Life
Film
Review
by Kam Williams
Microscopic
Martian Matter Morphs into Monster in Outer Space Screamfest
In
recent years, Hollywood has started serving up some outer space
adventures, a la The Martian (2015) and The Space between Us (2017),
suggesting that the Red Planet is basically a benign environment free
of any hostile creatures. But just when we thought it
was safe to visit Mars again, along comes Life, a cautionary horror
flick unleashing a terrifying
alien force aboard an international space station.
Directed
by Daniel Espinosa (Safe House), the claustrophobic thriller co-stars
Jake Gyllenhaal and Ryan Reynolds as Dr. David Jordan and Roy Adams,
respectively, the Pilgrim 7's flight engineer and chief medical
officer. The balance of the six-person crew is composed of Center for
Disease Control quarantine specialist Dr. Miranda North (Rebecca
Ferguson), systems engineer Sho Kendo (Hiroyuki Sanada),
eco-biologist Dr. Hugh Derry (Ariyon Bakare) and the spaceship's
captain, Katerina Golovkin (Olga Dihovichnaya).
As
the film unfolds, we learn that their appointed mission is merely to
deliver a single-cell organism arriving via space probe from the
surface of Mars. It all sounds easy enough as the disarming plotline
initially devotes itself to developing the characters' back stories,
like how David is a disenchanted, Iraq War vet.
Upon
retrieving the capsule, they celebrate the discovery of the first
incontrovertible proof of life beyond Earth. They even allow Sho's
daughter to give the ostensibly-innocuous substance a cute, cuddly
name, oblivious of the danger lurking just over the horizon.
The
plot thickens when "Calvin" begins reproducing via mitosis,
and every cell of its luminescent ectoplasmic mass proves to be an
irrepressible mix of brains and muscles. By day 25, the sentient
creature develops proto-appendages and becomes strong enough to
breach containment.
Initially,
it nibbles on a finger of Hugh's, who somehow discerns that "Calvin
doesn't hate us, but he's got to kill us to survive." Great.
What ensues is a desperate race against time to return to Earth
before the mushrooming monster devours them all, one-by-one.
Though
reminiscent of such sci-fi classics as Alien (1979) and Species
(1995), Life is a worthwhile addition to the extraterrestrial on the
loose genre. Substantial credit in this regard goes to the
ever-underappreciated Jake Gyllenhaal who turns in the latest in a
long line of impressive performances which includes outings in
Nocturnal Animals (2016), Southpaw (2015), Nightcrawler (2014) and
Prisoners (2013), to name a few.
Strap
yourself in for a cardiovascular screamfest that'll keep you
squirming in your seat. A riveting reminder that it still ain't
smart to mess with Mother Nature!
Excellent
(4 stars)
Rated R for violence,
terror and pervasive profanity
In English, Japanese
and Chinese with subtitles
Running time: 103
minutes
Distributor: Columbia
Pictures
To
see a trailer for Life, visit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeLsJfGmY_Y
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