The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital , Cairo , Egypt

While Daniel Espinosa’s latest trapped-in-space sci-fi thriller may not be one of the most original cinematic creations or as strong and as compelling as Ridley Scott’s Alien, which serves to be an obvious choice of inspiration, there are still plenty of interesting and engaging elements on display to keep Life relatively alive.

Set some time in the near future, the story follows six astronauts who board the International Space Station in order to examine and study a soil sample retrieved from Mars, hoping that it will provide them with proof of life beyond Earth. Upon successfully retrieving the probe returning from the red planet, the crew – which includes Mission Commander Ekaterina Golovkina (Dichovichnaya), Dr. David Jordan (Gyllenhaal), Dr. Miranda North (Fergusson) and Rory Adams (Reynolds) – are happy to discover that they have made a major breakthrough when a small alien-organism is brought on board.

Under the watchful eye of Dr. Hugh Derry (Bakare), the organism – whom they soon name Calvin – is placed in an incubator for observation in order for the scientists to see how it responds to different stimuli while the rest of the crew watches safely from behind the glass.  Trouble soon comes knocking when Calvin, having already grown in size in an extremely short space of time, breaks out of its containment threatening to eat and destroy anything and anyone standing in its way. Picking off the crew one by one, the survivors begin to look for ways to destroy the invader in order to save their own lives and prevent Calvin from reaching Earth.

 Scripted by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick – the writers behind Zombieland and Deadpool respectively – Life is the latest addition to the trapped-in-space sci-fi genre which, like many other space movies before it, takes most of its ideas and creative inspirations from outer-space masterpieces such as Alien and Gravity. Taking the now mostly familiar concept and putting it into play, the story is not the most original out there and this, perhaps, is one of its major setbacks. Sustaining tension and suspense throughout the course of the movie is also a struggle for the production which is at its strongest in the opening first half.  However, although static and repetitive at times, it does manage to succeed in employing its own spins and variations into the narrative while the spectacular visuals accentuate the entire space experience, adding a sense of fluidity and a touch of realism into the heart of the picture.

The talent present on board the spaceship is impressive and the chemistry shared between the crew is effective. However, there are no particularly memorable performances to speak of – with maybe the exception of Calvin who proves to be one deeply disturbing and harrowing CGI creation – with the story really never taking its time to properly flesh-out its characters.

Haunting and subtly beautiful, Life offers some genuinely entertaining and frightening moments. However, while the evocative atmosphere and the mesmerising visuals remain to be the movie’s strongest assets, it’s the somewhat derivative script that ends up causing a bit of a dent, ultimately preventing the sum of its parts from becoming a truly memorable film.