As much as it wants to be, the new deep-space thrillerLifeis noAlien.
Then again, what is?
You could be intelligent and graphically gooey at the same time.
Credit: Alex Bailey
Not everything has to.
I only bring upAlienbecause thats how the movie is being sold.
Lifetracks the fates of six astronauts aboard the International Space Station.
We never really know where we are.
But they more than make up for it as soon as Bakare zaps the Martian amoeba to dancing life.
Thats when the movie zaps to life too.
Suddenly, theres a seventh member onboard.
They name it Calvin.
And its growing fast.
Its also adaptive and intelligent and aggressive.
No one onboard knows what theyre dealing with and how deadly it might be.
They just know that theyre trapped in a tight space with something very, very angry.
The crew tries every way it can to kill the thing, but Calvin wont die.
But it is a really fun one.
Somehow it manages to keep pushing enough joy-buzzer buttons to keep the audience on edge until the last scene.
If it feels likeLifesucceeds in spite of itself, the important thing is that it succeeds.B+
