Hello everyone, and welcome to my review of Life! This is a horror film that takes place on the International Space Station that orbits the Earth. It stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Ryan Reynolds, Rebecca Freguson, and three other crew members. Now, I went into this movie knowing nothing about it other than the basics, and assumed it was a sci-fi movie like Alien. Although you can make comparisons to movies like Alien, it really isn't a science fiction movie, it's more of a non fiction horror film. Everything that happens is based in reality and imagines what would happen in this situation in real life. I would recommend going into this movie, and all movies for that matter, knowing as little as possible about it. Most trailers give so much away it really takes away the surprise and sometimes ruins the experience.
The first act of this movie was pretty slow moving. At first I thought this was going to be a dull movie, because the beginning was very dialog heavy without any action or much humor. They're on the ISS examining samples from Mars looking for signs of alien life. They do find something but it's just a microorganism, it's very exciting for the crew members, but for the audience it's a little dry.
Only one member of the crew is qualified to handle the actual sample with the life form in it, and does so in an enclosed, sealed off room aboard the Space Station. The others watch from outside the room. The life form quickly begins to grow and turns into something about the size of your hand. At first it seems docile, they even give it a name like a pet, Calvin. But soon they find out that it's much smarter than they think it is and once the lead scientist gets to friendly with it all hell breaks loose.
That's where the film really takes off, the second and third act are very suspenseful and did a good job of pulling me in. The cgi is very well done and nice to look at, if that's not done right it can take you out of the moment. Now, since Life doesn't really have a main character, that added a level of unpredictability that always kept me guessing at who would make it to the end and who wouldn't.
Overall I liked this movie, even though it took awhile to get going, once it did I was hooked. My advice would be to avoid any video reviews or trailers that might spoil too much. I try to always do that and I think that's why I enjoy some movies more than other people, it's meant to be a surprise, that can add a lot to the experience. If you're a fan of films like Alien, or Event Horizon, than you will probably have a good time with Life. I give this one a...
B-
Thank you very much for reading my review of Life! I hope to see you next time!
The ending was crazy. A thing like that on this planet means I have to join Elon Musk and go to Mars. Upvoted!
I know, didn't expect an ending like that. Very cool movie, thanks for reading!