Life

Very nice cinematography evoking Lubezki’s work with space and a nice pace, which, however, hand in hand with the dull character profiles and the bland appearance of the space creature, makes Life a hilarious piece of B-grade sci-fi fantasy. The tension is there, but compared to Scott's claustrophobic Alien, it's just a miniature concoction worthy of oblivion. (08/12/2017)

In moments when Daniel Espinosa attempts bouncing gravity steps, I mutter to myself something about missed ambitions, but as soon as inspiration from a certain legendary space creature fully manifests, it's a win. The tension doesn't let up even for a moment, Jake Gyllenhaal holds his own even in scenes full of seemingly meaningless dialogue, and even a good few hours after it's over, the thought-provoking conclusion continues to linger, forcing me to contemplate the causes and consequences. (24/03/2017)

When I do something, I do it properly, not like Daniel Espinosa. He can indeed direct sci-fi with six heroes that looks magnificent and all those flyovers of the space station are quite impressive, but story-wise, it's a bit lacking. Life seems to balance between two genres. For a while, it plays at serious sci-fi, and a few scenes later, we have a decent horror-trash B-movie. Unfortunately, the film doesn't bring anything surprising or something we haven't seen before in either of these approaches. If Espinosa leaned more into the trashiness or tried to make Life something more thoughtful and steered it in a different direction than B-movie, it would be fine. And it would probably significantly justify the existence of the film itself. As it is, it's a nice-looking sci-fi flick with a chestburster that will only be mentioned in a few years in connection with lists of films that attempted to steal from Alien. (16/05/2017)

Every year, roaring idiots can look forward to about a dozen almost identical infantile colouring books where a masked clown saves the world from a generic villain, but I would love to look forward to having once a decade a film with a similar budget (and cast and craftsmanship) that will be slightly similar to another film made about 40 years ago. Outrageous! Before the screening, I was hoping for a solid eight (like 8/10), in the end Life is an unconvincing seven, but still fine. I loved the design of the main monster and I enjoyed how several scenes play with zero gravity. In the first half at least, the film looked fairly smart, credible and scientific, but when it switches into thoroughbred B-movie chases (at around the second death), it’s no longer so smart, but what the hell. I also felt that the second half jumps awkwardly between action and “broody” sequences, as if stuff had been edited out so the film would not be too long. Personally, I would’ve also toughened up the horror. The expectation that Life could be something more than a snack before the upcoming Alien – Covenant was not fulfilled. But as a snack, it is pretty decent. (24/03/2017)

Life is missing... life. Although it has a very nice liquid first scene and a very ambitious artistic aspect, even the olm that mutates into an octopus from the second floor is said to correspond to scientific knowledge. However, the rhythm of the film, which has the pace of a beginner driving at a driving school, certainly does not correspond to scientific knowledge. I really don't consider the alternation of tiring and awkward dialogues and action scenes to be the rhythm I want to indulge in in a similar thriller, especially when the motivation for the action is getting more ridiculous every minute. The fact that it’s a B-movie wouldn’t matter - if it hadn't been covered in the needless coat of attempts to create a contemplative A-movie, and if Espinosa hadn't directed with a ruler in his ass, it could have been at least as funny as in the first scenes. (22/03/2017)