LIFE

LIFE is about a crew aboard the International Space Station (ISS) who find themselves fighting for their lives after a seemingly innocent, tiny cellular life form adapts quickly into an ever-growing, malevolent creature that seeks to kill them and absorb their strength and intelligence. LIFE is an effective, scary science fiction thriller, but it has some plot holes, a bleak unappealing ending and a strong humanist worldview with lots of strong foul language.

The movie opens with the ISS crew awaiting an approaching probe from Mars, which is hurtling through space towards them with soil samples they hope will include the first evidence of life existing beyond earth. The lead analyst, Hugh (Ariyon Bakare), discovers there is indeed a moving, microscopic organism that has come with the sample and is excited because it’s the first evidence of life outside Earth. Humanity is excited as well, with a young girl winning a contest to name the organism Calvin.

Hugh quickly becomes attached to Calvin, speaking of it with affection, while the other scientists, led by Miranda (Rebecca Ferguson) and a doctor named David (Jake Gyllenhaal), are first in awe of Calvin. However, while sarcastic engineer Rory (Ryan Reynolds) warns them that they’re getting too attached to the life form.

When Hugh tries to sting Calvin with an electric wand to see how it reacts, it latches onto and crushes his hand. It almost instantly grows to a very visible size, appearing akin to an octopus. Hugh manages to break away from it, but Calvin gets loose. So, the team quickly seals the lab to keep it from entering the ventilation system and wreaking havoc throughout the station.

Hugh has passed out from the pain, and the crew fears for his safety. So, Rory recklessly floats into the lab and attempts to pull his body out. He succeeds, but gets trapped himself. After failing to kill Calvin with an incinerator, the creature grabs his head, slides down his throat and crushes his internal organs.

What the crew quickly realizes is that each time Calvin latches onto one of them, it not only gets instantly bigger and more powerful, but also absorbs their knowledge. Thus, the remaining survivors not only have to figure out how to kill the Calvin but outwit it as well.

Eventually, they realize that Calvin may even be able to figure out how to get off the station and fly to earth, putting the entire planet in jeopardy. Thus, begins a cat and mouse battle royale that alternates between intense action and thoughtful moments where the characters discuss what inspired them to pursue their careers.

LIFE is an impressively shot and paced science fiction thriller. Director Daniel Espinosa and Writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick have fashioned a movie that relies more on tense atmospherics and exciting mind games than graphic blood and guts, a refreshing change from many similar movies. It does have some unmistakably intense and stomach-churning moments, particularly in the scene where Rory chokes on Calvin and winds up spitting up blood that floats in slow-motion, and a scene where another astronaut has her spacesuit’s cooling system broken and chokes on the toxic fluid, but there are no exploding fountains of blood. Most of the attacks, however, are horrifying because they take place in methodical fashion, drawn out for maximum tension, rather than fast and explosively bloody.

To its credit, the movie also has several well-written thoughtful scenes, particularly two involving David, who first describes that he loves being in space because he hates being around the murder and mayhem of earthly war zones where he previously worked. He later shares a beautifully written scene with Miranda where he reads the classic children’s book “Goodnight Moon” during a brief respite from their peril.

The characters never discuss God or religion, but Hugh’s belief that he can manipulate Calvin for earthly purposes could be read as a humanist viewpoint on science mastering all manner of problems. However, his hubris comes back to haunt him, so the movie doesn’t necessarily back his point of view.

Despite the high-quality scares and thoughtful moments, LIFE does have weak spots in the fact that there are a couple of key moments of poor story logic and an ending that some audience members may find is too big a surprise for its own good.  For those who enjoy sci-fi horror movies in the vein of ALIEN, but without so much gore, the movie does deliver enough scares to work. MOVIEGUIDE® advises extreme caution for the intense scary violence and frequent foul language in LIFE.