“Life” Review

Daniel Espinosa’s new film “Life” is frighteningly similar to Ridley Scott’s “Alien.” Both films feature a small crew on a cramped spaceship being menaced by an imposing alien life form, and both films are more interested in horror and suspense than action and laughs. Luckily, “Life” follows in the footsteps of “Alien” in another key way: it’s quite good.

The film opens with an international team of astronauts (portrayed by Jake Gyllenhaal, Rebecca Ferguson, and Ryan Reynolds, among others) intercepting a probe from Mars. The probe contains a microscopic organism from the Red Planet, the first proof of alien life. The astronauts quarantine the life form, which they name Calvin. It grows rapidly, eventually morphing from a single cell to something resembling a translucent starfish. Something goes wrong; Calvin breaks free and begins attacking the crew, all while growing and evolving.

To say more would entail spoilers, but suffice to say the story takes some unexpected turns and comes to a satisfying head in a strong finale.

“Life” manages to overcome its passé premise by grounding the concept in more realism than “alien rampage” movies are usually afforded. As much “Apollo 13” as creature-feature, the entire film takes place in zero-gravity, and the crew reacts as real scientist most likely would to their situation — with one or two glaring exceptions. Thankfully, Calvin looks at all times like an actual alien life form rather than a classic Hollywood monster.

“Life” is an incredibly well-constructed sci-fi/horror film, complete with the nasty deaths, cat-and-mouse tension and clever ideas audiences expect from the genre. All of the actors are serviceable in their roles, though the script never affords them any big moments. “Life” is more interested in creating tension and exploring the concept of alien life than character studies, and that’s not always a bad thing. A few shallowly drawn side characters, particularly the ship’s captain played by Olga Dihovichnaya, and a slight feeling of been-there-done-that that prevails for the first half of the movie detract from the overall experience. All of this, however, becomes irrelevant once the third act hits. The last fifteen minutes pulls the whole film together and the clever ending is the kind of gutsy finale that is rarely seen in mainstream movies.

As far as sci-fi/horror films go, “Life” is in the upper echelon. If you’re hungry for some alien action, or just want to see an expertly-crafted thriller, check it out.