Life (2017) review

Life is a surprisingly good movie and will satisfy sci-fi junkies and horror hounds alike.

Rating: 8/10

Life is the story of a group of astronauts aboard the International Space Station. They are waiting for a capsule carrying soil samples from Mars to arrive so they can test them. When the capsule finally does arrive the crew is happy to get on with their work, and even happier when they find a single-celled organism living in some of the soil.

duh, duh, duh...

Then the cell starts to replicate. Making more and more of itself until it's visible to the naked eye. It's referenced that the organism dubbed "Calvin" (by a lucky elementary school back on earth), has cells that act as optic, muscle, and brain cells all at once.

Then some gas leaks into Calvin's enclosure and it seems the creature is dead. So, after going in to wake it up it breaks out. Then the terror begins.

Life came out of nowhere to me. I thought the movie was going to be terrible, but I found the movie very thrilling. The characters are well-created, and the plot doesn't always go to where you think it will go. None of the characters "split up" to find the creature and this makes it effectively creepier.

Life is ultimately a thrilling ride and can help give Alien fans their fix until Alien: Covenant comes out in May.

For Parents:
Language: Uses of f-ck throughout, a few times paired with mother. Uses of sh-t, hell, and damn.
Violence: A man's hand is mutilated by Calvin and we see one of his fingers bent all the way back. A woman drowns in coolant fluid as it floods into her helmet during a spacewalk, while one of her friends watches. A character attempts to shoot Calvin with a flamethrower but is unsuccessful. Calvin eats a couple of people, he goes in through their mouth and absorbs their insides, then crawls out as the characters cough up blood. (This is fairly graphic the characters look nauseous and spasm during the whole process..) Blood is seen elsewhere. The movie doesn't end on a happy note.

Life is fine for 16 and up

Life stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Ryan Reynolds, and Rebecca Ferguson and is in theaters now. Life is rated R for language throughout, some sci-fi violence, and terror.

Copyright The Review Cafe April 9, 2017.

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