Reasons to see (or not) Life

Synopsis: We are on the international space station and we are recovering some samples coming from Mars. The massive discovery is that we find very intelligent cells, but we are more intelligent and we keep them up in the sky because it can be dangerous. All that being said, our security protocol sucks. Big time. Guess what? The biggest, nearly 2 hours long, I told you ever seen in human history: the cells grow quickly and they are surprisingly sadistic. Things escalate relentlessly and we still have to find a way to keep that thing away from Earth, which turns out to be surprisingly difficult even though we are in space.

Life is a movie that looked like an Alien ripoff with bigger actors since the very first trailer and, to some extent, it fits in that franchise quite well. Therefore, the plot is quite predictable, you really didn't need my synopsis to guess how the chips were going to fall in this one. I recognized certain aspects of Gravity too, thus, if you really want to define a movie using previous works, it is an Alien-Gravity sci-fi claustrophobic movie.

All that being said, the film presents some differences that at least keep you on your toes for the entire movie. This aspect is enhanced by a very intense rhythm, something that I've enjoyed quite a bit and kept me on the edge of my seat for nearly the entire movie. I think it is not a spoiler saying that some characters are going to die and the choices made in displaying such deaths are all the right one: very intense scenes that hide their inevitable, excruciating, ending and worth themselves the price of the ticket.

The first weak spot of the movie is hidden inside its strong suit: the villain. While this mysterious bunch of cells is absolutely terrifying, at times it goes so over the top in order to move the plot along that may throw you off the narration. In other words, regardless the fast pace, a sapient use of scare jumps, and the constant threat to the characters life, the villain looks so invincible that looses every credibility, thus breaking the spell of the narration.

A second problem is again related to one of the good aspects of Life. The very high-pace narration is good for entertaining the viewer, but doesn't leave much room for the development of the characters (or of a theme for all that matters). The result is that, excluding the 2 very famous actors that you recognize easily, the others are very disposable and do not have any third dimension while the plot moves in front of them. Normally this aspect is not very relevant but, when the entire story is basically in a big room up in the sky, it is easy to notice that you are not very sure on who is who.

Another issue is sadly the one that you bring home and regards the ending of the film. It is supposed to be the scene with more tension, but the climax is ruined by the fact that you see the punch coming from miles, thus falling short in delivering the last impression you will have on the movie.

To sum up, Life is not a movie that I will remember for long, but it is probably a blockbuster that I would keep in my collection for some beer evening on the couch. It didn't fail to entertain me, regardless a concept not particularly original and the almost complete absence of a theme. There is something that resembles a reflection over the role of the scientific research in our society, but it is so sloppy that looks like an accident. If you don't expect some deep cinematographical sci-fi experience, you will probably enjoy your time in the theater.