ALTHOUGH it resembles many other horror movies set in space, the movie definitely has a life of its own.

The movie Life is directed by Daniel Espinosa who previously worked with Ryan Reynolds on Safehouse, and written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick who wrote Deadpool with Ryan Reynolds.

This science-fiction horror stars a very talented cast with Jake Gyllenhall, Rebecca Ferguson, and Ryan Reynolds as the lead actors. They are accompanied by Hiroyuki Sanada, Ariyon Bakare, and Olga Dihovichnaya.

The movie tells the story about six astronauts based on the International Space Station who are on a mission to study a sample sent back from planet Mars. This sample could possibly contain the first ever evidence of life beyond Earth i.e. extraterrestrial life. Of course, being human often means being curious so the astronauts cannot help themselves from touching and poking this newly discovered organism. As one might expect, it becomes too irritated and attacks.

Extremely thrilling and very well written, the movie has the potential to be the modern day Alien for the newer generations of fans of the sci-fi horror genre. Even though a lot of what was happening felt very familiar, it was pulse-pounding and kept the heart racing throughout its entirety. Therefore, it is safe to say that anyone who has not really seen much of this genre before will find Life a uniquely terrifying experience. The movie, suspenseful and gory, will probably remind you of how nice the aliens in Arrival were.

It is indeed yet another movie about an alien species becoming a threat to humanity. However it does have an undertone of choosing life, of choosing to fight for the human species; this in contrast to Jake Gyllenhall’s stereotypical character, Dr. David Jordan who has a rather cold view of the world and feels disconnected from his peers. It is a little disappointing to see Jake Gyllenhall cast in a rather weaker character. Nevertheless, Rebecca Ferguson is a pleasant surprise and stands out as her character Dr. Miranda North. Ryan Reynolds, who tends to be on the more comedic side of movies, manages to take his character seriously and is very convincing as Rory ‘Roy’ Adams, the pilot of the International Space Station.

Although, Life’s release is relatively close to Ridley’s Scott long awaited Alien: Covenant and is undoubtedly overshadowed by this, I promise this movie will not feel redundant as it does have a superb control over its genre.

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