Life is another film that, like many other sci-fi films, takes a turn in observing what could happen if humans made contact with extraterrestrial life. And as seen in many other examples, the outcome isn't so pleasant.
The film begins when a six person space crew aboard the International Space Station are able to capture a space probe returning from Mars with a very precious piece of cargo - the first known extraterrestrial life. The cellular alien organism, nicknamed Calvin, reveals many signs of accelerating intelligence until one day an atmospheric chamber malfunction seemingly kills the organism. This causes the astronauts, specifically biologist Hugh Derry (Ariyon Bakare) to stimulate the flowery looking creature with an electric shock, that not only revives Calvin but makes it more hostile as well. From here on out, chaos ensues as Calvin grows in size and power as it preys upon the astronauts. And the disaster only worsens when communication systems on the station are lost and the crew make several missteps in trying to eliminate the deadly creature.
The biggest aspect that surprised me about Life was its effectiveness in showing the evolution of a simple, small organism into a vile and disturbing creature that wreaks havoc on its victims. Its progression from its innocent, infant stage to its mature, murderous self was scary to watch. The creature of Calvin is one that has the potential to remembered for quite some time in science fiction cinema. It was also possibly meant to be an allegory for the progression of human beings. As Hugh Derry says at one point in the movie, "The purpose of all life is to survive." While Calvin at first is in need of care and support by its scientists on board, it soon learns to adapt on its own and do anything it can to survive without regard to other life forms. Similar to the way some humans can be.
The horror elements of the film worked well. And the chemistry between the cast was evident as they played their roles. Plus, the visual effects were top notch. So what was wrong with Life? The biggest downfall of the film was ultimately its lack of style or unique creative vision. Life feels like an amalgamation of sci-fi films of the past. With its tense International Space Station disaster scenes reminding us of Alfonso Cuaron's "Gravity" or its monstrous blood thirsty Martian life form terrorizing the crew (the parallels to Ridley Scott's "Alien" are rampant), it's not hard to notice that Life is trying to pave its own path yet can never leave the shadow of other and better science fiction films. That's not to say there aren't moments that stick out. Calvin is particularly disturbing when it enters the body of pilot Rory Adams (played by Ryan Reynolds) and kills him from within or when Calvin evolves into its mature self and has a stare down contest with Jake Gyllenhaal's character. But the monster itself should not be the best part of a film. The overall ambience should have a certain mood and feel. Life lacks the grand scope of Christopher Nolan's Interstellar, the carefully paced dread of Ridley's Scotts Alien, and the emotional substance of Cuaron's Gravity. But ultimately Life lacks what made each of those films great, originality. And without that, there's not much life to the film.
Grade: B-