Watch the Promising Trailer for Sci-Fi Thriller Life

A new trailer was released for the forthcoming sci-fi thriller Life, and we (hesitantly) think it has potential. In recent years, the stream of alien/space movies and television seems never ending. Just this year, we’ve already seen a Mars movie with The Space Between Us, and Rogue One and Arrival are still in theaters. Between Star Trek reboots, Interstellar, Doctor Who, The Martian, Passengers and more, it can be difficult for a sci-fi thriller to stand out in the crowd. Life, directed by Daniel Espinosa and written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, is attempting to do just that. Will they succeed? Watch the trailer above and judge for yourself.

The trailer for Life opens with a cheerful group of astronauts in an international space station, celebrating the birth of the Japanese astronaut’s (played by Hiroyuki Sanada) baby girl. We bounce around with the merry group of internationals with representatives from Russia, Japan, the U.K. and the States to the tune of Norman Greenbaum’s “Spirit in the Sky.” They joke around and make Star Trek references and run happily on space treadmills and everything seems quite jolly until they embark on their mission to capture a “capsule” from Mars. They capture it all right, and bring it on board to discover that the capsule has brought back a tiny life form. Amazing! They decide it’s a great idea to grow this unknown life aboard their ship, just for yuks (and science). Needless to say, this does not go well for anyone. The tentacle-y baby alien thing turns out to be super dangerous (it wiped out Mars!) and they absolutely cannot let it reach Earth. Our guess? Sanada’s new dad is the first to die.

So, not the most original plot, but a traditionally winning story nonetheless. With a star-studded cast of Ryan Reynolds, Jake Gyllenhaal and Rebecca Ferguson combined with a pretty neat looking spaceship, Life might just pull it off.