Life

Life (2017)

Image From IMDB

There’s a lot of movies out there that are considered post Alien flicks and always get the inevitable comparison. Life is no different, but, it is one of the better ones in my mind.

I like the pace and tone of this one. It has a relatively slow build from its entertaining opening sequence where we see Van Wilder capture a wayward module while its travelling at an insane speed––would not have fancied that. From there, the crew discover that there is in fact life on Mars, it just needed a little jump start.

I love the time spent with the crew, it’s always one of my favourite tropes in these kind of movies as i’m sure i’ve mentioned before. Getting to see the different relationships and dynamics. The friendships and the contentious elements. It all makes you care later on when Patrick Starfish––renamed Calvin for copyright purposes in this film––goes on a rampage.

Each crew death is a set piece and I for one love and fully endorse that structure. It’s the way it should be. We have the creepy lab scene reminiscent more of The Thing than Alien. The chase scene outside the space station which was wild and looked gorgeous. And then all the cat and mouse slasher stuff inside the station. The stakes are raised every time, and everything looks great.

The effects through-out are solid, and the creature design amazing. I would have taken stop motion or puppets over CGI, but i’ll let them off this time. Everyone puts in a good performance, which is great when your cast is really strong to begin with.

And as for that ending… well, I won’t spoil it, but I think my opinion changes on it every time I watch the movie.

Life is suspenseful through-out. One of those movies were the characters don’t make dumb decisions, just the wrong ones. They all seem likeable and you want them to be ok, but that’s a hell of a situation to be in. The alien is cool, and the set pieces well put together. I think this one is a great watch, and definitely a must for any sci-fi horror fans.