Review: Life Is The Best Sci-Fi Horror Since Alien.
- Mar 23, 2017
- 3 min read
When I saw the first trailer for Life I thought two thing. This is just a remake of Alien and It might be alright but more likely it'll be rubbish. How wrong was I.
A probe returns from Mars and brings with it a single cell. As it docks with the International Space Station the crew, David Jordan (Jake Gyllenhaal), Roy Adams (Ryan Reynolds), Miranda North (Rebecca Ferguson) and the other four members aboard are ecstatic. When it turns out the organism is both alive and growing, the planet below celebrates, bestowing upon the creature a name, Calvin. But, as inevitably as always, Calvin gets loose and in attempt to survive, begins to feed on the crew. And thus begins a struggle against an unknown life-form, a struggle in which all of humanity may rest in the balance.
Comparing Life to Alien is almost to easy. They both feature a small group of people, each of which have various skill, being hunted by an unfeeling creature that exists only to survive. While the story similarities are undeniable, Life is indeed its own film and, in its own way, may even be a better film than Alien itself, at least in some regards.
Life does something that very few horror movies do these days. It scares. Not with scary critters jumping out unexpectedly, nor with buckets of blood and gore, but with careful, well paced film making that builds tension as well as an excellent, almost palpable sense of isolation. The International Space Station isn't exactly the largest place around and, much like The Nostromo that came before it, there's almost nothing but narrow corridors and airlocks. But add in a 0g environment, astronauts that are, or at least think they are, prepared for such a situation and a creature whose biology is as alien as it gets and you have one incredible movie.
While Calvin is certainly no xenomorph and will never be remembered in the same light as Giger's monstrosity, he is far more alien than The Alien. While they share many similarities, both are highly resilient and grow exponentially fast, they are very separate beasts indeed. Existing almost as a colony of independent cells, each of which is a brain, a muscle and an eye, Calvin is not only super fast and strong but also smart, even if it is more of an animal intelligence than a human one. As far as how he looks, well, lets just say I won't be eating any calamari anytime soon.
The acting is great as well with everyone giving genuinely excellent performances. While none of the characters reach the same heights as Alien's Ellen Ripley, they don't even come close, they achieve a level rarely seen in horror movies.
Life is one of the more imaginative sci-fi horror movies. It fully utilises its settings and has an ending which, while some what foreseeable, is utterly chilling in its implications. Between its great tension, solid characters and frightening monsters, all Life lacks is something as memorable as the chestburster to catapult to the top of the list. But as it stands, vying for top place with a masterpiece, Life is a great movie. Visually spectacular with a hauntingly great soundtrack to boot, if you like Alien, even just a little bit, Life is what you should be watching next.
Comments