Thursday, March 28, 2024

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Review // Life

First Published:

[projekktor id=’27482′]

The discovery of extraterrestrial life takes a terrible, and predictable turn in this weekend’s…Life. The space horror from director Daniel Espinosa is a lean, thrilling and claustrophobic horror film, even if it doesn’t bring much originality to the trapped-in-space genre. The sixth film from the Swedish director is carried confidently forward by a strong cast and a screenplay that is astute enough to keep things fast-paced and frightening.

The story takes place on the International Space Station where the most attractive group of astronauts ever assembled anxiously await the arrival of the Mars probe Pilgrim. Knocked off course and hurtling towards the station, Pilgrim carries the greatest scientific discovery of all time: martian soil that seems to contain extra-terrestrial life. After a harrowing docking maneuver Pilgrim is recovered, and the crew’s chief scientist Hugh Derry (Ariyon Bakare) confirms the findings: the samples harbour a single-celled organism. Treated to a soothing glucose bath in a special containment area, the martian creature quickly begins to grow, revealing a remarkable alien life form that is – in Derry’s words – “all muscle, all brain, all eye.” This doesn’t seem to concern anyone. They name it Calvin.

Of course this is a movie set in space so things begin to fall apart quickly. Despite the best efforts of the ship’s quarantine officer Miranda North (Rebecca Ferguson), Calvin quickly escapes the laboratory and begins to wreak havoc across the ship. Though it’s just the size of a deflated balloon, the martian possesses incredible strength and impressive understanding of the mechanics of a space station. Zipping through vents and gobbling up important coolants – as well as crew members – Calvin grows larger and more malicious. Fortunately for the crew, the space station is made up of multiple sections separated by heavy metal doors, a vessel perfectly suited for containing things. Unluckily for the crew, there’s always a reason to open a door.

Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick’s screenplay provides each character just enough screen time and backstory for you to care about them, before they fall victim to the monster’s voracious appetite. Of course we’ve all seen this story before, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t fun to watch as the crew are picked off one by one. Like the film itself, the lead actors play it safe and familiar. Ryan Reynolds is his signature sarcastic cool guy as pilot Rory Adams, while Jake Gyllenhall is the brooding and sensitive Dr. David Jordan, who has been at the station for 473 days and prefers the isolation of space over the chaos of earth. Providing the human touch are Hiroyuki Sanada as new-father Sho Murakami (the only crew member who seems genuinely concerned from the start about having a super-strong alien on board) and Olga Dihovichnaya’s Ekaterina Golovkina, the serious Captain of the ship who tries to keep her crew calm after the alien escapes.

Of course the film’s real star is Calvin, who begins as a tiny speck of squiggly bacteria and ends as a giant, floating snake monster. Unfortunately he’s scarier before he gets a face. Though the film builds tensions throughout, and delivers a couple squirm-inducing scenes, it loses some magic each time we see the titular life form. As a banana peel-sized organism with a grip like a vice, Calvin is terrifying, but as a floating Audrey Jr. in space, he’s a bit of a CGI bore. Though the film pays homage to its precursors like Alien (multiple scenes create tension with a red blip moving across a map) and Jaws (shots from Calvin’s point-of-view are among the film’s cheesier moments) Espinosa seems to have missed the most essential thing about these classics: the less we see the monster the scarier it becomes.

Nevertheless Life manages to keep you on the edge of your seat throughout. It also subtly brings up an idea very relevant to our world today: in all of the excitement about discovering life elsewhere in the universe, have we ever stopped to consider what would happen if that life was a jerky little flower-petal monster? It’s something to think about scientists. Espinosa’s film will appeal to horror and sci-fi fans alike this weekend, even if it doesn’t breath much new Life into either genre.

Reviewed by Evan Arppe.

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