Wannabe ‘Alien’ soon runs out of life
LIFE Running time: 1hr 43 min Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Rebecca Ferguson, Ryan Reynolds, Hiroyuki Sanada, Ariyon Bakare, Olga Dihovichnaya Director: Daniel Espinosa AN ALIEN-DERIVED creature feature that would be serviceable (if underwhelming) under ordinary circumstances, Daniel Espinosa’s Life faces the unenviable prospect of emerging less than two months before Ridley Scott’s new chapter in that franchise.
Like its eponymous carbonbased critter, which spends most of the movie rushing from one corner of a space station to another as our heroes try to starve it of oxygen, the movie may suffocate in the anticipatory atmosphere surrounding Alien: Covenant. Insatiable genre fans who do buy a ticket will likely send lukewarm responses back to the wait-and-see crowd.
Like Scott’s original film, this is an ensemble affair whose cast of characters dwindles in number at a steady clip. Surprisingly, the best-known members of its cast, Jake Gyllenhaal and Ryan Reynolds, register no more solidly as distinct characters than, say, Ariyon Bakare’s Hugh Derry, the scientist who makes first contact with the alien, and soon regrets it.
Derry and company are manning the International Space Station when a probe returns from Mars with soil samples. Under the microscope, Derry finds a single cell resembling life as we know it. He quickly observes, as the cell replicates, that each unit seems capable of all body functions.
The movie wastes little time watching as this thing grows, escaping its petri dish. Before long, it has become a starfish-shaped jelly creature, and has claimed its first victim. Unfortunately, the trusting people of Earth, before sensing its capacity for mayhem, have given it a name: Calvin. Try shouting “Calvin’s going to find a way through the airlock!” with a straight face, and you’ll understand what this cast is up against.
As it happens, Calvin is much better with airlocks and other unlikely access points than a newly hatched life form has any right to be. He’s also hardy, surviving longish spells in a vacuum when the humans manage to get him outside of the space station. The picture struggles to find a satisfying rhythm as the members of this multinational, co-ed team get slooshed up by Calvin or suffer related lethal mishaps. Each dies valiantly; few enjoy a moment of glory. Genre fans won’t be too shocked by the way that plays out. But most would be quite surprised if Life’s hints at a sequel lead to even a single spinoff.