shot so Esponisa can say “YES! Suck it Alfonso Cuaron!” It doesn’t only track around the ship, but it also does reversal camera movements where it switches its angles and tilts the camera upside down. As these doctors are floating, you feel as if you’re floating with them. This goes to the credit of Seamus McGarvey who has proven himself to be one of my favorite cinematographers working in the business today. The movements are smooth and everything is clear.

There are many creatures in the horror genre such as Alien, Predator, and now with Life, we’re introduced to Calvin. You may laugh at the name, but this creature is bound to be the new popular horror creature because this beautifully designed and terrifying creature is the star of the movie. As a nerd, I believe this is THE origin movie of Venom because this some of a bitch is a parasite. This evil organism is a mixture of a white symbiotic creature and the plant from Little Shops of Horror. The VFX team does a tremendous job integrating the creature with this large cast of characters for it the deaths by Calvin never looks fake for a second. Just like Kong: Skull Island, the movie doesn’t cocktease with showing you the creature. 

Once shit hits the fan on the ship the intense horror rollercoaster begins. The film quickly transitions into a huge game of Hide & Seek but in a space station. As an audience member, you’re playing a guessing game of who is going to live and who is going to die. All of these doctors are likable people. It barely sets them up as characters for there are too many on this ship, but you don’t wish any bad will on them.

For writers of comedy, Wernick and Rhett has hit another home run with a screenplay that is nothing but entertaining. It's amazing to see them go from horror comedy to superhero comedy and now expand their range with a straight up horror that is not jump scare scary, visually terrifying. When people die, they die in the most gruesome way imaginable. Some are bloody, some are nightmarish, but all of them are frighteningly disturbing as hell. If Gravity was the movie that didn’t convince you to not become an astronaut, Life is that nail in the coffin to convince you to NEVER GO TO SPACE!

THE BAD: If you team Wernick and Rhett with Ryan Reynolds in a non-Deadpool movie, he’ll only be nothing but Deadpool to me. Everything that comes out of Reynold’s mouth in this isn’t something a Ryan Reynolds type would say, but something a Wade Wilson type would say. For a film like this, it’s nice to have Reynolds as the comic relief.

The movie is original, but it's a premise we’ve seen many times. A killer creature on a loose? Alien anyone? Well as much people might relate this to Alien. The reason Life thoroughly works is because the it influences some elements from Ridley Scott’s property into here with dedication and love.

LAST STATEMENT: Life is an entertaining edge of your seat horror/thriller that’s crafted with such skill and precision with solid performances and amazing VFX from beginning to end.

Rating: 4/5 | 82%

Super Scene: Dead-Pool