LIFE
US, 2017, 104 minutes, Colour.
Jake Gyllenhaal, Rebecca Ferguson, Ryan Reynolds, Hiroyuki Sanada, Arlyon Bakare, Olga Dihovichnaya.
Directed by Daniel Espinosa.
There have been quite a number of films entitled Life. It is such a generic title although it has a definite particular meaning – and promise and threat – here.
On the one hand, the film can be watched as an interesting piece of futuristic science-fiction. On the other hand, it can be watched as a space-horror film. The first approach is in the vein of the popular success of Gravity (and the final sequences pay homage to Gravity’s ending, with a twist). The second approach is reminiscent of monsters in space, especially the monster that emerges from the astronaut in Ridley Scott’s Alien.
All seems rather well on this particular expedition into space, an international team of six expert astronauts, two from the United States, two from Britain, one from Japan and the commander from Russia. There are four men and two women, the commander being a woman. They all seem to be getting on well together and liking their mission, especially the pilot and doctpr, David, played by Jake Gyllenhaal.
The mission is to find a lifeform in space and one of the Americans, Rory (Ryan Reynolds) is sent out to capture the container with the lifeform. He does so – and then…
When a spacecraft is in peril from within, the best thing to do is to destroy the monster or to get it out of the spacecraft. Of course, this is what they attempt to do. But, because the lifeform is a menace and growing in size, it is a threat to humans who, as in this kind of story, begin to lose their lives.
There is a human touch when the team in space have contact with crowds gathering in New York’s Times Square to celebrate what the astronauts are doing and a little girl is designated to announce that there is a name for the lifeform: Calvin.
For most of the film, the group are confronting Calvin, the commander going out to a spacewalk; the Japanese, an expert in technology, having to take refuge in his personal life pod. One of the British astronauts having been attacked by Calvin initially, has to be tended until… Which leaves the doctor and the British astronaut, Miranda, played by Rebecca Ferguson.
The film capitalises on the many edge-of-the-seat dangerous situations which arise. They also try to contact Earth and mission control to explain was has happened to them and a request to be rescued. Again, not quite what happens is expected.
David and Rebecca are the remnant, oxygen loss, temperature going down, deadline to survive.
Perhaps David saw Gravity and does get an idea that might solve the problem, even to some self-sacrifice. Just as the film is coasting to a partly happy conclusion, there is a twist which certainly takes one by surprise, dramatically very effective, emotionally shocking.
Then, for some reason, perhaps to allay any tension, the final credits have Spirit in the Sky playing rather too jauntily - it would have been more effective to leave us in a state of shock.
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1. The title, the variety of meanings? Affirmative, threatening?
2. Space stories in film, the big budget films prior to 2001: A Space Odyssey? 21st-century films, The Martian, Gravity? Their influence?
3. Audience interest in science-fiction, space exploration, discovery of life? Monsters in space? Threats to humanity?
4. The visuals of space, the opening, the stars and planets, the small craft, the exteriors of the spacecraft, the interiors in detail, the vastness, no pull of gravity, the issue of oxygen, fuel, advanced technology? The musical score?
5. The nature of the mission, to find life, the team, International, British, American, Japanese, Russian? The different roles and expertise? Their interactions? Male and female?
6. Rory, outgoing personality, his task, in space, capturing the sample, success?
7. Transition to earth, Times Square, the interviews, the children, naming of the lifeform? Calvin?
8. Calvin, mysterious origins, size, Rory taking it in, the confrontation, Hugh and his injuries? Isolating Calvin? Destructive, Rory going in to the chamber, firing, his failure to destroy Calvin? Rory and his death?
9. Calvin becoming a menace, threatening death, needing oxygen and humans to survive? The response of each of the characters? David and his skills, coming into his own? Miranda, her concern? Sho, technical expertise? Ekatarina and her being the commander? Hugh and the effect of his injuries?
10. The need to eliminate Calvin, Ekatarina as commander, her going out, herself as bait, trying to re-enter, the lever, anticlockwise? Her death?
11. Hugh and their supporting him, his leg, Calvin’s presence, his death? David and Miranda, strategies and tactics, Sho and his controls? Sealing doors and compartments, trying to isolate Calvin, Sho and his going into his pod, the picture of his wife, coming out, pursued by Calvin, his death?
12. Communicating with earth, the broken communications? The seeming rescue mission? The attack on the spacecraft?
13. Oxygen limited, temperature, deadline, David’s idea to entice Calvin and save Miranda?
14. David, drawing Calvin to his pod? Miranda, going to the second pod? Her sending the message to earth – and the warning not to allow Calvin into the atmosphere, the potential destruction of humanity?
15. The sea, gravity, the fishermen, hopes?
16. The brutality and the ending, Calvin’s enveloping David, Miranda and her cry into space?
17. The effect of Spirit in the Sky playing immediately after this horror ending?
