For a movie called Life, there sure is lots of death. The “definitely not Alien” alien in space horror movie reinvents the wheel because it works. With a strong cast, a creepy enough creature, and a streamlined plot, the movie gets in, scares the hell out of out, and gets out quickly, making sure we ignore Life’s relative meaningless existence. Wow, that last sentence was more cynical than I intended it to be.
See how not like Alien this movie is: 6 researchers on a space station discover a single celled organism from Mars. The main British academic Hugh (Ariyon Bakare) resuscitates the creature, and creates an environment where it can grow. His enthusiasm is tempered by a cryptic US crew member Miranda (Rebecca Ferguson), the US space repairman Rory (Ryan Reynolds), and a journeyman space lifer David (Jake Gyllenhaal). Those 3’s fears are realized when the alien’s dramatic strength increase allows it to break containment. This creatures survival instincts threaten not only the 4 + Russian commander Ekaterina (Olga Dihovichnaya) and Chinese new parent Sho (Hiroyuki Sanada), but if it reaches Earth, potentially the entire planet. But their efforts may not be enough to stop this perfected Darwinistic threat.
By keeping the story simple, Life just has to do a couple things well to make its audience happy. The creature is sufficiently scary, like a horrifying merger of a snake, octopus, and a ghost. The sound effects and CGI make its slithering and fluid movements extra creepy. And like Alien, as it grows, the creature gets creepier and more menacing. The space station setting uses space’s zero gravity to great effect: body fluids drift in mid air when bad things happen, and the limitations of space suits get explored. There’s one great kill that had me contorting not to see it, probably scaring the people sitting next to me, and the other kills are at least tense in their lead up. If you would like your significant other to grab you and hold you in a movie, Life will move your relationship to the next level.
There’s no way to get around it though: Life exudes cold corporate filmmaking. Cynically, Life feels lifeless. The streamlined story gives these fantastic thespians a thing to play, and then to potentially prepare for how their demise might look, such a waste of great actors like Gyllenhaal, Ferguson, or Reynolds. Why introduce the astronauts’ countries of origin if you don’t use them to help define their character? Very corporately inclusive, if you ask me. To move the plot along, characters make rash decisions that go against how they are set up at times, undercutting who they are. And the still unease these actors help create in the first half of the movie relents to EXPLOSIONS and FLASHING LIGHTS mandated by a climax of a space thriller. There’s also minimal messaging in this movie, and the themes of survival aren’t explored in any meaningful way (especially compared to Gravity, a better showcase of Life’s themes) so as to not take any real storytelling chances.
You take the good; you take the bad; you take them both, and there you have the facts of Life. This space retread checks the boxes that should make it therefore great, but its robotic, serviceable plot bluntly leaves you emptier than you should feel. I also will now have nightmares about snake octopi, which I didn’t know I feared until now *shudder.*