Despite a title that reminds me of Oscar-bait movies (you know, those earnest, “serious” dramas that nobody remembers or gives a damn about a year after they win their awards), I wanted to see Life because it was a science fiction/horror hybrid, much like how the Alien films are, and they’re among my favorite in that sub genre. Life deals with the crew of the International Space Station, which is a real thing, floating up there yonder right above your head now. Life is going by routinely for the six astronauts stationed on the ISS, until they are called to capture a wayward probe.
The automated probe, sent to collect dirt specimens from Mars, has suffered some damage on its way back to Earth and has gone haywire, and it’s up to Jake Gyllenhaal to “catch” it using the station’s mechanical arm. He does so, and when the probe’s contents are examined and experimented on by Ariyon Bakare, playing one of the station’s scientists, he manages to revive the long-dormant cells, proving that there once was life on Mars. But there’s soon very vibrant life on the station, too, as the cells merge together to form an organism that’s playful and cute as it hugs Bakare’s gloved fingers.
But soon it grows into a lethal monster that goes from shaking Bakare’s hand to almost ripping it off. The “monster” here has an interesting look--its design is sort of like an angry plant as it deftly dives around the station through its vents and even outside in space. In addition to Gyllenhaal, Rebecca Ferguson, who stole Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation right out from her co-stars, also appears here as the station’s chief medical officer. Ryan Reynolds is also onboard, cracking bad jokes as the “janitor”, which is interesting, because the script for Life was done by the same writers who also wrote the first Deadpool movie.
But the problem with Life is that it never really feels like it’s taken off. There’s always that moment in the Alien films when you know that the proverbial shit has hit the fan, and that’s usually when the film becomes supercharged with fear and tension from that point to the very end. I never felt that here. In fact, it felt as if I was kept waiting for an intense third act that never came. The astronauts play their usual cat and mouse games with the alien with no third act surprises--or even any build up of suspense--until the whole thing just meekly draws to a close with the hope of an Earth-bound sequel. But it doesn’t look as if this Life will be that tenacious. -- SF
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