Life (2017) Movie Summary – A Sci-Fi Thriller in Space
In the 2017 film Life, a six-member ISS crew orbits Earth, focused and hopeful. They float only 250 miles above the planet, but in the vast loneliness of space that distance feels like a world away. Their mission: retrieve and study a soil sample from Mars. That task begins with danger – the crew must capture an incoming probe that nearly drifts off course after being struck by debris. Inside the recovered sample lies a profound discovery: a dormant alien lifeform.
At first it’s microscopic, just a single cell, but it is alive. The crew’s excitement is palpable. This is a historic moment, the first proof of life beyond Earth. The mood aboard is optimistic. But space is unforgiving, and joy can turn to terror without warning. What begins as a hopeful science mission soon becomes a space horror nightmare of survival.
Discovery and Awe
For a time, the crew gently nurtures the tiny organism and watches it grow day by day. It buds into a small, translucent starfish-like creature with tentacle-like arms. An elementary school contest back home even lets children name the creature: they christen it Calvin. The astronauts feel a deep sense of wonder and responsibility. Humanity is not alone in the universe, and they are witnessing that firsthand. This discovery could change the course of science and space exploration. Hope and excitement fill the station as Calvin continues to develop. At one point, the Japanese engineer, Sho, watches via video as his baby daughter is born on Earth – a joyful reminder of home even as a new alien life grows in the lab.
Then everything goes wrong. A lab accident causes Calvin to go dormant. A biologist on the crew tries to revive it with a mild electric shock – a decision born of curiosity and care. It works: Calvin wakes up, but now it perceives a threat. The tiny organism suddenly grips the scientist’s hand with surprising strength and crushes it. In the chaos, Calvin breaks out of its containment dish. It devours a lab rat in an instant, growing stronger and smarter.
Containment Breach
An engineer, Rory, rushes in to save his colleague and contain the creature. Armed with a handheld flamethrower, he tries to incinerate Calvin. But the alien is resilient and cunning. It slips away from the flames and strikes back with deadly speed. The creature enters the man’s body in a swift, brutal attack, killing him from within. The remaining crew can only watch in horror as their friend collapses. In a few heartbeats, their triumph has turned into a nightmare.
Shock turns to resolve as the survivors regroup. They lock down the ISS, determined to isolate this hostile lifeform. The space station was meant to be a safe quarantine zone, but now that safeguard is gone. The once-bright halls of the ISS feel like a trap. Every shadow and flicker of light puts them on edge.
The astronauts face a dire scenario akin to a biological emergency. They must kill or contain Calvin, or humanity itself is at risk. They think of their loved ones on Earth. Failure is not an option.
Sacrifice in Space
Calvin disappears into the station’s vents. Soon, it finds its way outside, crawling along the hull. The mission commander, Katerina, goes out on a spacewalk to repair a damaged communications antenna. She knows the risk. Calvin ambushes her during the EVA, puncturing her suit and cutting off her oxygen. As she begins to suffocate, the crew pleads with her to return inside. Instead, she refuses to open the airlock. With her last breath, she chooses to die outside rather than let Calvin in. Her sacrifice keeps the creature at bay, if only for a short time. It’s a powerful moment – one life given to protect millions below. Inside, the others watch in anguish as their leader drifts into silence. Her bravery echoes the selflessness of frontline heroes in any deadly crisis.
Despite the commander’s sacrifice, Calvin is relentless. It clings to the station’s exterior, refusing to drift away. One crewman attempts a risky maneuver: he fires the ISS thrusters to shake the creature off. The sudden jolt destabilizes the station’s orbit and wastes precious time. In the end, this gambit fails – Calvin manages to slip back inside through a torn hatch seal.
The remaining three crew members are exhausted and terrified. They consider a plan to force Calvin into dormancy again by cutting off its oxygen supply. Before they can act, the injured biologist, Hugh, collapses. The others rush to help, but it’s too late – he dies from his injuries and shock. In that grim moment, they find Calvin clinging to his leg, quietly feeding on him. The creature was hiding in plain sight, using their crewmate as a food source. Calvin has grown even larger now, evolving with every meal. What started as a tiny cell is now a formidable predator loose on the ISS.
Now only two crew members remain unhurt: Dr. Miranda North, the quarantine officer, and Dr. David Jordan, the medical officer. A third, Sho, has sealed himself in a sleeping pod, paralyzed by fear. Suddenly, a glimmer of hope appears – the survivors see a Soyuz spacecraft approaching the station. Could it be a rescue mission? David and Miranda contact ground control and confirm that the Soyuz responded to their distress call. For a moment, relief washes over them. But Miranda senses something is off: this may not be a rescue at all.
Final Gambit
Miranda’s fear is confirmed – the Soyuz isn’t there to save them, but to push the entire station into deep space. It’s a last-resort measure to ensure Calvin never reaches Earth. She had suspected this “firewall” protocol might be enacted if things went wrong. Sho doesn’t know this. Believing help has arrived, he bursts out from his hiding place and races toward the docking hatch. At that moment, Calvin attacks him with ruthless efficiency, killing him instantly. The commotion causes the Soyuz to explode. The plan to jettison the station fails. Instead, the collision knocks the ISS into a decaying orbit. The survivors now face their worst fear: the station, with Calvin on board, is falling back toward Earth.
With Earth in imminent danger, the last two crewmates take matters into their own hands. They devise a final gambit. Two escape pods remain. David will lure Calvin into one pod and trap it with him, then manually pilot that pod into deep space. Miranda will take the other pod and return to Earth to warn whoever is listening. It is a suicide mission for David, but he’s willing to make that sacrifice. There is no time to hesitate.
The plan is put into motion. David deliberately baits Calvin, drawing the creature into his escape pod. Both pods launch away from the dying station. Miranda’s pod jets off on its trajectory to Earth, while David’s pod veers in another direction as he struggles with the alien inside. In the cramped capsule, Calvin attacks David ferociously. He fights to control the pod’s path as they tumble through space.
Down on the Pacific Ocean, two fishermen witness a fireball streak across the sky and crash into the water. They race to the splashdown site and find an intact capsule bobbing in the waves. As they pull the hatch open, the film reveals a horrifying twist: it’s David’s pod that landed, not Miranda’s. David is alive inside, but he is entangled in Calvin’s coils, trapped face-to-face with the creature. He screams at the fishermen to stop, but they can’t hear his muffled shouts. In their attempt to rescue an astronaut, they unknowingly unleash the alien on Earth. Meanwhile, high above, Miranda’s pod is shown spiraling uncontrollably into deep space, her fate sealed. The final scene is haunting – boats surround David’s capsule as Calvin slithers out, free on Earth at last. The nightmare, despite all the sacrifices, has reached our world.
Real-World Parallels
Life resonates with contemporary fears and challenges. The crew’s struggle to contain Calvin mirrors the precarious nature of pandemic protocols on Earth – the delicate procedures we rely on to confine deadly outbreaks. We’ve seen how one breach can escalate into catastrophe, a truth underscored by global pandemics in recent memory. The film also raises bioethical questions. The decision to revive and experiment on an unknown organism reflects debates in science today: How far should we go in the name of discovery? The scientists in Life act out of hope and curiosity, but their choice has dire consequences. It’s a stark reminder of the need for caution when handling potential biohazards. Notably, Calvin isn’t evil – it acts on instinct to survive and grow. That makes the crisis even more unsettling: the crew members aren’t facing a villain, but a life form following nature’s course.
Technology and artificial intelligence provide only limited help to the ISS crew. The station’s automated systems trigger alarms and seal doors, but there is no intelligent AI to swoop in and fix the situation. In the end, human judgment, courage, and frailty drive the outcome. This underlines a lesson seen in real disasters – tools and machines can assist, but people make the life-or-death decisions in the moment. The film’s space setting also highlights our responsibility in extraterrestrial research. As space agencies prepare to bring Martian samples back to Earth, Life serves as a cautionary tale about planetary protection and the importance of containing alien life. In fact, this nightmare scenario isn’t just fantasy. Scientists have real-world protocols to prevent contaminating Earth with alien microbes. It’s a reminder that space exploration carries great risks alongside great rewards.
By blending the thrills of a sci-fi thriller with these timely themes, Life (2017) tells a story that feels both fantastical and eerily plausible. Told in terse, muscular prose, it delivers an emotional gut-punch. In the end, the very act of discovering new life threatens the survival of our own. Life leaves us pondering the thin line between curiosity and catastrophe – and the high price that can come with unlocking the secrets of the unknown.
