Life

I particularly enjoy when a movie is short and sweet.

Especially in this day and age where Hollywood normally has exposition dumps, over-explanations, and scenes that don't add anything to films. If I had a quarter for every film in the last year I said needed a "slight trimming" I'd probably have...well...I'd probably have a few dollars...

That's not the point though. The point is, some films try to give too much. This includes both big time Blockbusters and Oscar-noms. Some are worse than others; I don't view a 10 minute trimming as that big of a deal, but when you could easily chop 30-40 minutes off your film, you messed up somewhere in the editing room. 

Life, the newest space survival-horror film (but not the only one this year as a specific someone is looking to make a comeback), gains its biggest points from being taut and not overextending its welcome. Admittedly, there's something missing here though -- that "magic" or special quality that I often refer to in iconic films is lacking here despite the star power and interesting premise. Even still though, I've spent far more useless time in the movie theater before and despite the shortcomings it has, Life is still worth a trip into space. 

The comparisons to Gravity with a monster are unavoidable and there is a bit echoed here from that truly incredible film (which reminds me...I should probably rewatch that again sometime). The special effects are strong and the "realism" of space is scattered here and there. It adds credibility to the film that things look real and the sense that this endeavor into space is in the very near future. Hell, we're planning on going to Mars in the next couple decades already. Life gets right to it and puts us on the International Space Station with a crew from a variety of nations on a Pilgrim mission to gather samples from Mars. Immediately, the mission is straightforward and makes what they're doing seem important, especially if you're a space nerd such as myself. They retrieve the samples of the Mars surface and begin analyzing them, quickly finding a single cell. One thing leads to another and they reanimate the cell, thus creating the creature. The rest enters spoiler territory but I'm sure you can piece together the fact that there are astronauts trapped on the ISS and a new creature on the loose. 

The face you make when...
you fart in your spacesuit and it's atrocious

[Insert predictable
Deadpool-in-space comment here]

I come back to the fact that this film is unequivocally missing something. I could always go to my default and say that the original score is lame and practically useless, but I feel like that's more the norm than anything these days. Truly, I cannot tell you what's missing from this other than the fact that it just doesn't seem wholly terrifying, even though the premise most definitely is. Part of me wonders if the high-profile cast featuring Ryan Reynolds, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Rebecca Ferguson is too distracting, but I thought they all did well here. We've certainly seen better from all of them, but for this film, they are good choices. 

Interestingly enough I think the fault comes down to the creature/monster itself. While the film wants to keep it's realism somewhat, the creature is mostly just a big amoebas cell that crawls around -- thus not making it all that threatening. Certainly nowhere near as terrifying as the iconic "bitch" Alien, but I wonder if they could have approached the creature differently with better effect? There are scary aspects about it which I won't get into here, but for the most part it sincerely looks kind of goofy. Until it's killing...then it's pretty terrifying. The deaths are graphic and painful, and given their intensity I wonder why it took so long for this film to be rated R (I think it finally received its rating at the beginning of March). The film creates intensity well, but here too I think there's often too much distance between the creature and the crew to be truly scared. They're often on the offensive so it's more of a survival movie of the creature until it becomes backed into a corner. It's still a fun watch but I was rarely holding my breath or closing my eyes.

The International Space Station: the most terrifying place not on Earth.
Especially if your name is Sandra Bullock or Ryan Reynolds

Life is a film that will likely be outdone by the newest Alien later this year unless Ridley Scott completely blows it. That shouldn't count against it that much though because it's still a well-structured thriller with enough good to outweigh its more average tendencies and hardly anything that's outright "bad". Couple that with the fact that it's a rare short film and it earns points for...ahem...getting to the point. 

CONS

• Missing that particular something or "magic". Root causes could be:
• Useless original score
• The creature looks silly more often than not
• Too famous of a cast?
• Rarely seems like the creature is attacking, more just trying to survive. It also is a considerable distance away from the crew for many parts of the film 

PROS

• Fun premise, especially given how close-ish we are to actually traveling to Mars
• At a little over 90 minutes, it's short and sweet. A nice, taut thriller
• Enjoyable cast all around
• Intense, mostly surrounding the gruesome deaths
• The ending. Not everyone will like it, but it suited this film perfectly

Rath's Review Score | 7.5/10