Life

Ein prima Ende, aber sonst ist es nur eine handwerklich gut gelungene Genre-Schablone, die dank der Möglichkeit entstanden ist, audiovisuelle Trends aus Gravity zu nutzen. Man wird sich nicht langweilen, die Spannung funktioniert gut und auf die Schauspieler*innen ist ein schöner Anblick. Die Handlung ist aber klischeehaft, manchmal unlogisch und mindestens bei zwei Szenen ist der Schnitt schief gelaufen. Deswegen bleibt der Film ein Werk, dass man mit der Zeit vergisst. (31.03.2017)

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. (23.03.2017)

An average sci-fi flick with slightly bad film effects. I am mentioning the effects on purpose, because this film is trying to copy the movie Gravity but you can clearly see that it can’t match its quality. On the other hand, the crew is great and all the actors are extraordinary and definitely won’t disappoint you. And the story? It couldn’t be simpler. It is a classic horror storyline where everybody dies in the end. (18.12.2017)

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. (15.05.2017)

Dem Leben fehlt es hier ... eben an Leben. Obwohl wir hier eine sehr schöne fließende erste Szene und sehr ehrgeizige künstlerische Aspekte haben, entspricht angeblich sogar das Mazerat, das gemäß dem tschechischen Filmklassiker in einen Oktopus aus dem zweiten Stock mutiert, wissenschaftlichen Erkenntnissen. Den wissenschaftlichen Erkenntnissen entspricht jedoch keinesfalls der Filmrhythmus, der wie ein Fahrschulanfänger beschleunigt. Ich erachte die wechselnden anstrengenden sowie unangenehmen Dialoge und Actionszenen nicht als einen Rhythmus, dem ich mich im Falle eines ähnlichen Thrillers hingeben möchte, ganz besonders, sofern wenn die Motivation zur Action von Minute zu Minute immer ausgelutschter zu sein scheint. Diese B-Film-ähnliche Flachheit würde nicht allzu viel stören. Wenn sie da bloß nicht mit dem unnötigen Anstrich in Form von Versuchen eines nachdenklichen A-Films überdeckt wäre und sofern Espinosa nicht mit einem Lineal im Allerwertesten Regie geführt hätte, so würde dies zumindest eine Art Spaß sein, wie in den ersten Szenen. (22.03.2017)

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)

Ich habe eine Schwäche für Science-Fiction, ich habe eine Schwäche für Horrorfilme, aber wahrscheinlich habe ich die größte Schwäche für Sci-Fi-Horrorfilme. Besonders für diejenigen, in denen eine Gruppe von Astronauten gegen eine feindliche Lebensform kämpft. Und die Neuigkeit Life ist keine Ausnahme, obwohl die meisten von euch wahrscheinlich etwas wie "das habe ich schon in Alien gesehen und das in Sunshine", sagen oder sogar, "der Schwarze ist ein totaler Idiot". Es stimmt, einige Gedankengänge sind sicherlich abwegig, aber ich kann es akzeptieren: Schließlich habe ich mir keinen 2001: Odyssee im Weltraum angesehen. Wenn man jedoch die verschiedenen Tricks übersieht, mit denen die Drehbuchautoren dem hungrigen Marsbewohner bei seinen Vernichtungsmanövern helfen, bleibt ein solide spannendes, exotisches Gemetzel übrig, was definitiv nicht wenig ist. Der vierte Stern erfüllt vor allem meinen Wunsch, dass die Macher den Mut zu einem ähnlichen Ende hatten - das hat mich wirklich erfreut :) (23.03.2017)

After Gravity I guessed that somebody would someday film Alien in a similar style… it’s hard not to like Calvin and he’s the main hero of the entire movie and also one of few to behave with any logic. Otherwise this is a classic showcase of bad decisions when the rescuers eliminate themselves first. In acting terms excellent, Reynolds has a few great lines and Gyllenhaal is practically flawless, Rebecca Ferguson awesome. Apart from the lackluster events in the middle, a fascinated study of human mistakes. The ending is great, if only there hadn’t been the spoilers before it came out. Overall quite satisfactory. (25.08.2017)

A mix of Gravity and Alien, intended to be dominated by man-eating plankton. There can't be much talk about originality, because the creators have obviously had a look at older pieces as well as the new, modern Gravity. The space walks and the destruction of the station are basically indistinguishable from Cuaron's opus (so cool), while the case after the module and the motion sensors look like right out of Alien. And of course there must be a racially and nationally diverse squad of astronauts (gradually dying) and at least twice in the film it must be mentioned that developed countries like Russia, USA, China are involved – exactly in that order! The ending is gratifying but not surprising. Just like Rebecca Ferguson. It’s a thematically heavy sci-fi flick that turns into light entertainment for any given evening. (16.06.2017)

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)

Die Inspiration (und vielleicht sogar ein leichter Abklatsch) von Aliens und Gravity ist unverkennbar, und auch wenn Life nicht die Qualität der beiden genannten Filme erreicht, sind es doch solide, spannende hundert Minuten, in denen ich den meist (mit einer Ausnahme) sympathischen Darstellern die Daumen drückte, während sie gegen einen äußerst intelligenten und äußerst gefährlichen "Alien" kämpften. Vielleicht hätte ich die Reflexionen über das Leben etwas gekürzt und mehr nervenaufreibende Szenen hinzugefügt, aber auch so saß ich wie angewurzelt in meinem Sitz. Und ich muss unbedingt das Ende loben, das mein rasendes Herz zum Klatschen brachte. Kurzum, es ist ein technisch, schauspielerisch und vom Drehbuch her gut gemachter Film, der es wirklich wert ist, ins Kino zu kommen. (02.04.2017)

With Life, it wouldn't matter that it's actually just a more bombastic slasher, that the actors are playing themselves from other roles, that the alien entity wakes to life automatically with blueprints of the orbital station in its head, that the behavior of the hyper-trained astronauts is very "Welcome to Jackass" from the start, or perhaps that it's actually a collage of dozens of motifs from other films. Namely, perhaps all of them. The problem with Life is that it has no charisma. It has no space, time, or character. The space station is generic, uninteresting, spatially unutilized. A crew made up of dummies, where everyone has a clear role they never step out of. The alien creature may use its entire body as receptors, but it still has to have a bleh bleh alien head and dozens of other tedious micro-details that together are responsible for making the movie just not matter. Espinosa has adapted into a director who understands technology and form, yet he doesn't reach into the scripts and merely executes them, which grossly backfires here because the writing is really left-handed (an absolutely terrible conversation between Gyllenhaal, Bakar, and Ferguson about nothing, where after every sentence there's a five-second dramatic pause to reveal it in full nakedness). It's a shame, especially because old-school space horror movies that don't aspire to philosophize themselves to death are a like saffron, and here the true orbital fear of something unknown out there has already been set up. Those who are happy with the girl just being pretty probably can't complain, but I'd just prefer it if she was a little fun to talk to. (28.06.2017)

SPOILER. Insgesamt recht gut, stellenweise Science Fiction über einen kleinen Eindringling, der aussieht wie eine Kombination aus Tintenfisch und fleischfressender Pflanze, die schrittweise einen Astronauten nach dem anderen verspeist. Die ersten und die abschließenden fünfzehn Minuten habe ich mich leicht gelangweilt, andererseits ist wenigstens die Schlusspointe gelungen, so leicht bessere drei Sterne. Nun, und Ryan Reynolds hätte nicht mal auf dem Plakat sein müssen, er war dem Eindringlich sehr schnell unterlegen. (16.08.2017)

I'm giving the film three stars, because I like sci-fi and scary fights with alien entities. Plus, Rebecca Ferguson was part of the space expedition, which I obviously had to take into account. I didn't give more stars because there was no trace of horror, and after a while, all that flying through the space station with a weird jellyfish hot on one’s heels (even literally sometimes) started to get a bit tedious. (24.05.2020)

Life is a good sci-fi horror film that has everything you expect. Enclosed space, slightly different physical laws, a pretty good monster, and interesting actors who can carry it until the end, so you won't get bored. Plot-wise, however, it's like a combination of Alien and Gravity and script-wise it's unfortunately expected. But it's got a great point. (07.07.2017)