Improved visual-effects technology has made it easier to transport genres from earthly environs to the boundless frontiers of outer space where “no one can hear you scream”. Daniel Espinosa’s Life draws on sci-fi horror classics such as Alien (1979) and The Thing (1982) and Alfonso Cuaron’s sci-fi drama Gravity to create a film that does not offer too many surprises but is an enjoyable entry in the genre.
Based on a screenplay by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick (Zombieland and Deadpool), the movie takes place largely in the claustrophobic International Space Station. The astronauts on board intercept a message from Mars and discover a single cell organism unlike any they have seen before. A mission, sponsored by “American, Russian and Chinese” (an indication of Hollywood’s ever-widening target demographic) is set into motion to investigate the alien life form that is made of “muscle, eyes and brains”. A contest back on Earth decides the name of the extra-terrestrial, the resolutely docile Calvin (a reference to Solaris, perhaps?)
While the diverse cast is secondary to Calvin, who grows stronger and more intelligent, Espinosa grounds the story by suggesting human connections back home. Some like supervising medic Miranda North (Rebecca Ferguson) and her new father Sho Murakami (Hiroyuki Sanada) are shoe-horned into the plot. Others, such as David Jordan (Jake Gyllenhaal), who refuses to return to Earth because of the war and destruction back home, give the movie the requisite human touch.
At the heart of the tale is the cat-and-mouse game between Calvin and the astronauts. Calvin’s near indestructible powers next to the humans’ increasingly questionable decisions make it difficult to pick side. As the Martian is transformed into humanity’s perfect predator, the ingenuity with which he achieve his kills sustains the mounting tension. The filmmakers could have chosen more inventive techniques, but fall back on every trick in the sci-fi horror handbook and remain resolutely unimaginative. Life doesn’t have the equal of Alien’s delirious chest-bursting sequence, nor the benefit of HR Giger’s nightmarish designs, but by making the enemy more engrossing than the captive humans, the makers ensure that there is life in the journey to the end.