Good but Could Have Been So Much Better

Rating: 7/10 (28 March 2017)

A small team of astronauts on-board the International Space Station bite off more than they can chew when they are given the opportunity to analyze Mars soil samples. The samples hold the first incontrovertible proof of extraterrestrial life; made flesh by a multi-cellular organism they have dubbed Calvin. Among the crew are a mission leader (Dihovichnaya), a couple of pilots (Reynolds and Sanada), a biologist (Bakare), a doctor (Gyllenhaal) and a quarantine officer (Ferguson) all of whom find themselves at the mercy of the dangerous new life form which learns and grows with each encounter.
If the plot sounds familiar its because Life takes the high-concept of Alien (1979) and boils it down to its absolute essence; that being a slasher film taking place in the void of deep space. In that regard the film aptly capitalizes on its nihilistic themes complete with a creature design that resembles something out of H.P. Lovecraft. Our cast dwindles, their hopes of survival constantly dashed by an escalating barrage of set-pieces as the suspense slowly shifts from whether they will survive to whether we will.
The small ensemble cast does a worthwhile job with the characters their provided with. No one really gets an edge over the others, with the story using every moment of exposition dialogue to color their motivations. While it would have been nice if the movie had the economy of thought to translate that exposition into actual action, the downtime provided by people's bullet-point backgrounds actually provided a bit of breathing room.
Yet given the fact that the film tries so hard to ground its story in reality instead of the far-flung future of the Alien franchise (1979-Present), its easy to assume or expect more to Life than a B-movie with a big budget. I mean the film is called Life, a title that positively pounces on the screen the moment Bakare's biologist character prods his protozoic organism out of hibernation. He later muses that Calvin "may even provide life's meaning.," a grandiose statement that comes across as just plain goofy.
The structure of the film really begins to strain as the film enters its third act. By then Calvin and the remaining crew are basically at the same IQ level, which is to say smart enough to open doors yet stupid enough to think hiding in a glass cage is a good idea. A last plot point is dropped, the results of which will either come across as blatant half-a**ed pot stirring or give less picky audience members reason to give off a collective shrug.
That in conjunction with its chintzy, undeserved Twilight Zone (1959-1964)-esque twist sinks Life to the point of being a just another marginally entertaining sci-fi horror that's riding on the coattails of its much better predecessor. If it simply kept its head down and delivered on its pulpy premise, it could have gotten away with being a zero-gravity throwback. But since the film hints at something more then never delivers on the goods, Life might just go the way of Mission to Mars (2000) and Sphere (1998).