After seeing a lot of news articles with the title “Meaning of ‘Life’”, we wanted see the movie “Life”, which is in theaters now. Directed by Daniel Espinosa starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Rebecca Ferguson, Ryan Reynolds, et al., the movie features an “Alien”-like theme. Essentially, the six-crew team in the International Space Station examine a life-form from Mars…which, as shown in the trailers, turns out to be quite hostile. With that said, this blog isn’t about detailing the movie, but rather examining how the movie relates to the “meaning of life,” or in this case, does not.

Although this film has a number of copycat news articles with the title mentioned above, make no mistake, this film has no real philosophical relevance to the question. In fact, Stephen Colbert and Ryan Reynolds’ five-minute skit, is a much better watch. In the skit, Ryan asks Stephen, “What is the meaning of ‘Life’?” Stephen responds, “Well, I suppose it's that we're all here to do good work and treat one another..." Ryan interjects, "No, no, I meant my new movie, ‘Life’, do you know what it's about?"

At one point in the movie, the character Hugh does talk about how examining life on Mars may eventually lead us to answering the meaning of life. Later in the movie, Hugh makes one notable statement, "Life's very existence requires destruction." Another notable quote, Hugh, "What is the primal instinct of any life-form?," Miranda responds, "To survive." Other than that, there are no notable quotes related to the subject.

Overall, if you are looking for a movie that doesn’t make you think, is pure action, and dark, check out “Life”. If you are looking for something more substantial, check out Ryan and Colbert’s skit… or simply pick up a good book.

We rate the movie as follows:

Overall - 5

Meaning of Life Relevance - 1

Uniqueness – 2

Did you see the movie? What did you think?