‘Life’ Finds a Way to Scare and Entertain
Though unoriginal in concept and wobbly in its characters, Life has oodles of gory goodness for a scary fun time at the movies.
This time last year audiences were spooked by the Twilight Zone-esque sci-fi film 10 Cloverfield Lane. It’s with that film’s box office aspirations that Life hopes to fill the void until the next Cloverfield installment. A spaceship thriller with its hooks deeply embedded in the Alien universe, it’s familiar comfort food for those in need of gory goodness.
The crew of the International Space Station discover an alien organism, definitive proof of life beyond Earth. The cell, dubbed Calvin, quickly grows into a creature with unknown capabilities. When Calvin gets out, he’s intent on survival, leaving the crew to race for their lives.
In our current cinematic world of remakes and retreads Life doesn’t yield up much originality. The Alien franchise is the predominant influence, but elements from Gravity and Splice also turn up. With the central conceit stamped into audiences’ minds all director Daniel Espinosa does is conjure up ways to bring the fun within the pre-established narrative.
Things get off on a shaky start with a jarring camera meant to simulate the dancing rhythms of zero gravity, but just gives you a headache. The cinematographer must have realized his technique was spastic because after the opening the camera stays within routine compositions. Outside of the floating camera the various characters’ voices overlap for a cacophony of noise that’s (intentionally?) at odds with the silence of space. Ironically, all the noise that’s made leaves the sound mix muffled, as if everyone’s talking in perpetual whisper.
The film settles in despite the flaws, presenting the crew of the ISS: Captain Ektaerina Golovkina (Olga Dihovichnaya), fast-talking Rory (Ryan Reynolds playing Deadpool in space), disabled scientist Hugh (Ariyon Bakare), pilot Sho (Hiroyuki Sanada), and doctors Miranda North (Rebecca Ferguson) and David Jordan (Jake Gyllenhaal). All of them are just meat-sacks ready for Calvin to destroy, so they’re understandably light on character. Sho has a wife and baby waiting for him back home; David doesn’t like Earth; Rory came from a family of plumbers…and that’s it.
With these issues of character it’s amazing that Life ends up being as fun as it is. This is mainly the result of the film’s Alien pedigree. The discovery of Calvin is immediately embraced by the people of Earth, though the ISS crew aren’t too sure what they’re meant to do with the creature. As we see often in sci-fi movies, the cute little critter soon becomes a world-class nightmare. Calvin transitions from a sweet little butterfly to something that looks like a butterfly mated with Audrey 2. There’s no need to give Calvin too much personality. As one of the characters says, his sole instinct is survival.
Screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick aren’t working with the best script. This isn’t nearly as witty as their previous ventures, Deadpool or Zombieland. You empathize with the characters because they seem like good people and they’re all you have to watch for 103-minutes. None of the stars give Oscar-caliber performances short of looking scared, being attacked, and reminiscing about the things they’ll never see again.
The non-A-listers are the ones to watch, maybe because there aren’t any preconceived notions about their performances. Bakare as the wheelchair-bound Hugh, who initially bonds with Calvin, is sensitive. With just a few lines of dialogue you understand why space is a chance for freedom from his disability. (Kudos to Reese and Wernick writing a disabled astronaut in the first place!) Sanada’s Sho has the best reason to make it home alive and the audience immediately roots for his escape.
Gyllenhaal, Ferguson and Reynolds are solid, if underwhelming in their muted performances. Reynolds relies on his Deadpool persona, talking almost exclusively in one-liners. His character gets the best send-off, if not the goriest moment in the movie. (The gore is reserved for Bakare who you get just a glimpse of in the trailer, but that scene….man). Gyllenhaal is so subdued as to be anesthetized. He’s usually found in the back of the group, blending into the ship itself. When he finally takes center stage to lead things its unearned. Ferguson continues to play the cold, formal character she was in Girl on a Train. A scene where she talks about her father is the one moment of true emotion she’s given.
This black and white survival instinct gloss over many of Life’s issues. It’s an old-fashioned horror film where the characters are likable because they’re all we have, and the villain is evil because he’s soulless. The film’s runtime revolves around the characters being picked off while, similar to Gravity attempting to find a way to either get Calvin out of the ISS or get themselves home. The second and third acts are a rush of suspenseful imagery and grotesque effect shots. Note, if you’re squeamish about broken limbs, Life isn’t for you.
The third act hints at some dark existential thinking regarding man’s isolation. Even if they get rid of Calvin how do the crew fix the spaceship? If only one is left alone, how do they survive? The film doesn’t take enough time to explore these complexities, especially when the film comes down to a character’s sacrificial decision. Thankfully the third act “twist” saves the day. Similar to the aforementioned 10 Cloverfield Lane and The Twilight Zone, the ending is inventive and sticks with you.
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Life isn’t a flawless film, and audiences who enjoy its predecessors will immediately shun it. If you’re in the mood for a simple horror thriller in space that owes its life to Aliens, give some of your life towards Life.