Review of Life (2017) by Vithiet L — 14 Jul 2018

Life's plot doesn't take long to outline. A multi-national 6-strong crew of the International Space Station are tasked with investigating the first recovered evidence of life on Mars. As is often the case, bringing alien DNA on board a space shuttle doesn't end well, chaos abounds and the film plays out in the way you would expect (having seen this exact premise dozens of times over the decades since 'Alien' gave 'birth' to the genre).

The film opens with a stunning 5 minute tracking shot, outlining the characters and the structural layout of the ship, as well as emphasising the 'Zero G' environment in which they are operating. Knowing the cast before I went in, and also the pair behind the script (the Deadpool movie writers), this ambitious start to the film raised my hopes, only to have them come crashing down, when what followed was 95 minutes of trope, cliche, and wasted opportunity.

In fairness the film is beautifully shot throughout, by director Daniel Espinosa, but he and the rest of the talented cast and crew, are let down by the writing - the dialogue is entirely banal, and there is not a hint of wit anywhere to be found. I expected a little more humour going on the scriptwriters' previous work, but what we get is a stuffy, plaid effort, that just feels sterile and lifeless. The actors do their best, but they struggle to draw any emotion from what exists as an emotionless script on paper.

It is also not story-driven at all. The plot is powered by characters bumbling from one dim-witted decision to the next. There is no logic behind anything they do, and there are so many plot-holes in there, and continuity goofs, that they serve to draw you out of the film. For example, they make a massive deal of the lack of gravity, then in the next scene ignore it entirely. If you are going to make the environment almost a character, then you have to maintain consistency throughout for it to work.

On the plus side, there is some legitimately nice effects work in there, to complement the previously praised cinematography. The creature itself is well designed, although the film suffers from revealing a little too much too soon, which serves to drain a little of the impact from it. It's nice though that they have made it both intelligent and sentient which makes it's motivation unusually menacing for a film of this type. Those positives aside, it is largely a failure. Still worth a a watch, but with reservations for sure.