Science Fiction Movie "Life" MAJOR SPOILERS
I'M NOT KIDDING. IF YOU DON'T WANT TO READ SPOILERS, STOP HERE.
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I had to unload because this movie would be a disappointment to anyone who has ever seen an alien movie.
A better title for this movie would have been "Too Stupid to Live." The best way to describe what goes on in this story is that the most intelligent make it through, and the rest succumb to anemic contrivances.
To begin, you have the all too friendly-with-the-creature scientist who just keeps interacting with the rapidly growing life form (which is the most interesting character in this movie), until the creature decides it's time to claim its rightful position on the food chain.
When the creature finally breaks through the flimsy barrier of a rubber glove like some rabid sperm there's actual confusion in the cabin as to what to do next, in particular, how to kill it. Really? They're on a multi-billion dollar space station which was intended to study alien life forms and they didn't think about building a contained lab that they could jettison if there's a breach?
And then the second boneheaded move was the second astronaut who said, just damn it, and goes into the contained lab to rescue the first scientist. He storms into the room when the creature is distracted absorbing a lab rat that happens to be pinned down during the entire first part of the movie. I don't see any scientific reason for this poor thing to be held this way, except for this specific contrived scene. And, as far as contrivances go, it's sad. I mean, how long does it take to absorb a lab rat? We get to see most of it turn into a protoplasmic blob before that second astronaut decides to go on his rescue mission. When he does step in that room, you're in your seat saying, "Wait, what? What's the point of having a contained lab that doesn't automatically lock the door if there's a breach?" I don't get it.
They didn't even have the tools to kill the creature in that "sealed" lab. They had to MacGyver a weapon out of a portable flame thrower. In fact, calling it a contained lab was a stretch because the air vents, that came on to suck the smoke from the MacGyvered weapon, suddenly offered a breach opening for this creature to escape into the rest of the ship.
Now, wouldn't you think that a billion dollar space station would have an override to shut down the vents at one time? Not this station. They had to be shut down one by one. Imagine the suspense as each vent was shut down in the exact order the Life form would seek them out -- at lightning speed.
The plotlines for the rest of the movie follows the same pattern. By the time the twist ending arrives, you're expecting it because nothing, and I mean nothing in the reactions and decisions of this crew follow any known or expected protocols.
There's at least one spectacular death, if you're into that kind of thing, but for the most part, this movie will only excite movie goers who have never seen an Alien movie. There are ways to write good science fiction based on human failures, i.e the Andromeda Strain. But this movie would be perfect fodder for Science Theater 2000.
= new reply since forum marked as read
Got Arrival from NetFlix and watched it about a dozen times. Nicely done.
Thanks, I'll gladly skip this one.
Gravity utterly sucked, too. The first guy who dies in the film was goofing off while on an EVA. He deserved death. No astronaut would do that. None of them. It went downhill from there.
Hollywood just cannot help itself. They have to destroy things, including unending remakes of old movies. The only good remake in history was The Maltese Falcon and that was because John Huston stuck to Dashiell Hammett's original dialog.
Thanks for the warning.
