For a film entitled Life, it sure has anything but…
Life, a sci-fi flick which takes heavy inspiration from films such as Gravity and Alien, follows a crew on board the International Space Station who have recently discovered life besides earth which soon turns out to be much more hostile then initially thought. Prominent members aboard the ship include: Jake Gyllenhaal as Dr. David Jordan, Rebecca Ferguson as Dr. Miranda North, and a much over hyped, and promotional tool, Ryan Reynolds as Rory “Roy” Adams.
While the film has promise, you know for people who haven’t seen Alien, it is a lackluster tour de France of trapped in space genres and tries way too hard from the very beginning.
While the film may have had more promise if Reynolds was in fact a lead in this film, like the promotions for the film would mislead you to believe, the acting and writing is life-less (enjoy the pun) and the film has been done much better before *cough* Alien *cough*.
Just so I can talk about this and be done with it, Reynolds is NOT the lead in the film as trailers and promotional tools may suggest. SPOILER ALERT: He is in the film for maybe ten minutes before being swiftly killed off in the films most exciting and visually stunning scene. If you want to watch the film, stop after this because it doesn’t get any better and Reynolds truly is charming as he is in everything he does. So thanks Mr. Reynolds for giving me some slight enjoyment in watching this film.
Gyllenhaal, the real lead of the film and usually a delight to watch, looks over exhausted and just dead in every seen he is in. Yes, you may be thinking this is intentional for his sleep deprived astronaut who has been in the station for too long, but if it is then thats a fault in the writers for writing such bland material for Gyllenhaal to utilize in his scenes.
Ferguson is forgetful, like everyone else in this film, but I appreciate the fact that she really tries to hold her own in the film.
Besides the dull acting and writing to match it, the visuals for the film are truly stunning in certain scenes. The death scenes are great, and terrifyingly effective, but unfortunately this is another case of the film trying to hard. The film actually takes scenes straight up from Gravity, and lets just say you don’t want to compare this film to that Oscar winning masterpiece.
Just to not completely bash this film, it does have a great, albeit slightly predictable ending. So if you want to find out the ending for this film….you may be better off finding out on Wikipedia.
All in all, the film could have had promise if it was made a few decades earlier. The plot, compared to other films like it, are dull and listless. The acting is just as dead as the writing, and this will surely be a forgettable sci-fi flick amongst gems such as Contact, Cowboys and Alien, and The Astronaut’s Wife…yeah, remember those?
Rating: 4 out of 10
