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Life

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Ryan Reynolds and Jake Gyllenhaal in Life. (AP)
Ryan Reynolds and Jake Gyllenhaal in Life. (AP)

What it's about:

The six-member crew of the International Space Station is on the cutting edge of one of the most important discoveries in human history: the first evidence of extraterrestrial life on Mars. As the crew begins to conduct research, their methods end up having unintended consequences, and the lifeform proves more intelligent than anyone had anticipated.

What we thought:

This review contains no spoilers.

The list of one word titled space films is growing fast. And Life comfortably takes its place between the likes of Gravity, Alien and Arrival

It’s a thrilling intergalactic sci-fi film that evolves almost as fast as its extra-terrestrial antagonist.

The film starts at a decent pace getting the viewer on-board before catapulting you into a different world – far away from our very own. 

Life perfectly illustrates how far we’ve come as a human race, but also how dangerously little we actually know about deep dark space. 

The film is a very realistic look at a narrative that we’ve been toying with for ages. What lies beyond earth and should we really be digging deeper? 

The success of the thrilling storyline and how it unfolds lies solely with the stellar cast that include Jake Gyllenhaal, Ryan Reynolds, Rebecca Ferguson, Hiroyuki Sanada, and Ariyon Bakare. As an ensemble they pack a powerful punch, but it’s their ability to each spin their own unique storylines that really makes it work.

The more the viewer believes each back story, the greater the impact of what’s about to happen on the big screen. 

Director Daniel Espinosa does a great job at unpacking each plot twist without any effort and manages to surprise the audience time after time until the very end. It’s a smart film that is exhilarating to watch progress. 

This big, bad space flick will keep you at the edge of your seat and have your skin crawling with both fear and delight as you explore a whole new universe on the big screen.

Life is definitely worth the watch.

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