Life

Life

Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Rebecca Ferguson, Ryan Reynolds, Arivon Bakare

Directed by Daniel Espinosa

The Story:
A six-member crew aboard the International Space Station has rescued a damaged space probe from Mars, and scientist Hugh Derry (Arivon Bakare) finds microbial life form: the first sign of life outside Earth.  Understandably the crew is delighted, especially renegade act-before-you-think Rory Adams (Ryan Reynolds), the lead commander Miranda North (Rebecca Ferguson), sullen medical officer David Jordan (Jake Gyllenhaal), mission commander Ekaterina Golovkina (Olga Dihovichnaya), and pilot Sho Murakami (Hiyouki Sanada).

Hugh discovers that "Calvin" (the organism that was named by a group of school children on earth) is something very unique: it is, in simplest terms, all muscle, all brain, and all eye.  It retreats into an almost comatose state, and when Hugh tries to shock it awake, it becomes violent and attacks him, and soon it escapes and grows exponentially, and sets out to murder everyone on the ship in order to survive.

The Synopsis:
I always love me a good sci-fi movie set in space.  From "2001: A Space Odyssey" to "Gravity" and "Moon," I'm a sucker for seeing how people live in the utter vastness of space.  There's those types of space operas that focus on rich character development and a deeply personal story of survival, and there's those other types of space movies where some intergalactic creature sets out to kill everyone on board, such as the ever-amazing "Alien" and "Aliens" (but not the subsequent sequels), "Prometheus," and the upcoming "Alien: Covenant."  "Life" is one of the latter, a film that you could easily mistake for a prequel to films such as "Alien" or "The Thing," or possibly a prequel for the arrival of Venom from Spider-Man, as some people thought.

In fact, "Life" is none of those things, and serves as yet another claustrophobic alien horror movie where the alien species sets out to kill anyone within close proximity.  That's not saying it's a bad thing, but it's something that's been done already...several times.  You can only return to the well so much before you find out it's completely dry, and unfortunately that's the feel I had about "Life," if it were not for the ending, which was something unique in the genre.  Plus the film featured some knockout performances, but without those two aspects it would be considered an "Alien" like movie without the ability to stand the test of time.

It's very easy to dismiss "Life" in those terms, but as I said earlier it's the performances that really made it stand out from other genre-similar films.  For his first soiree into space, Jake Gyllenhaal performs in a way that's both melancholy yet hopeful, cynical yet faithful.  He plays medical officer David Jordan, who's spent the most amount of days in a row in space (over 400 days in a row), and says he doesn't really want to go back to Earth because he enjoys the quiet solitude of space, and despises how there's wars and famines on Earth, totally unaware that war is soon about to descend on him millions of miles away from the Blue Marble.

As the other two top-billed names, Rebecca Ferguson gives the stern yet sensitive lead commander Miranda North some more to work with than just the typical barking of orders.  Ryan Reynolds shines as...well...Ryan Reynolds in space mostly.  His actions, quips and mannerisms are all you'd expect from Reynolds, and even in zero gravity he still pulls down some hilarious one-liners.  The remaining cast members also do the best with what they've got, but in a movie such as this you glean just enough information out of them to somewhat care for them when they get horribly massacred by Calvin, which is a combination of evil python, silly putty and tentacled creature.

The deaths in the movie are somewhat gruesome - or very gruesome, if you're not used to those types of things - and here the cinematographer really shines with the use of blood droplets forming into bubbles and having Calvin emerge from the insides of his victims.  There's no clear reason as to why Calvin decides to go homicidal, unless you take into account that it was in a peaceful slumber state until the doctor decides to shock it with electricity.  It's like seeing a sleeping bear in the wild and wanting to wake it up with a long stick, thinking it will gladly thank you for awakening it in such a very uncomfortable manner, but instead - to your simple-minded disbelief - it mauls you horribly.  To that end, I can't really fault Calvin for going on a ruthless killing spree - if someone woke me up with an electric rod I certainly wouldn't be singing their praises either.

Along with the cast, the ending is something that sets "Life" apart from the other movies of the same vein, and while it was still something I sorta predicted, it was a relief to see them go in that direction.  Not going to spoil it for anyone, but it really helped the movie propel itself from the standard alien killer in a spaceship flare.

The Summary:
While it really doesn't add anything new to a nearly-dead subgenre, "Life" still produces some great performances and an interesting conclusion that sets it apart and, while it doesn't equate with classics such as "Alien," it still serves as an entertaining ride through deep space with the worst passenger imaginable.

The Score: A-