Life (2017) Review

    What would happen if you took Alien, added Gravity, and plopped some Albinoni-like soundtrack in the background? The answer is Life (but not the universe and everything). The film feels derivative right from the start, attempting to convey the immense terrible beauty of space the same way Gravity does but with what I can only assume is a much smaller budget. The vistas, while pretty, are rushed through and the kaleidoscopic camerawork is more dizzying than dazzling.

    But one could overlook the visual aspect if the people captured our full attention. Unfortunately, the characters and their interaction feel forced, too sickly sweet and clichéd to be believable. There are some respectable actors onscreen so when all the performances are lacklustre, I must look to the director and place the responsibility on them. And I found myself irritated with the insinuated love connections, as if it's inevitable that all characters must yearn for a romantic relationship with the others that are conveniently part of the story rather than the more plausible case of having families back home (there being one clear exception).

    So ok, the visuals are underwhelming, the characters a tad false, surely the story is what matters in a thriller, I hear you ask? Well, yes! Except yet again, there are problems. We all know Alien, in its many iterations, and the slew of similar films it gave way to, so why present us with the same thing one more time? They even had the audacity to replicate the famous face-to-face between Ripley and the Queen only with unconvincing CGI! The science on show is painful, even if measured by "film science" standards; I found myself wanting to shout at the screen "That's not how physics work!" on numerous occasions but more often than not just laughing instead. And if you don't have the capacity to convincingly have people move in zero-gravity, then be clever with your camera angles rather than show us the obvious wirework (or am I meant to believe people float with their butt higher than their back?).

    Now, I was ready to dismiss the film, put it in the "bad, just bad" box, and promptly forget about it but then it surprised me.

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD - continue at your own risk!

    Given the different fame levels of the cast members, I was completely unprepared for the first death to be who it was. Ballsy move indeed, especially considering all the publicity posters. But the ending absolutely caught me off guard: what, no happy ending for the narrator and resident pretty face? All the sacrifices were actually in vain?? And not even get a quick death but rather my worst nightmare of an end?! Bravo, that took guts! Did not see it coming and ensured I ended the film with a grin on my face.


Conclusion: Eh, take it or leave it [what's this?]


Life came out in 2017.

    

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