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Movie Review: “Life” Is Taken Away In This Exciting Sci-Fi Thriller

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A team of scientists aboard the International Space Station discovers a rapidly evolving life form, that caused extinction on Mars, and now threatens the crew and all life on Earth.

Damn you “Alien.” And I mean that in the best way possible. Ever since Ridley Scott’s masterful, suspense-filled opus graced cinema screens back in 1979, filmmakers have scurried to follow in his footsteps. After all, if the formula works, why change it? Well, that can be a blessing and a curse. Apart from James Cameron’s heart-pounding 1986 follow-up, “Aliens,” and its two subsequent sequels, nearly every other sci-fi movie that has taken place in outer space, has been compared to “Alien.” And unfairly so in some instances. I thoroughly enjoyed Paul W.S. Anderson’s 1997 horror sci-fi “Event Horizon,” a film that started out as another seemingly clichéd would-be “Alien” but the Brit quickly turned it around, opting for ghosts and demons instead of monsters. That’s why I love that movie because it cleverly led you in one direction, only to completely mislead you and go in another. “Life” is a film that makes no apologies for the fact that it is a carbon copy of “Alien” but that’s okay because it has an engaging story, charismatic and appealing actors, and some absolutely spectacular special effects, which makes for a great movie night.

Set in the near-future, a six-person crew lives aboard the International Space Station orbiting earth. After the successful capture of a space probe on its return trip from Mars, complete with soil samples from the red planet, the crew immediately begins examining the soil. Dr. Hugh Derry (Ariyon Bakare) leads the team and for a number of weeks, the crew watches on in astonishment as microscopic cells gradually begin to grow into a tiny organism. But their excitement, knowing that this is the first official sign of life outside of earth, quickly disappears when it attacks Hugh, incapacitating him. After one of the crewmembers risks their life in order to save him, the team begins to panic when they realize that with each human encounter, the life form grows at an exponential rate. To make matters worse, in the process of shutting down the laboratory entirely, with hopes of depriving it of oxygen, it manages to escape into an air shaft, putting the whole crew in danger. Miranda North (Rebecca Ferguson), the ship’s captain, informs them that if they are unsuccessful at capturing and eliminating the organism, they will have no choice but to turn the ship around and take it into deep space, so there’s no possibility of them ever reaching the planet’s surface. Now the crew must race against time as they try to formulate a plan that will kill the alien life force before it kills them.

Just that synopsis of the story alone lets you see exactly how identical to “Alien” it really is, but don’t let that put you off. The film is always entertaining and is filled with edge-of-your-seat thrills that are genuinely exciting and, at times, engrossing. The entire cast appears to be having fun, and when you’re imitating a sci-fi classic, how could you not? The movie’s special effects are astonishing and the creature is eerily reminiscent of the underwater aliens in James Cameron’s “The Abyss,” but nowhere near as friendly. Director Daniel Espinosa has crafted an intelligent sci-fi thriller and while many aspects of the film are conventional, the overall scope is impressive and left me wanting more.

In theaters Friday, March 24th

 

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James McDonald

Originally from Dublin, Ireland, James is a Movie Critic with 40 years of experience in the film industry as an Award-Winning Filmmaker. He is also a member of the Critics Choice Association and the Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association.