Life

Space have so many unanswered questions. Are we alone ? Is there alien life form out there ? What planets does exist out there that we have not discovered ? As technology approve, and scientists look for proof of new discoveries, i am sure we will find out something spectacular in the future. I personally don´t believe we are alone in space. There must be some kind of life form out there, that we have not discovered yet. At least the mormons have their own planet called Kolob. I have tried to locate it, i might find it with the help of my own home built laser rocket ( built by orange boxes and fuel tanks, looks fantastic ). I am curious about new discoveries, because we can learn new things, and perhaps find answers to different question about space. Aliens have always been a very big topic around the world. People claim they have been abducted by aliens, some are even pregnant by aliens, or they have gone on board their spaceship, to their home planet. Most of these stories sounds very fake, and i suppose they want to make some extra money. Speaking of aliens, i think most of us have seen films, based on alien life forms. One of the biggest science fiction classics of all time, is of course Riddley Scott´s classic film Alien. The 1979 sci fi horror film, is still today seen as one of the best science fiction cult films, where aliens got a brand new look. There is no doubt this film, left a very big impact. It looks really good, and Sigourney Weaver as Ripley, has to be one of the best female action heroes of all time. Sigourney kicked even more ass, in one of the best sci fi horror sequels ever made, Aliens by director James Cameron. You have to get the extended blu ray film, it is so damn good. There are of course plenty of films where aliens are a big part of the story. One of my personal favourite films, that many people might not have seen, is a film called Fire In The Sky. Released in 1993, it became a kind of a cult film, based on a true event, about a man who goes missing from a forest, and is found naked in a telephone booth, many days after he is lost. As the evidence come forward, it seems that he was abducted by aliens. A really good film, thanks to a great cast. Hard to find in stores, but you can buy the dvd on certain online stores. Arrival last year was a really good sci fi film, and i have not seen many sci fi films in this genre that looked interesting. Until i heard last year, that director Daniel Espinosa was going to make a new sci fi horror film called Life. When the trailer finally was released, i was actually looking forward to see if this would be as good as it seemed. With a really good cast, and what looked like a really well made film, i had to make a cinema visit. Is this the best film from Daniel Espinosa in many years, or is he back at the low level since Child 44 ?

The six-member International Space Station crew, capture a probe returning from Mars. This probe have a soil sample that might contain evidence of extraterrestrial life. Exobiologist Hugh Derry ( Ariyon Bakare ) revives a dormant cell from the sample, and it quickly grows into a multi-celled organism, who is named " Calvin ". Hugh tries an experiment, using electric shocks on " Calvin " to see how it will react. The result ends very bad, and " Calvin " attacks Hugh, crushing his hand. The team, Dr. David Jordan ( Jake Gyllenhaal ), Dr. Miranda North ( Rebecca Ferguson ), Rory Adams ( Ryan Reynolds ), Sho Murakami ( Hiroyki Sanada ) and Ekaterina Golovkina ( Olga Dihovichnaya ), all have to try and survive against " Calvin ". No one knows how to handle this situation, but unless something is done, no one will survive on board the space ship.

I have to start and say that Life actually looks great. Remember how Gravity with Sandra Bullock looked like ? Life is not as well made as that film, but you are reminded of the CGI effects, and you enjoy the company of the space team. Some of the scenes where we follow the team, floating around the space ship, feels natural. And this is an important detail, it needs to look realistic to become more interesting. But of course we get to see the alien life form eventually, and the realistic image goes away. But that´s ok, because we do have some positive details to find in Life. I enjoy the acting for the most part, especially from Jake Gyllenhaal and Rebecca Ferguson. Ryan Reynolds is not bad, he does have his sense of humour, but i have seen him much stronger performances in the past. My major problem with this film, is the fact that it copies so much from a lot of sci fi films, especially Alien. Now, that does not have to be all bad. Because this is a good looking film, and the alien effects looks pretty good. But if this film had another unexpected twist, then we might have had a stronger film. With that said, director Daniel Espinosa ( who made the great films Easy Money and Safe House ), have definitely stepped it up, delivering a better quality film since Child 44. I still don´t understand why he made that film, and for that i am happy he decided to go for a much more solid project. You can clearly see that director Daniel Espinosa love classic sci fi films. His long shots of the space ship, and the crew floating around looks really good, and the scenes in space also looks gorgeous. If he could have surprised us with something about the alien life form, i think Life could have been really interesting. What we are left with is a very simple story, that you can pretty much figure out as the film goes on. In a way, i am a little disappointed, but as a sci fi horror film i feel that Life still deliver, thanks to the cast. Their characters do combine with their sense of humour. Most of you must know by now that Alien: Covenant is coming out in May. I think that could be the best sci fi horror film this year ( unless we get an unexpected surprise ). Life is not close to that level, but still a nice try to make a sci fi horror film that reminds us of classics. I think you might enjoy this film, is you enjoyed Alien. But don´t expect anything original, if you are ok with that, give Life a chance in the cinema. Considering how bad Child 44 was, i think Daniel Espinosa have improved himself with this film. And that is something should be thankful for.

Rating: DDD