Life (2017)

Rating: 7/10 (3 June 2017)

The space genre is booming and on top of that we've had a number of close contained space horror films. Alien really popularized this type of film and since then we've had a number of good and some terribly bad films of the sort. The trailer for Life didn't spark a lot of interest for me as it seemed too generic, however some of the review for it were quite good so I was interested to check it out. The film is solid, despite not really offering anything new or overly original to the space horror genre.
The film is about a space crew who come into contact with a life form from Mars. Although the world and space crew are initially excited about the contact that was made, it is soon discovered that this mysterious life form (named Calvin) is dangerous and smarter than initially thought. Calvin starts killing off the space crew one by one and becomes bigger and more dangerous as the crew scramble to try to kill the life form and save their space station.
The film isn't exactly original and you can kind of see where it is heading, however the film does provide thrills and keeps you entertained throughout. The film benefits from having a pretty excellent cast, Gyllenhaal and Ferguson especially. Calvin is a menacing villain and you do want to see that sucker get destroyed but you have to stand by and which as it becomes stronger and stronger and more invincible. There is a long take and the cutting in the film is good for a space film and is sufficient enough for depicting thrilling moments. I really liked the ending of the film, its shockingly great and has potential for a future.
As far as Venom connection goes, yes stock footage was used in the trailer from Life and Spiderman 3 and the writers of Life did write a script for a Venom film. However, I think maybe its a coincidence. I wouldn't be bothered by this actually being a horrifically brutal origin story for the symbiote that is Venom. Honestly, the studio could reel it in later and use it to lead into the Venom film that is supposedly planned. Life still works just as well as a stand alone film, prequel or not prequel.
7/10