Flat and derivative

Rating: Null/10 (8 July 2017)

If you have been around the science fiction film block a reasonable number of times, you will almost certainly see that the premise of "Life" is heavily derived from the movie "Alien". But originality in Hollywood these days is a rare thing, and I was open to seeing the same story again as long as it was done with style and a few original touches. Unfortunately, the end results pretty much lack those ingredients. The first third or so of the movie is surprisingly dull - the movie can't find awe and wonder about the premise of finding alien life from another planet, believe it or not. Then when the alien lifeform subsequently becomes a threat, you would think there would be plenty of scares and tense moments. But surprisingly, that's not the case. The so-called terror feels... well... flat. I think a big reason for that is that the human characters are not well developed. They are so bland that it's hard to care about them and feel the so-called terror that they are experiencing. The only saving grace the movie has are a few good special effects, though there are also some special effect moments that comes across as surprisingly crude and clunky (bad CGI rears its ugly head in a Hollywood movie once more!) You'd be better off rewatching "Alien" than this clone.