2017 Movie Review - "Life" left you breathless
SYNOPSIS:
A team of scientists aboard the International Space Station discover a rapidly evolving life form, that caused extinction on Mars, and now threatens the crew and all life on Earth.
Please note that the following review may contain some spoilers:
FIRST ACT (THE HOOK):
I thoroughly enjoyed the opening one-shot continuous sequences of all crew members and loved how the camera direction blends very well with the set design. I can't even recall the last time a movie tries to immerse its audiences with this particular style. Characters' name and roles were also effectively revealed through Rebecca Ferguson's Miranda North who is doing a Skype-broadcasted tour / interview with kids down on earth.
If you have seen the trailer or read the synopsis, you might have guessed that their trip is no rainbow once they introduced a symbiosis called "Calvin". One thing that I dislike about the design of "Calvin" is that it resembles a simple shape of octopus that you asked a kindergarten kid to draw. Nevertheless, the sound editing helps to sell how it becomes a menace to all of our characters.
SECOND ACT (THE KILL):
As if you haven't already known from most space-horror movies, the plot becomes a carbon copy of classics such as Alien. One-by-one, "Calvin" took away lives with my surprise of Ryan Reynold to be its first victim. Knowing that the writers, Rhett Rheese and Paul Wernick might be in-debt to him due to last year's Deadpool box-office success, I was betting that he could last until the last frame of the movie.
Throughout the movie, I liked how every kill "Calvin" had was very "creative" from latching into spacesuit to hiding in one astronaut's pants. Given that in the beginning, it might be just a baby but it is rapidly gaining intelligence by minutes. I definitely praised visual effects and acting from every actor on board as their expressions show how terrorized they are under this small creature.
THIRD ACT (THE ENDING):
I was surprised by the ending yet appreciate the direction where the writers took. It had always been on mind that only one character will survive the disaster. Yet, they smartly play around with this generic ending and come up with a new twist. At last, a space-horror movie where the villain has the final laugh.
THE VERDICT (NO SPOILER):
While Life brings a fresh perspective to the last frame of the movie, I still couldn't shake my frustration of "Calvin"s design as it might prevent it from joining classic hall-of-fame space villains such as Xenomorph or Predator.
In the end, I enjoyed my time on the theater watching Life as it executes the horror under a very confined space. Given how predictable the plot is and how less character development we get due to its run-time, I would rate the movie as an enjoyable one-time experience with no repeat value.
