Like life, stupidity in space is apparently inevitable

Rating: 4/10 (3 April 2017)

A probe with samples of Martian soil is coming back to Earth and as a quarantine precaution ISS is to intercept the probe and study the samples first before sending them safely down to Earth. What at first seems like an incredible discovery of a dormant extraterrestrial cell soon turns into classic survival thriller for the crew.
For me, sci-fi is love, sci-fi is life. Not this Life unfortunately. At this day and age we have thousands of sci-fi stories to choose from. Why did the writers of Life go for a 90's/00's teenage die-off thriller and just set it in space? That I will probably never understand.
Everything in this film seems to work along those lines. The crew? The lovable jokester, the curious idealist, the professional with back-breaking emotional bond, the stern leader, the kind-hearted one and the emo kid. The plot? More holes than a Swiss cheese, stupidity as a plot device, no idea how some technology works and physics on/off at one point. Invincible alien and environment fighting the heroes. Including evergreens like the car conveniently running out of gas. Why? "Because otherwise we wouldn't have them in the middle of the woods on foot, dummy."
Life starts well enough. The visuals are amazing, the set-up works well. Introduction is swift and the plot is simple enough, so it doesn't need a ton of exposition showed down your throat. Unfortunately things go awry very soon and I was left with too many What? Why? How-the-hell? and That doesn't work that way! in my head to take anything that happened next seriously.
If you like movies for production values, then go ahead. If not, stay at home and watch House of Wax instead. At least that one has Paris Hilton with a pipe through her head. Ooops. Sorry.