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Sci-horror very much in the same vein as Ridley Scott's Alien that has its strengths but despite being only a quarter hour shorter in duration than that classic only manages about a quarter of the flesh on its bones by comparison.
The main strength of the film is its visuals, the sense of being aboard a vessel in space is well enough managed (both internally and externally) whilst the alien life form is also reasonably well rendered and develops fairly nicely even if somewhat predictably. Unfortunately though, whilst that life form would be truly terrifying in real life, on screen it just doesn't really convey that level of threat (one could even say it comes across as a damp squib) and whilst the film does admittedly manage occasional pockets of tension it never gets close to reaching any sort of fever pitch. It isn't all good visually though - imo the choice to portray the world at times as viewed by the life form is not only poorly done but a misstep as it temporarily breaks any connection between the viewer and the crew.
The international cast also doesn't help, it may very well be in keeping with the setting (the International Space Station) but also results in the dialogue not flowing particularly well at times. The biggest negative though is the screenplay, it just doesn't hold up to scrutiny in places and is sloppy enough to feel it would definitely have benefitted from another couple of drafts (and perhaps a new perspective giving it the once over).
Life was always going to struggle by drawing comparison to one of the all-time greats of the sci-horror genre but really does itself no favours by not being given the care and attention such a venture requires and for me that's irritating enough to sadly only make it worthy of a +
Life
Daniel Espinosa
2017
Daniel Espinosa
2017
Sci-horror very much in the same vein as Ridley Scott's Alien that has its strengths but despite being only a quarter hour shorter in duration than that classic only manages about a quarter of the flesh on its bones by comparison.
The main strength of the film is its visuals, the sense of being aboard a vessel in space is well enough managed (both internally and externally) whilst the alien life form is also reasonably well rendered and develops fairly nicely even if somewhat predictably. Unfortunately though, whilst that life form would be truly terrifying in real life, on screen it just doesn't really convey that level of threat (one could even say it comes across as a damp squib) and whilst the film does admittedly manage occasional pockets of tension it never gets close to reaching any sort of fever pitch. It isn't all good visually though - imo the choice to portray the world at times as viewed by the life form is not only poorly done but a misstep as it temporarily breaks any connection between the viewer and the crew.
The international cast also doesn't help, it may very well be in keeping with the setting (the International Space Station) but also results in the dialogue not flowing particularly well at times. The biggest negative though is the screenplay, it just doesn't hold up to scrutiny in places and is sloppy enough to feel it would definitely have benefitted from another couple of drafts (and perhaps a new perspective giving it the once over).
Life was always going to struggle by drawing comparison to one of the all-time greats of the sci-horror genre but really does itself no favours by not being given the care and attention such a venture requires and for me that's irritating enough to sadly only make it worthy of a +