Death

Rating: Null/10 (23 April 2017)

Not the Eddie Murphy comedy of the same name, a more appropriate title might be "Death" as this film focuses on a spaceship crew gradually eliminated by an ever-evolving Martian lifeform. The film has earned unfavourable comparisons to 'Alien', however, the plot differs in unexpected ways. Most notably, the crew in 'Life' initially befriend the lifeform and raise it in an artificial atmosphere with some great early moments and excellent CGI as the minute creature curls back and forth and forms retractable limbs. The alien's motives are also very different here as it only kills in defense, with the crew bringing the horror upon themselves by their unorthodox administering of electrical shocks and then trying to kill it when it understandably defends itself. This agenda would, however, work better with more credible characters. For highly trained scientists, the team often let emotions get in the way and recklessly break safety protocols. The film also lacks characters as interesting as Ellen Ripley, but Jake Gyllenhaal has some good parts as an astronaut who -- after spending over a year in space -- would prefer to stay there for the rest of his life. With lots of mindless carnage and less interesting creature effects as it increases in size, the film sometimes feels like wasted potential. It is, however, capped off with a really powerful ending and Jon Ekstrand's brooding score is great throughout.