Life (2017)
Daniel Espinosa
Writers:
Rhett Reese, and Paul Wernick
Cast:
Jake Gyllenhaal (David Jordan), Rebecca Ferguson (Miranda North), Ryan Reynolds (Rory Adams), Hiroyuki Sanada (Sho Murakami), Olga Dihovichnaya (Ekaterina Golovkina), and Ariyon Bakare as Hugh Derry.
Opening Sequence:
The world of Sci-Fi, Horror is established in this new film, Life. The film did receive some mediocre reviews. With that being said, films like these are a dime a dozen. Life, Aliens, Alien all Sci-Fi films that entertain, and manage to bring out the little person in you. That side is the imagination, everything changes, your perspective feels a bit different.
Why the change? Transformers could've been my new review, but my fore-sight on that movie wasn't very positive. Lately i've been disappointed in Hollywood's line of films. The fact that these rehashed films are coming out, and bombing at the box office; You'd think the studios would learn from their mistakes made. Yet these films continue to bomb, and somehow these geniuses in Hollywood continue to make movies that are brain draining. The lack of imagination, direction, is lost and dead.
Movies continue to be remade, changed. The scripts are similar to older films, and then it becomes a big issue with the content. The stealing, lack of substance makes it really hard to spend money to support the folks behind the film. The real reason is the actors stance on the state the world's in; I would rather have the actors just talk about the film and not the political side.
The political stance these actors take sometimes cane be nerve racking. I'm for free speech, but i believe Things should be very different, but there not. These elite actors are always making political comments that are not part of the movie. The only thing i want to know is about the film, not everything else. There is a time and a place for that kind of talk. Go to a town hall meeting with your Senator, or Congressman. Get involved behind the scenes. My opinion. I usually don't bring up politics, but in this case i really had to.
Movies are movies and the best thing is to write, talk about them to debate the problems and issues that come along with the movie making. To me that is fun, not the political forum that is placed in front of folks like you and me. Opinions are great, but make it brief, and don't insult anyone and it will make you look good no matter what side you follow. Political sides are personal, at least to me they're personal.
Review:
The crew of the International Space Station retrieved a specimen from Mars. A spore that proves there is life on the red planet. Six astronauts dedicated to exploration, research, following every protocol established on Earth.
Rory Adams (Ryan Reynolds), David Jordan (Jake Gyllenhaal), Miranda North (Rebecca Ferguson), Sho Murakami (Hiroyuki Sanada),Ekaterina Golovkina (Olga Dihovichnaya), and Hugh Derry (Ariyon Bakere). Astronauts dedicated to research, and preservation of the planet Earth.
The story begins with the crew seeing which is simply the pod carrying the specimen, spore. Rory puts on a suit and maneuvers his way to the control panel which he is able to grab the pod, and secure.
Filming probably was difficult because of the type of movie it is. What i mean by that is the movie moves at a slower pace. Not that i have an issue with the story or the pacing of the film. The real problem with it is that the story wasn't finished. They left pieces out, and to me it's ok as long as the pieces fit without altering what you have already.
The acting is top notch, especially Ryan Reynolds who has a small role, he's the person to get killed. His part is a funny, a headstrong American in space. Granted he is playing the typical part, but i kinda like the way it all went down. Rory goes in trying to save the day, against the alien, and fails. Pretty gruesome death. The alien basically jumped inside him, through his mouth, and killed him. Not the way i would want Rory to go, but it was cool, his bravery was noted.
The Hugh Derry the scientist who was examining the spore was really good as well. He was the guy that pissed off the alien. Anyway the spore was a bit larger than before, it was hunting the last of the crew, at least that was the impression i got when seeing the film. It wrapped it's appendages around Derry's hand, squeezing the bones, and making his hand unusable. His hand was very hard to look at. It was like blowing up a deflated balloon, only that the balloon wasn't blown.
Ambience was really good, because it brought out the director's vision as well the writer's. Effects were beautiful all around, even for space. Not a Gravity (2013) scale film, but good enough to put a good spin in it. The look and feel and space were established throughout the movie.
As the story goes it then becomes clear that Mars had some life, but it was the alien that ISS retrieved was the main problem. The solution was simple, kill the alien and don't let it get down to Earth.
Here is the main issue i have with the film. An alien spore becomes this mega hunter. I would've loved some information. Maybe they could've linked it to a conspiracy down on Earth. The crew did their best to overcome the situation, but as the alien continued to kill, it somehow got stronger. Especially when David went to escape on a capsule, made it to Earth but yet the alien found it's way in. There was another scene with the alien being in space for a long time, and yet it manages to crawl inside the capsule.
Not a lot of issues, but you might say the film has to many issues, but sometimes you have to overlook things to enjoy somethings in life. Now if the alien would've jumped from the outside, in space, clearly running around the Space Station, then jumping on the side of a piece of debris or anything like that, then the film would've been tighter.
Life isn't the best film but it does entertain you, and that's half the battle, isn't it. The pacing is slow, it's not enough to kill the film; That is the beauty of filmmaking. Choices are made, quality becomes the point, but sometimes filmmaking can bring you to a corner. The corner is good because it reminds us about being human. All in all this film did have some issues, but not enough for me or any critic to give it bad rating. It received an average movie score, and not because it was a failed film, but because it had those issues i mentioned.
Movies to check out in the same category, Aliens (1986), Predator ( 1987 ). To name a few. These films are hardcore, and dated; They carry a certain weight. They're older, but yet the stories are so tight that it really doesn't matter. The magic is within the writing, and it pays off. I just wish Hollywood of today can learn from the past, so they could fix the issues they have with movies in 2017. Story, acting, effects are the format all studios need to follow, because if they don't folks will stop paying attention, and when that happens the streaming media will "Rise Above it All."
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