Life is pretty much dead on arrival
Hugely derivative of Alien, this sci-fi ‘thriller’ almost sullies the legacy of Ridley Scott’s 1979 classic. Set aboard a space station that has retrieved soil samples from Mars, Life is bogged down by an unduly verbose narrative and an overload of technical jargon.
The usual gaggle of international astronauts is initially delighted to discover evidence of a life form on Mars. Mistakenly believing the organism to be harmless, they realise soon enough that the ET, which they christen Calvin, is hostile and virtually indestructible.
The six-member crew tries to fend off the beastie, even attempting at one point to nuke it with a flame-thrower. Using a barrage of extreme close-ups, director Daniel Espinosa (Safe House) strives to replicate the scares generated by scores of space-set horror flicks, but merely succeeds in repeating cli- chés. As for the ‘and-then-therewere-none’ plotline, it fails to provide emotional engagement.
The acting is, at best, serviceable. Jake Gyllenhaal and Rebecca Ferguson glower and grimace non-stop. It is hard to fathom why Ryan Reynolds accepted what is essentially a glorified cameo.
To its credit, the film winds down with an extremely clever switcheroo designed to set the stage for a sequel.