A modern day 'Alien' made with a lot of class

Rating: 8/10 (23 March 2017)

I was not surprised to read that 'Life' was inspired by 'Alien'. WIthout calling it a remake or a reboot, it is basically a modern day re-imagining. By the time I was old enough to watch 'Alien' it had aged a little too much for me to truly appreciate it, and so I felt I kind of missed the boat. There is something very unique about space films. Because it is something that very few of us will ever get to experience in our lives, and yet remains a very realistic film subject, it can be quite a wonderful thing to watch a movie about. Even without the prospect of aliens it is quite an unsettling environment. Throw aliens (and dangerous ones at that) into the mix and you should have a hell of a film.
Having said that there is no guarantee of high quality simply based on that premise. You still need a talented set of filmmakers to make it work. 'Life' obviously had those though, because it is a very fine film. Firstly, it's quick to get about its business. One thing I do remember about the original 'Alien' is that it took a long time to get going. That is not an issue here. Secondly, the film's creature is created in such a way that it feels particularly realistic. It is very menacing, yet also very grounded and believable in a way that is hard to explain exactly. Only by watching the film will you truly understand what I mean.
It is a well paced film too. At no stage does the story stall. An impressive cast also does a good job of keeping the audience tuned in. One character played by Olga Dihovichnaya was quite hard to understand at times with a very heavy accent, however that would be the only acting fault I noticed. Then to top off an already fine film, there is a very fun and interesting ending that will be heavily discussed I suspect. 'Life' is a very well made, tense, interesting and thoughtful film that I see the majority of audience members thoroughly enjoying.