Movie Review--Life

"Pilgrim wasn't just seeing things in Mars' soil.  We're looking at a large single cell.  Inert.  Unmistakeably biological.  And, like organisms on Earth, has what appears to be a nucleus, cytoplasm...  The cell wall is thick.  Those hairs look like cilia.  Longer than we're used to seeing on Earth.  More like flagella." 

--Hugh Derry, Life

"These creatures could have dominated Mars for hundreds of millions of years.  But now we know that they hibernate with a loss of atmosphere."

--Hugh Derry, Life

Life is what might be made if Gravity and the original Alien had a cinematic baby.  With the cosmic, cinematic grandeur of the former and a similar one-word title like the latter, it has a directness, elegance, and seriousness that lets it stand tall as a bold combination of philosophical science fiction and horror.  The result is both far more simple than many films about aliens that take their subject matter more seriously than mere thoughtless entertainment and far more elevated than many alien/slasher films.  Life teases and averts tropes like the alien creature attacking a scientist at the first telegraphed opportunity or the black character dying first, and an excellent ensemble cast with Rebecca Ferguson, Ariyon Bakare, Jake Gyllenhaal, Ryan Reynolds, and more do their part to treat the story with all the sincerity and weight necessary to make it a genuinely dark and dramatic movie with an undercurrent of existential awe at the fact that life exists at all.  That Life comes from the director who later helmed Morbius, which was just mediocre instead of the abomination many treat it as, is ironic for two reasons.  It is an example of how director Daniel Espinosa has already risen far above Morbius and it was a film suspected by some to be a stealth prequel to Venom, which launched the Sony-Marvel films that Morbius is part of.  Thankfully, Venom's grave shortcomings do not reflect those of this movie, though it is not narratively connected anyway.

Production Values

Like an inverted version of Gravity that focuses more on the inside of a spacecraft, Life features some broad shots of Earth and the International Space Station together that go far towards showing how the station could be a place that inspires awe before it contains an extraterrestrial horror.  Some scenes seem to echo Gravity so well, which was an incredible film, that I would not be surprised if Life was inspired by it as it was by Ridley Scott's grand science fiction horror movie it pays homage to.  Several ways that this is distinct from Gravity, though, would be the larger central cast and the emphasis on things that happen within the space station instead of outside it.  This puts the focus on characters in peril, such as the one played by Rebecca Ferguson (Doctor Sleep, Hercules), who is, as in every movie I have seen her in, a phenomenal actress who flourishes in dramatic stories.  Ariyon Bakare, Olga Dihovichnaya, Hiroyuki Sanada, and Jake Gyllenhaal are also great at adding personal touches to their characters despite all of them being trapped in the same basic circumstances.  Ryan Reynolds, though, gets the chance to inhabit a more serious role, one where he displays vulnerability and terror, a far cry from the personality of Deadpool he has deservedly become known for.  This was an important step towards establishing his versatility as an actor to a newer audience that might find his range surprising.

Story

Some spoilers are below.

A team of scientists aboard the International Space Station historically recovers soil from Mars, inadvertently bring with the alien soil a form of extraterrestrial life.  At first, the organism is small, resembling a single cell.  It begins growing rapidly while behaving in a docile manner.  Named Calvin by those on Earth who are astonished by the discovery, the creature's multiplying cells can perform multiple functions, and the entity displays a high level of environmental perception and intelligence--in the sense of being able to make use of its surroundings and achieve predatory goals, not in the sense of knowing philosophical truths, of course.  Calvin eventually shows hostility and improvises to escape confinement, searching the space station for water and food as it continues to increase in size.

Intellectual Content

That life takes one form on Earth does not mean that creatures, if there are any on other planets, would animate the same kinds of physical bodies with the same kinds of physical limitations.  The Martian of Life goes through many shapes and appearances that are not standard for terrestrial life, and the only impossibilities here would be that an alien cannot violate the laws of logic by having contradictory physical or mental characteristics.  Any unexpected or foreign trait that is not contradictory in some way is possible.  Overlooking this, one of the scientists on the ISS in the film first assumes that "Calvin" should not be able to survive in outer space without oxygen, but it survives despite this.  Shots from the perspective of the Martian predator also convey that its sensory experiences have a different visual "filter" than that of humans, further differentiating it from humans.  However, as Calvin demonstrates a high capacity for planning, the movie focuses on applications of its intelligence to navigating and adapting to sensory environments.  The abstract, necessary laws of logic are still at the core of all intelligence on a metaphysical and epistemological level, the mere practical applications of rationality being inferior to grasping major philosophical truths that are more fundamental and far deeper than anything that would pertain to biology alone.  While humans rely on these truths even if they are not aware of them and everyone can discover them if they choose to, Calvin shows no hint of caring for or understanding them.  There are of course more abstract sides to biology itself, especially how it intersects with phenomenology, that Life somewhat addresses.

"Life's very existence requires destruction," an astronaut named Hugh says--even a vegetarian life form must kill living things to eat, and even plants themselves can kill bacteria.  While all scientific phenomena could have differed in any way that is logically possible, and it is indeed logically possible for there to be or have been a life form that does not need to consume, the life we experience and observe needs to consume to continue.  This does not make other beings equal to humans or deserving of survival if they threaten human lives, but it is something we share with every creature that consumes to live.  All recorded macroscopic organisms happen to require consumption of something.  Hugh says he does not hate Calvin for simply participating in this cycle, while Miranda says she feels "pure fucking hate" for the creature, though she erroneously admits she thinks this feeling is irrational when her real irrationality is that she believes involuntary feelings are irrational, as opposed to beliefs that do not align with reason and actions that do not reflect devotion to rationalism.  Nevertheless, her dialogue here and elsewhere is part of how the film draws attention to how there is so much more to human life than mere survival.  Miranda and other characters usually get at least one or two personal moments that capture how people are conscious beings with the capacity for personal introspection, which is only possible thanks to reason.  Humans are not mere biological machines that eat, reproduce, and die, but beings that can think and feel and understand the very depths of reason, though Life does not go so far as to hold the spotlight on some of the most foundational truths about this.

Conclusion

Life is one of the best films to be inspired by Alien yet.  One thing that helps set it apart is embracing a more realistic scientific approach and a more thoughtful philosophical approach to the discovery of alien life than is typical, and the sincere humanity of even the characters with less screentime makes the desperation of the situation stand out all the more.  An abnormally bleak ending, grand cinematography, and the opportunity for the great cast to showcase drama acting (even for someone like Ryan Reynolds who is normally associated with comedy) strengthen the overall film.  There is a boldness and competence here that is so often missing, at least to this extent.  Yes, Life could have worked as a setup for Venom, but its self-contained, one shot story is in some ways darker precisely because there is no sequel to expand upon what happens next.  The isolation from established franchises left it free to be itself, sometimes mirroring elements of other films and sometimes going in its own direction.

Content:

 1.  Violence:  Blood is spilled in the low gravity setting of outer space again and again as the Martian creature attacks other organisms.

 2.  Profanity:  The likes of "fuck" and "shit" are uttered every now and then.