'The Blob' meets 'Alien' on board a suddenly expansive ISS in 'Life', the mostly overlooked sci-fi suspense horror from 2017. We don't spend too much time on the discovery or acquisition of the alien structure (there are no planet-side scenes, apart from right at the end), instead getting right into its development into a killing machine.
I've
been looking forward to the DVD release of this all year (when
easiest to stream, without them just being recorded from a cinema or
having timestamps all over them), not because it looked particularly
ground breaking, but simply because I like stories about a small
group of people trapped in a space ship with some kind of threat.
It's just a premise of which I don't easily tire. It's not very
original, but it isn't really trying to be, and there are enough
visual nods to classics of the genre to make it clear that 'Life' is
self aware without it becoming annoying ala 'Gravity'. The actual
plot is simplistic so far as to feel old fashioned, with each crew
member being picked off until the last few finally form a plan to get
rid of the thing.
The characters are underdeveloped, but nevertheless convincingly portray academics (for whom slightly broken social skills are practically part of the job description). I'm glad that they didn't really bother trying to do the 'Alien' everyone talking at the dinner table scene, because films like this try that all the time and it rarely feels natural.
The alien itself was pretty cool, especially the way it ingested it's prey (and I like the way that it stays so small for so long, and that we get an extended period of prodding it scientifically). I guess it turns out to be smart, because it does the old switcheroo at the end, but we don't really get that impression throughout most of the film. The ending was a negative point for me, I thought the twist was revealed badly. The confusion over which pod is which felt silly and as soon as it started it was clear to me that they'd switch them and have the alien landing on Earth. Also it's all right at the end, it didn't really have any meaning (beyond “surprise, it's intelligent!”) and I highly doubt there'll be a sequel, so I didn't really care.
Life: 49.4