As the Alien tagline goes, in space no one can hear you scream. In the case of Daniel Espinosa’s Life, a more fitting statement might be: in space no one can hold a camera still. The majority of the film’s cinematography consists of dizzying, distracting movements around the international space station within which the narrative action is confined. And while Seamus McGarvey’s cinematography possesses a palpable beauty, it is a beauty mired with a lack of originality or emotional hooks. Much the same can be said for Life as a film.

“The audience is so quickly plunged into Life that they have little time to understand the characters’ motivations past surface level”

Despite its flaws, Espinosa undoubtedly sets up Life well. The crew – made of a diverse cast featuring Jake Gyllenhaal, Hiroyuki Sanada and Olga Dihovichnaya – are quickly introduced while having to ‘catch’ a craft containing samples from Mars’s surface. Ryan Reynolds’s Rory is tasked with operating the robotic arm and ensuring their mission is a success. The catch’s sequence, complete with Reynolds’s spacewalking, definitely matches the aesthetic prowess seen in Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity. Meanwhile, the cast’s comfortable chemistry lessens the somewhat stilted quality of Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick’s script.

Opening with such a critical situation establishes the film’s quick-fire pacing, which initially is a strength but eventually contributes to Life’s lack of emotional involvement. Being plunged into the action allows the audience to be quickly immersed in the outer-space of Life. Reynolds, Sanada and Gyllenhaal particularly shine in their respective performances. As we know by now, Reynolds is a master of stealing scenes and he does so with panache here. His depiction of blue collar frustation, transposed to space travel, is subtle and winning. However, despite being bestowed with the ‘my first child is being born on Earth’ cliché, Sanada’s performance is the film’s heart, his fight for survival is the film's most sympathetic. After his phenomenal turn in Nocturnal Animals, Gyllenhaal valiantly attempts to liven up his role as a veteran soldier disillusioned with the destruction wreaked upon Earth. His performance is strong, as is most of the cast, but it is not strong enough to overcome the script’s shortcomings.

Polem-Flick: Amélie’s unseen issues

The fast pacing becomes a problem when the killing begins. Surprise, surprise – the samples from Mars contained a malevolent plasmatic Tamagotchi (charmingly named ‘Calvin’ by a school poll back in the United States) that will suffocate, bite and smash its way to survival. Admittedly, Calvin’s violence does lead to some innovative and gruesomely beautiful set pieces. Yet, it is a struggle to care about any of the characters or their peril. The audience is so quickly plunged into Life that they have little time to understand the characters’ motivations past surface level. Ultimately, this blistering pace and lack of characterisation underline all of Life’s flaws.

Ridley Scott’s Alien may cast a long shadow but Espinosa’s Life comes undone all on its own. Solid performances from all of the cast as well as some innovative tense sequences ensure Life is still a good watch. Be warned: you might never look at a space suit in the same way