Life (2017)

[Cmasterclay]

I actually liked the ending because it was probably the only thing in it, good or bad, that I thought about within five minutes of leaving the theater. It's fine. It tries to be Alien with Gravity aesthetics, and it's ok at it. Jake is one of my favorite actors but this movie reminded me of why he used to NOT be, because he's a kinda a bore in roles like this. He's a really excellent character actor who sometimes gets cast in leading man roles because he looks like one, but that ain't his lane. Ferguson is fine, and Ryan Reynolds acts exactly like he acts in every single movie. If you're a Reynolds fanboy then sure, you'll like that, but I've always just been whatever on dude. The other three actors are actually the most interesting thing in it, but it's so paint-by-numbers (personal story to set-up inevitable demise) that you just kinda wait around for them to get killed so it can focus on Jake and Ferguson like you know it will.  It's well-designed and well-shot and fairly well-scripted and acted, but I just felt like I've seen it all before in the exact same way. The hopeful discovery, the waiting around for things to go bad, the series of setpieces designed to kill characters one-by-one, the loss of hope followed by last-ditch effort. And look, there's nothing wrong with formulaic film making done pretty well, but it's also not exactly a recipe for making a memorable movie. It's an entertaining enough two hours, but yeesh. This movie is the equivalent of a piece of untoasted wheat bread. Just a C+ movie if I've ever seen one. I guess I was cool with the ending because it's the only interesting seasoning in the entire dish. The design of the alien was better than most of these movies, though, I must say that.

Edited March 25, 2017 by Cmasterclay

[filmlover]

14 hours ago, Cmasterclay said:

I actually liked the ending because it was probably the only thing in it, good or bad, that I thought about within five minutes of leaving the theater.

You mean to tell me the lab rat's death didn't stay with you? That was by far the most disturbing death in the whole movie, and that's saying something.

[robertman2]

On 3/26/2017 at 8:28 AM, filmlover said:

You mean to tell me the lab rat's death didn't stay with you? That was by far the most disturbing death in the whole movie, and that's saying something.

Lab Rats die? RIP Tele's former job

[filmlover]

4 minutes ago, robertman2 said:

Lab Rats die? RIP Tele's former job

Pretty much everyone (meaning all mankind) dies in this movie.

[robertman2]

1 minute ago, filmlover said:

Pretty much everyone (meaning all mankind) dies in this movie.

Not if they decide to make this the Venom prequel

[mattmav45]

In all honesty, I'm not getting all the disdain and negativity surrounding the ending.  Granted, the film does try to develop the characters and ultimately attain emotional investment within the viewer, but it fails in this respect.  The dramatic writing is simply far too hammy and forced to attain real investment.  As a result, I wasn't too concerned with the plight or survival of the crew members anyway.

 

It plays like an Alien-lite.  It's not great, but it's passable as a somewhat suspenseful and claustrophobic piece of sci-fi cinema.  Nothing more, nothing less.

[Kalo]

I know it's kind of a ripe off of Alien, but the acting was great, it was pretty scary and alot of fun, loved the ending! for entertainment value I'd give it an A- 

[RobinHood26]

Pretty much what Cmasterclay said

 

Ending was a little predicable but whatever. 

 

C+ (78.5)

Edited March 29, 2017 by Jay Hollywood

[75Live]

I think my only real issue with the movie was the doctor letting Calvin stay on his leg and then him going into the locked down area when they were trying to basically kill it or escape.  There just wasn't much justification for him to do that.  I get he felt responsible so wasn't thinking clearly but it just seemed off.

 

I thought that maybe he didn't know it was on his leg, but the movie made it seemed like he did know.  So maybe I am just reading it wrong  

 

but other than that one tiny point, I really liked the movie.

 

A-/B+

Edited March 29, 2017 by 75live

[Plain Old Tele]

What a waste of my time. 

[filmlover]

1 minute ago, TelemAAchos said:

What a waste of my time. 

lmao knew it.

[Nova]

Tele gave Life an F. 

 

I guess being all old and what not, he can properly assess how good or bad life can really be. 

 

[The Stingray]

6/10

 

[filmlover]

40 minutes ago, Nova said:

Tele gave Life an F. 

 

I guess being all old and what not, he can properly assess how good or bad life can really be. 

 

[Plain Old Tele]

10 minutes ago, filmlover said:

 

In this case, I'm proud to.  

[filmlover]

5 minutes ago, Telerian said:

 

In this case, I'm proud to.  

But what if that cloud turned out to be Calvin?

[DeeCee]

7 hours ago, 75live said:

I think my only real issue with the movie was the doctor letting Calvin stay on his leg and then him going into the locked down area when they were trying to basically kill it or escape.  There just wasn't much justification for him to do that.  I get he felt responsible so wasn't thinking clearly but it just seemed off.

 

I thought that maybe he didn't know it was on his leg, but the movie made it seemed like he did know.  So maybe I am just reading it wrong  

 

but other than that one tiny point, I really liked the movie.

 

A-/B+

I don't think he knew it was there.  He was a paraplegic.

 

 

[Water Bottle]

Mediocre first act, amazing second act, terrible third act.

 

B

[Goffe]

On 3/24/2017 at 4:42 PM, Jake Gittes said:

Imma just break down why the ending fucking blows.

 

1) This movie - in the writing, the direction, the work of the cast - spends 99% of the runtime getting you to care about the characters and their situation, and does a pretty decent job doing it. The cast has chemistry, the tension is there, the sense of a threat is there. For a movie that's basically Pretty Hollywood Types vs Indestructible Space Squid it takes itself seriously enough to make you care, but not quite so seriously that it becomes a The Thing-esque lovecraftian horror that sets up the possibility that literally everyone is doomed. Everything up to and including Gyllenhaal and Ferguson's desperate final plan points to an eventual hard-won victory, where only one person survives, and, just for kicks, there's a remote chance that Calvin will someday encounter some other civilization or something and wreck havoc there. But, the point is, the movie doesn't just promise, but actively makes it look like those other five people didn't actually die for nothing. 

 

... Except they totally did! So what's the fucking point of the entire thing then? The twist doesn't just add anything to the movie, it goes in the opposite direction and cheapens it. The movie spends 100 minutes playing fair, and then kicks you in the balls and laughs at you. It's exactly what a nihilistic 13-year-old who thinks he's way edgier than everyone else would think of - "What if it's like Alien or The Thing, except - get this - EVERYONE TOTALLY DIES LOL? And then some upbeat old song plays over the end credits! Like in Reservoir Dogs or something! Because irony!"

 

2) To make it even more pointless: taken just by itself, the ending sets up another cool movie... that no one involved has any intention to ever make. In the world of the movie, what must follow is humanity's desperate battle with an indestructible squid from Mars who's presumably only gonna get bigger and bigger. How awesome does that premise sound? It sounds like the best thing ever. But you're not getting that. What you're getting instead is a pointless feature-length prequel about how that squid got here, starring characters who try their best and still all die for nothing, with no reward or payoff of any kind. 

 

I haven't seen a movie shoot itself in its pretty little head in the last two minutes like this in a long, long time. 

 

imao, this is exactly what i thought it would be. thanks for saving me the ticket.

[75Live]

1 hour ago, DeeCee said:

I don't think he knew it was there.  He was a paraplegic.

 

 

 

Oh i know he was that, but just the way he was talking and he looked down at the leg a few times while he was going through he talk about being sorry, made it seem a bit like he knew.  Like I said, i may have read the scene wrong at that point which is why I can believe he didn't know either.  Just something that seemed off, that's all.  It didn't ruin the film at all for me, just would be my only nitpicking "issue", if there had to be one