The so-so love-child of Alien, The Andromeda Strain, and Gravity

Rating: 6/10 (23 March 2017)

In general, horror films tend to follow the same formula: introduce main characters and their friendship, introduce monster, monster kills them off one by one, and there's some kind of twist at the end.
Life follows this formula as well, and there are absolutely no surprises.
The story centers around a group of scientists aboard the International Space Station, who analyze soil samples brought back from Mars and discover a form of life from Mars. They work on it in space so as not to risk Earth, which proves to be a wise precaution as the Mars life form (which is named Calvin by schoolchildren planet- side) grows rapidly and decides it doesn't want to be a lab specimen anymore.
There are many obvious parallels to Alien/Aliens as it is set in space, revolves around a small crew aboard a space vessel getting picked off one by one by a creature, and they can't risk it getting to Earth.
However, at least with Alien we know it's predominantly a horror film with a sci-fi setting. Life, on the other hand, can't seem to decide if it's a sci-fi film that happens to have horror elements, or a horror film that is trying to be a sci-fi film. In the end, it's trying to be both and kinda failing at both.
To be fair, there are some good character moments. Ryan Reynolds is a bright spot in a cast of otherwise one-dimensional characters, and even though Reynolds' space mechanic character is also one- dimensional, at least he's enjoyable to watch.
The rest of the cast gets fairly cursory character set-up, and by the end you just don't really feel a sense of loss when someone inevitably dies.
Finally, the creature itself, while intriguing when starting out small, turns into a pretty generic space monster by the end, which is fine but breaks no new ground and leaves you feeling kinda blah about the whole thing.
All in all, this film is not terrible, it does not make for painful viewing, nor does it make for edge of the seat thrills. It's a very average film with some big star power attached to draw you in, and if you go into this film knowing this, then you'll be fine.