Life (2017)

Released in 2017 and produced by Columbia Pictures and Skydance Media, Life is a science fiction horror film that plants itself firmly in well-trodden territory: a small crew, an isolated environment, and something from beyond our world that very much does not want to be contained. The setup draws on a genuine strand of scientific curiosity, the ongoing search for signs of life elsewhere in our solar system, and wraps it in the kind of claustrophobic dread that the genre has been mining since the late 1970s. At 104 minutes, it moves at a reasonable clip, and its tagline, "Be careful what you search for," tells you more or less everything you need to know about the film's attitude to scientific ambition.

Behind the camera is Swedish director Daniel Espinosa, whose previous work included the crime thriller Easy Money and the Hollywood action film Safe House. Life represented something of a step up in scale and genre ambition for him, working with a major studio and a notably polished ensemble. The film was shot with considerable attention to the practical realities of life aboard the International Space Station, including long sequences of actors performing in carefully rigged zero-gravity environments, and the production leaned on scientific consultants to give the setting at least a surface plausibility. Whether that effort pays off in terms of story is, of course, another matter.

The cast is one of the film's more interesting selling points. Jake Gyllenhaal, whose range across genres has been well documented (his work in thrillers like Zodiac and Prisoners shows how comfortable he is in tense, morally pressured situations) plays the station's medical officer. Ryan Reynolds brings the easy charisma he has made his calling card, though the film asks him to modulate it somewhat. Rebecca Ferguson, by this point established as one of the more reliable presences in big-budget genre cinema, rounds out the three most prominent members of a six-person crew that also includes Hiroyuki Sanada and Olga Dihovichnaya. It is, on paper, a strong lineup for what is essentially a monster-in-a-box thriller, polished but unremarkable in its genre ambitions. Whether the talent on screen is enough to elevate the material is precisely the question.

Life (2017) starts with a killer premise: a crew aboard the International Space Station discovers the first evidence of extraterrestrial life in a sample from Mars, only to realise, too late, that it’s not just alive, but terrifyingly intelligent and deadly. The film builds tension like a slow-creeping nightmare in zero gravity. And yes, it’s basically Alien meets The Thing in space, but that’s not automatically a bad thing. Ryan Reynolds brings his usual sarcastic edge (though toned down), Jake Gyllenhaal gives a solid, twitchy performance as the ship’s doctor descending into guilt and obsession, and Rebecca Ferguson holds it all together with quiet strength. The cinematography is sleek, the zero-G effects are convincing, and the early scenes of discovery are genuinely suspenseful. But for all its promise, Life never rises above being “just okay.” The plot follows a predictable descent (containment breach, character deaths, last stands) and while it’s competently executed, nothing feels new or surprising. The twists are telegraphed, the final act leans on tired horror tropes, and despite the high stakes, the emotional payoff fizzles out. It’s not bad, it’s well-made, tense at times, and looks great, but it doesn’t bring anything fresh to the genre. Solid B-movie material with A-list actors. Worth a watch if you’re craving a tight, claustrophobic thriller, but don’t expect to remember it a week later. In space, no one remembers a forgettable monster.

I keep coming back to that central tension between craft and originality, because Life is exactly the kind of film that makes it hard to be too harsh. It does what it sets out to do, more or less, and there is something to be said for a film that knows its own limits. But knowing your limits and pushing against them are different things, and this one stays safely inside the lines throughout. If you enjoy the genre and fancy something that delivers on atmosphere even when it stumbles on invention, it sits comfortably alongside other horror entries I have covered here, like Anaconda and Moshari, films where the creature is the point and the humans are mostly there to react. Sometimes that is enough for an evening. Just do not go in expecting to be haunted by it.

Rating: ★★½  | Year: 2017  | Watched: 2025-09-23

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Trailer

▶ Watch the official trailer for Life (2017) on YouTube

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