Review of 'Life'

life.jpg After a successful mission the unmanned space probe Pilgrim 7 returns with a soil sample from Mars. The six-member crew of the International Space Station intercept the probe and examine the sample which they quickly confirm contains dormant extraterrestrial life. They figure the best course of action is to bring the cells of the organism to life using an electric shock. The life form grows quickly. Some school children from Earth name the elastic amorphous, jello-like, quickly growing alien being “Calvin”. Obviously we know things are not going to go well…When Calvin attacks exobiologist Hugh Derry (Ariyon Bakare), crushing his hand, Engineer Rory Adams (Ryan Reynolds) attempts a rescue. This fails and Adams is quickly subdued then consumed from the inside by the organism. When Calvin escapes into the ship's vents it is only a matter of time before it comes for the other four crew members…

This is really a modern day, gory, rip-off of “Alien” with one-dimensional characters, or, should I say, “walking alien fodder”. All of the cliches typical of such films are here as we are treated to endless running through the ship to escape/attack (as the case may be) the incredibly ruthless alien. Interestingly, perhaps the biggest name in the cast, Reynolds is one of the first to go (maybe he had another commitment during shooting?) and we are left with the rest of the cast to hold the story together. The effects are good but not exactly spectacular though the scenes outside of the space station are very well done. There is a definite penchant for blood and guts here so squeamish need not apply.

From start to finish quite a disappointment. Nothing new to see here.

Rating: “Not great, but not the worse”

Review Date: 2017-09-15


Directed by: Daniel Espinosa

Studio: Columbia Pictures

Year: 2017

Length: 104 minutes

Genre: Science Fiction

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5442430/