Life is based on the International Space Station where a six member crew have discovered there is extraterrestrial life in the universe. Roy Adams (Ryan Reynolds), with the aid of a space arm, manages to catch a wayward space probe that’s been knocked off course by a meteor storm.
A small cellular organism from Mars hitched a ride on the probe and is dividing as quickly as their paraplegic geneticist (played well by Ariyon Baker) can study it (and announce their earth shaking discovery to the world). Courtesy of a school competition; children on Earth have named it Calvin.
There is an accident in the lab and Calvin becomes hostile. And as the crew soon realises to their horror, it possesses problem solving and survival instincts that soon endanger the very lives of all crew members. “It doesn’t hate us but it needs to kill us.” Their risk management expert Miranda North (Rebecca Ferguson) has her work cut out for her. And their pilot Sho Murakami (Hiroyuki Sanada) may not get to see his newborn daughter back home.
Should they hightail it back to Earth or attempt to contain or destroy the Martian creature? The Captain (Olga Dihovichnaya) decides to stay for reasons that come out toward the end of the movie. And even never return for one of them; the disillusioned with humanity: Dr David Jordan (Jake Gyllenhaal).
As you can imagine, discovery of another life form in space would present the world with serious issues to deal with. Could it wipe out life on earth as an alien plague or be uncontainable if it grew to it’s full potential?
The discovery of life in the universe would certainly be groundbreaking news but, as the movie shows, it presents a plethora of problems that would make it a far more complex issue to deal with in real life; especially in the way its handled and by whom.
Fast paced action and predictable in parts: Life provides the suspense and thrills of a claustrophobic closed environment; that verging on the fringe of space provides so well.
I enjoyed this Part-Alien Part Gravity B movie. Worth seeing 3.5 Stars.
Take Care & Cheers
Jason
Written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick.
Directed by Daniel Espinosa.
