Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

Life Blu-ray Movie Review

In space, no one can hear you yawn.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman June 18, 2017

Art imitates life, and Life imitates movies like Alien. It's not a poor man's recreation of Ridley Scott's genre masterpiece, but it is a derivative facsimile thereof. The movie offers little of creative substance, serving instead as a perfectly serviceable and largely entertaining but fairly hollow nuts-and-bolts tale of a handful of science-types trapped on board a space station with a deadly, evolving alien creature. That's really about it. The film, from Director Daniel Espinosa (Safe House), satisfies all technical requirements and delivers a decent enough time-killing watch, but audiences should be prepared for a film that yields little in the way of serious drama, characterization, gore, or genre chills. It has no staying power beyond its time on the screen. Indeed, "serviceable" describes it to a "T."

Evolved.

The crew of the Nostromo, er, the International Space Station, brings aboard a wayward probe that holds precious samples from an expedition to Mars. It's a bumpy, risky coupling, but the crew manages to haul it in intact. What they find will change the world. Exobiologist Hugh Derry (Ariyon Bakare) discovers evidence of life, a single-cell organism that quickly multiplies itself into a larger creature. As the rest of the crew -- Ekaterina Golovkina (Olga Dihovichnaya), Dr. David Jordan (Jake Gyllenhaal), Dr. Miranda North (Rebecca Ferguson), Sho Murakami (Hiroyuki Sanada), and Rory Adams (Ryan Reynolds) -- observes, the creature attaches itself to Derry's hand. It quickly becomes clear that the creature does not come in peace and that the crew faces a grave, unstoppable danger, and preventing its travel to Earth suddenly seems more important than saving their own lives.

Make no mistake, Life offers good, basic R-rated Sci-Fi entertainment. Though it doesn't push any boundaries -- not in terms of genre cadence, violence, or characterization -- it maneuvers through the basics with a spit-and-polish sheen that does well enough to mask the film's structural deficiencies, which are many. Chief amongst them is characterization. The handful of ISS astronauts are given rather rudimentary backstories -- one is paralyzed, one is overextending his stay, one is a new father -- but none of it truly matters in the grand scheme of things. They're little more than instruments for the movie's use, characters who are both fodder for the creature and individuals who have the training and wherewithal to use ship's systems to their advantage to battle the creature. But Life usually struggles to get out of a comfort zone of predictability, if not predictability in its own, unique storyline certainly predictability within the greater genre construction. Right down to the final shot there's precious little ingenuity and nothing to keep the audience on its toes. The film is happy to just offer a new coat of paint on a standby genre, which is fine, and it works well enough in that regard.

The movie is technically sound, though, again, not much of a modern marvel. Creature design is neither here nor there. It's not memorable in the least and it's not particularly menacing. It's sort of like an enhanced face-hugger. Various external shots of the station, both beauty shots and in moments of peril, are well done. Espinosa and DP Seamus McGarvey commendably make use of the cramped locations, squeezing out intensive visual drama from just a few spaces for operation in the ISS. It's even difficult to tell what's real and what's been digitally inserted or enhanced. Performances aren't particularly compelling, but then again, neither is the script. The cast often lacks serious emotion, failing to convey deep, sincere fear, for example, even as they verbalize their terror. There's little here to excite in the moment and even less over time.

Life Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Life was digitally photographed (what isn't these days?) and the resultant Blu-ray is something of a minor mixed bag, though often favoring the positive side of the spectrum. There are times when the image falls terribly flat and smooth, particularly early on. It's not a visually robust movie to begin with, featuring a somewhat bleak, cold, gray-blue color scheme that drains the life out of many scenes. As a result, and with the digital photography and smooth digital effects, the image can take on a glossy, inconsequential sheen that leaves it looking flat and bland. But various close-ups do offer a much more intensive bit of visual depth, presenting facial textures in particular with incredible nuance and attention to detail. Black levels hold fairly tight and flesh tones tend to favor a flatter, more pasty appearance. Occasional, and usually light, evidence of macroblocking is present, and noise is a bit more prevalent, unsurprising given the movie's darker nature. The Blu-ray is also a bit of a drop from the UHD, which makes this one look much less crisp and well defined in comparison.

Life Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

For Life's Blu-ray release, Sony has once again left the premium soundtrack for the UHD release and offers Blu-ray buyers a DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 lossless soundtrack. Fortunately, this track is terrific in its own right, reference through and through, really. Things begin with a bang, which sets the tone for the rest of the movie. As the probe hits the station, there's plenty of full-stage, all-around cracking, clacking, and heavy smashes that offer a nice array of distinctive elements that make the listener believe they're on the station and both hearing and feeling the points of impact and the resultant sonic chaos. Such intense, detailed, and immersive sound elements carry through for the duration. The track never wants for greater width or depth in its action scenes, including a blasting makeshift flame thrower or an alarm that blares through the station (and the soundstage) with a piercing, intensive, and frightening shriek. Screams and chaos are nicely implemented and balanced right alongside smooth, natural center-positioned dialogue. Atmospherics in quieter scenes, such as console beeps and other little bits, add a healthy bit of substance to the movie's more relaxed moments.

Life Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Life features a hodgepodge of featurettes and a few deleted scenes. A UV digital copy code is included with purchase.

• Deleted Scenes (1080p, 5:49 total runtime): Caution of spoilers in one of the following titles: Jordan Examines His Stamp Collection, Adams Mending His Helmet, The Tang Breakfast Scene, Derry in the Gym, Adams' Body Is Placed Inside His Pod, and Sho and Jordan Talk.
• Life: In Zero G (1080p, 6:54): Cast and crew discuss the technical and performance arts challenges of shooting in what has been created to be sets similar to a no-gravity environment.
• Creating Life: The Art and Reality of Calvin (1080p, 7:07): Discussing the creature's biological design and implementation in the film as well as the possibility of life on Mars and elsewhere.
• Claustrophobic Terror: Creating a Thriller in Space (1080p, 7:28): Cast and crew discuss how outer space enhances the story and the film's structure. The piece also includes discussions on themes and concepts in the film, Espinosa's direction, the film's strive to achieve reality, visual structure, sets, and more. It's a solid catch-all piece.
• Astronaut Diaries (1080p, 3:00): The characters share a few brief (visually pixelated and compressed) thoughts.
• Previews (1080p): Additional Sony titles.

Life Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Life may not captivate, but it offers just enough entertainment value to keep the viewer interested. It's as predictable as the day is long and the performances (and the script) are a drag, but the filmmakers have injected the movie with just enough of a technical achievement and sheen to keep it moving, assuming one can get past the overwrought opening act. A classic watch-and-forget, the movie will likely only be remembered when it's seen in a collection of films that tried, but failed, to capture the same magic as Alien. Sony's Blu-ray is much more impressive than the movie. Video is excellent, audio is reference-worthy, and the extras are fair. Worth a rental.