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A gripping sci-fi horror thriller starring Jake Gyllenhaal, which cleverly blends up-to-the-minute digital effects with old-school monster movie thrills

A gripping sci-fi horror thriller starring Jake Gyllenhaal, which cleverly blends up-to-the-minute digital effects with old-school monster movie thrills.

The six-member, multinational crew of the International Space Station, including Rebecca Ferguson's level-headed scientist, Gyllenhaal's PTSD-suffering doctor and Ryan Reynolds' down-to-earth engineer, is hoping to find signs of extraterrestrial life.

After they catch a spinning probe containing soil samples from Mars that’s hurtling towards them, biologist Arlyon Bakare discovers a microscopic single-cell organism in the capsule.

Before we can gasp, 'Be careful what you wish for,' the creature has started growing and developing in alarming ways.

Director Daniel Espinosa keeps us on tenterhooks as we see what the creature does to a poor lab mouse before bracing ourselves for the grisly fate that surely lies in store for the crew.

En route to the film's chilling climax, the astronauts take the evasive measures typical of the genre and, even though we've seen daring stuff involving airlocks and escape pods umpteen times before, this is exciting, nerve-shredding entertainment.

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