A disappointing genre mash-up
Uninspired writing and repetitive jump scares offer very little in the way of horror in Daniel Espinosa’s latest space thriller
“Apart from repetitive jump scares and sight gags that you begin to anticipate soon enough, the film offers little in the way of real horror.”
When talking about space horror flicks, you think of greats like Alien, Event Horizon and Last Day on Mars, to name a few. The thrill of the genre lies in its ability to bring alive deeply visceral feelings of alienation and cold dread. But when a movie depends way too much on its predecessors but refuses to be truly inspired from that source material, things never seem to lift off the ground.
This weekend’s Life begins aboard the International Space Station, where six astronauts are awaiting the return of a probe from Mars. The craft carries soil samples which they hope will give them insight into/veritable proof of life outside Earth. Some of these early scenes involve nifty camerawork, not unlike Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity; and combined with Ryan Reynolds’ (who plays boisterous engineer Rory “Roy” Adams) impish charm and humour, you’re quickly tricked into a feeling of security.
When a single-celled life form is discovered among all the dust and rocks, the crew members, headed by Olga Dihovichnaya’s Captain Katerina Golovkin, are beside themselves with joy. This is mankind’s first brush with alien life and the implications of the findings are enormous.
Studying the monocellular creature under strict quarantine so as to not risk contamination is Ariyon Bakare’s scientist Hugh Derry.
While he instantly bonds with the alien (dubbed Calvin by schoolchildren from Earth who are following the space discovery), other members are not so sure of Calvin’s quick growth. “Stop treating him like he’s your buddy. I’m your buddy,” says Reynolds to Bakare at one point, after the former forgets a safety precaution at the lab.
Things quickly escalate from here, and we spend the next hour and 45 minutes watching the crew members try to escape the clutches of what suspiciously looks like Alien’s facehugger.
What the film lacked in originality, we hoped they’d make up for in tone and plot. But, apart from repetitive jump scares and sight gags that you begin to anticipate soon enough, the film offers little in the way of real horror — not until the final twenty minutes anyway.
The graphics, while not out of this world, are serviceable. The ISS looks top-notch believable here, developed with excruciating detail, and our six inhabitants seem to have achieved zerogravity nirvana with little trouble. Sound design, always so important in horror films, is subtle and ever-present, amping up the tension, one decibel at a time.
The strength of the movie lies in its cast. Jake Gyllenhaal as the reclusive (not unlike his real-life public persona) Dr David Jordan is the undeniable star. As he recalls his days serving in the military and cites this as his reason for not wanting to return back to Earth — his muscles are beginning to atrophy from spending too much time in space — Gyllenhaal exudes vulnerability and anguish.
We did hope we’d see more of the Gyllenhaal-Reynolds bromance, used wildly in promotional material, on-screen, but there’s only so much a girl can hope for. The film’s international cast — Hiroyuki Sanada, Dihovichnaya, and Bakare — turn in delightful performances, each holding their own in the ensemble caper. Rebecca Ferguson (of Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation fame) as Miranda North is a commanding presence as well.
But a great cast can only help a movie so much. Too thinly sketched, the characters have little in way of creating any emotional attachment with the viewers, so when the body count rises (and it rises quick), there’s absolutely no feeling of grief.
Apart from the final denouement, a thrilling, bold risk taken by director Daniel Espinosa and writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick (most famous for last year’s Deadpool), Life dies a quiet death for its lazy writing and an uninspired plot.