Perhaps a better riff on Alien(s) than recent franchise fare.

Rating: 7/10 (16 August 2019)

Life (2017)
Just shy of 40 years since Alien, i think it was ok to use some of it's devices. Set in the very near future on the International Space Station gives it a brilliant reality and helps make this a properly scary movie. What helps more, is the design of "the alien" which is at its scariest early on when the fear of the unknown looms larger than after its first reveal. The characters not being "tooled up" brings it slightly further away from Alien, with the characters being arguably more vulnerable.
The "Space" is done well and in comparison with other is perhaps limited by reality. Futuristic space movies don't have to be compromised by awareness of its setting. The sound is good and the tension, though never turning you foetal quite like the first scene in the lab, does maintain well.
Gyllenhaal is decent, as is the ever excellent Rebecca Ferguson, though i felt Ryan Reynolds was a bit too Deadpool and not enough ISS type. His character felt out of place, or at least should have been toned down a little.
While I was happy enough with the direction the ending took, I felt it could have been far better implemented and was the only real error for me. In conclusion it is the best space horror i've seen since the aforementioned genre topping Alien(s), so not bad at all. SEVEN