I thought this was an absolute blast and a great sci-fi horror popcorn flick. If you take it at any more than surface level you'll find a cavalcade of plot holes and idiotic characters, but in the moment it's a wild ride bolstered by strong performances and direction that keeps things moving at a breakneck pace. I was on the edge of my seat throughout and some scenes were legitimately scary. The big action/horror sequences are all remarkably well done though I don't think this landed as well in the character development moments. Jake Gyllenhaal and Rebecca Ferguson are both really strong here too, with the latter probably having the most to do. I also kind of saw the twists coming (and there are a few, especially the ending) but they were fun all the same. It also looks great for a movie with a relatively middle-of-the-road budget. Hugely entertaining. B+

And for the record, this is definitively NOT a Venom prequel. I have no idea how that rumor even started.

I thought it was a solid watch, although pretty forgettable besides a few scenes that made me cringe.

This Venom?

I just saw a commercial that has a quote saying Ryan Reynolds steals the show...

um...

That same commercial also shows the

I honestly expected that from the second I saw he was third billed below Gyllenhaal and Ferguson.

This was a total Alien ripoff. But a mostly effective one. I don't think it made all that much sense, but it's pretty unsettling and has some majorly creepy set pieces.

They also weren't afraid to "go there" with (major spoilers):

or

B

Not an incredible film, but a solid one. It benefits from being lean, mean (R rated), and unpretentious: six astronauts versus a malevolent octopus from Mars, go! It does what it does well, with crisply shot, propulsive set pieces; appropriately slimy creature F/X; and an excellent (overqualified, honestly) lead in Jake Gyllenhaal. Ryan Reynolds going the way of Samuel L. Jackson in Deep Blue Sea is a bold move, though it is a shame there is a television spot in rotation spoiling this.

B

Earth is fine because Calvin is going to be those fishermen's sushi dinner.

Definetly going to watch since Jake is there

Life is shit. I hate horror movies that depend on the stupidity of their characters to advance the story. Horny teenagers at camp is one thing, but the highest trained humans on Earth working under the strictest protocols? Give me a break. Total waste of time. *F*

Decent time-waster. Really liked the ending.

7/10 ( B )

Very very bad and sad. I lost track of what was going on ya know. Very confusing. D+

This could have been so much more but by spitting out it's danger it goes the generic action route. Also the deaths are very script manipulative specially the space one. First Calvin needs a certain atmosphere and then it doesn't. The ending is decent and the thrills are decent. It is creepy when it wants to be and the cast is all great here.

6/10

This was ok, but it's basically an Alien rip-off with less likeable characters outside of Ryan Reynolds who isn't even in it that much. The performances are fine, but Jake Gyllenhaal seemed like he was on autopilot most of the time, and I didn't care for Rebecca Ferguson's character. Both were too monotone and boring for me to ever get interested in. The sound design and the score are the highlights here IMO, and while the set pieces with Calvin are entertaining it got pretty stupid after a while when the movie just let him do things out of plot conveniency which made no sense. The human characters were especially stupid in this, and please don't let me get started on that dumb ending. I get what they were going for, but the execution was poor.

Thankfully, the writers made one thing scientifically accurate - the decontamination flame thrower. Current astronauts start every day by giving the whole station a good flame cleansing to prevent contamination. It only makes sense.

Life

An intense, edge-of-your-seat sci-fi thriller - the type of film that Alien wishes it was! - with a superb cast and performances. It has elements of Gravity, elements of Alien, and elements of Deep Rising, but it is very much its own creation too. It is a very well-made film. It knows what it wants to achieve, and it focuses on that. There's no delay. Big things happen, and then happen, and then happen. It has claustrophobia, paranoia, suspense. The intensity doesn't let up until the [albeit predictable] final scene. Then Norman Greenbaum's "Spirit in the Sky" plays as the end titles roll, leaving you with a jolting and cruel realisation that we're all screwed. Great film.

B+

Life is a welcome close-quartered sci-fi thriller. It doesn't bring anything new to the screen, but it has a good cast and nice effects. It's by the books script make it never become really great, but it uses the material well and kept me interested throughout it's neat run-time. The very last scene is what made me feel thwarted about rewarding it for it's otherwise fine execution. The escape pod mix up seemed all to predictable and took some of the joy out of the ending for me. It was eerie though and also followed by a fitting end-credits song.

B

Surprisingly good film. Really exciting, though it does run long near the end, and of course the characters are dumb like in a lot of horror type films. Makes me want to watch Alien/s since I've never seen them.

A-

There is not one plot development or twist that can't be seen coming from a mile away, especially the one at the end. The movie's called Life. It's born, we're all gonna die, it'll live. Great. I don't think I've ever seen this before...

And where the movie really fails is with the creature. Outside of a couple of head on shots, it's not convincing or menacing (unless squid is your biggest fear). That's a problem. If you never believe it's truly with them and trying to survive, then what's the point?

The cast...well, considering most of the marketing featured Reynolds in the lab you knew he wasn't going to last long. His death was fun though. The foreign members of the crew are mostly forgettable and don't feel at all like stereotypes. The handicapped guy is kind of interesting for a couple of scenes and then the creature latches on to his dead legs. And Ferguson and Gyllenhaal have a couple of good scenes acting together (those 12 hour days of doing nothing but shivering must've been tough).

Yeah, this was a waste. And boring.

D

If you want to watch supposed geniuses make frustratingly bad decisions for two hours, this is the movie for you. For everyone else, avoid Life like an alien plague. And none of the production aspects rise enough above generic to make up for the terrible script. This was awful.