Life is a science fiction thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat for the entire two hours of the film. Daniel Espinosa directs a story that will rocket you into outer space and introduce you to astounding extraterrestrial life.

In Life, a six person crew travels to Mars on the International Space Station and captures a single celled organism. The crew decides to hold the organism and take it back to Earth where it can be studied more closely.

Dr. David Jordan (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Dr. Miranda North (Rebecca Ferguson) observe and are able to contain the alien life as it develops into a multicellular organism. The amazing creature is shown on national television, and is soon named Calvin.

Disaster strikes when there is a mishap on the shuttle, and Calvin becomes unresponsive. Hugh Derry (Ariyon Bakare), a British biologist that is a part of the crew, attempts to shock Calvin back to life with electricity by reaching his hand into the creature’s confinement room.

Derry’s plan works— too well. Calvin snaps awake and crushes Derry’s hand before escaping his confinement all together.

Rory Adams (Ryan Reynolds), the pilot of the space shuttle, rushes to Derry’s rescue just in time. But just as soon as Derry is safe, Adams is in deep trouble.

It is up to the crew to defeat the monster they have created before they reach earth, when it will be too late.

The cast of Life worked well on the screen together, giving successful performances in the light and heavy theme. The only problem is that you’ve probably seen Gyllenhaal and Reynolds in a seemingly endless number of other movies, and this may make you biased of the character they play from the beginning, as it did for me.

Cinematographer Seamus McGarvey added a creative flair to Life by using unusual camera angles in the primary setting of the film; a small, cramped space shuttle. McGarvey cut to dramatic, sharp angles during the frantic scenes, making the crew’s struggles seem that much more desperate. He dealt with a unique challenge as well; the crew floated throughout the movie, for they were in outer space.

A disappointing part of Life was the soundtrack, designed by John Ekstrand. The problem with Ekstrand’s audio is that it wasn’t creative or dramatic enough. Every scene is acted out over silence or the same deep, dreadful tones that make the viewer feel impending doom. The monotonous beat took the place of what could have been an epic soundtrack that engaged the audience.

Life follows the battle of crew versus creature, human versus alien and good versus evil. Next Friday night, check this movie out to see which side will prevail.