More about emotions than thinking

Rating: 6/10 (3 January 2019)

A scientific crew aboard the ISS recovers a sample from Mars that contains a dormant but alive cell. For the first time, alien life is discovered. Unfortunately the cell, now awakened, grows unbelievable quickly and turns decidely unfriendly. Growing more and more intelligent, it sets on a killing spree aboard the ISS.
First off, let me say that horror movie is not normally my kind of genre, and this movie is more of a horror than sci-fi. The sci-fi is just about the setting (ISS) and premise of the movie. The rest, like how the story evolves, is more or less pure horror. One thing I dislike with horror movies is that the characters are prone to do irrational (read stupid) things and that the plot have holes in it. Life got them too (and having read a few other reviews all the plot holes ruined the movie for them - so be warned if you are about to watch it) and they are plenty. For starters, how they recover the satellite containing the sample, using the ISS as a baseball catching glove, is ridiculous. On the other hand, there and then you get a feel how the movie and story is set up, so if you don't like it, turn it off. It will continue with the plot holes and bad (yeah, stupid) decisions from the crew.
However, if you view it as it actually is, a horror movie (and able to oversee most of the technical plot holes) the movie made me feel. It made me cringe, made me think "oh, no" and almost want to hide behind a pillow sometimes. And that is what horror movies is all about, isn't it? Emotions. So the story, albeit full of mistakes, is not that bad. If you like horror movies, this might br something.
The casting is impressive, with Ferguson, Gyllenhaal, Reynolds, Sanada, Dykhovichnaya and Bakare making up the crew. Since the story isn't character driven, the characters don't evovle much, and we don't get to know them very much. The acting are decent, but not stellar (not much material to act about). The effects are good enough.
So if you like horror movies, give it a try. If you are looking for a science fiction adventure, pick something else.