[Review] Life (7/10)

In the middle of big projects like Marvel movies and Mission: Impossible-like blockbusters, it is nice to see franchise actors playing larger-than-life characters go for smaller, independent-like movies with less CGI.

Not to say Life did not have any special effects going on for it, or has that indie feel for that matter, but it is of a much smaller scale variety. And also it depended heavily on the premise and atmosphere to create any form of suspense and thrills.

Writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick has substituted a super artificial intelligence of the robot kind and replaced it with a "Martian" called Calvin, but still in keeping in the same vein as a super A.I. would operate. With every second that Calvin was alive, it was learning at an incredible speed and adapting immediately so that it can survive on an alien environment. Hence, my super A.I. reference.

This was a great choice of a movie to do, as created and written by Deadpool scribes and Ryan Reynolds' partners - Reese and Wernick. It did not require a lot of filming time, nor go deep into a character or any kind of body building. The actors just had to go in and do some scenes with a bit of acting, and viola - a sci-fi thriller.

The genius of it was in the premise. This was something akin to the first Alien movie, a horror thriller that kept the audience on edge and in suspense throughout. It felt claustrophobic at times and definitely very intense.

However, under the direction of Daniel Espinosa, even though most of the movie was satisfactory, there was one part with a long sequence that was very unclear. What exactly was the second space shuttle supposed to do when it arrived, and the events that followed were all very sketchy.

The chaos created felt more likely to confuse the audience and distract from the poor direction or scenes that were re-filmed or added in last minute. Everything up to that point and after were quite solid, but for such an important scene it just fell apart and kept bugging me after that.

Also, the inconsistency of the character portrayed by Rebecca Ferguson also left a bad taste in the mouth. And it also came during the above-mentioned scene as well. Her role was to create one firewall after another and yet she went out of character when trying to save someone who clearly had to die.

Other than that, the rest of the cast, led by Jake Gyllenhaal, was adequate. Again, not much acting involved or needed; it was just a fun thing for the actors to do in between bigger projects. And this one was never meant to be something fantastic, but just something entertaining for the audience on a night out.