Intelligent ‘Life:’ Critics and audiences mixed on latest sci-fi film in home theaters this week
On a quest for life beyond planet Earth a group of six astronauts get more than they bargained for in the film “Life” on Blu-ray and DVD this week.
When Roy Adams (Ryan Reynolds, “Deadpool” and “Green Lantern”) goes solo to catch an off-course capsule full of research materials from Mars, medical officer David Jordan (Jake Gyllenhaal, “Donnie Darko” and “Nightcrawler”) is unsure if it is such a great idea.
When a single-cell organism arrives as part of the research materials that were rescued by Adams, everyone seems to embrace the creature even giving it the name “Little Calvin.”
However, everything starts to fall apart when this seemingly harmless creature begins to evolve.
While the premise for the film allows for a lot of potential Glenn Kenny, a reviewer for RogerEbert.com, feels the film was trying to be more intelligent than what ended up in the film.
“What the filmmakers don’t understand is that when you try to add overtly cerebral notes to ruthless B-picture scenarios, you actually wind up making your final product dumber than the movies you think you’re transcending. ‘Life’ bounces back a bit with a committedly sour punchline, and then blows that by punching up a ’70s hit you’ve heard a million times before in a million better cinematic contexts. And that’s ‘Life.'”
Michael O’Sullivan, a critic with the Washington Post, enjoyed the film a little better and said, “‘Life’ has cool effects, real suspense and a sweet twist. It ain’t rocket science, but it does what it does well – even, one might say, with a kind of genius.”
Audience reviewer Mark Hobin on the website RottenTomatoes.com also enjoyed the film.
“‘Life’ is an intense, heart-pounding saga that never lets up.
The production design is dazzling. The opening scene, an uninterrupted nearly seven-minute take, is a marvel,” he said. “The ISS set is constructed like a labyrinth and it’s easy to feel claustrophobic within. That adds to the tension as I was riveted throughout.”
“Life” is rated R for language throughout, some sci-fi violence and terror.
Other films on Blu-ray and DVD this week include:
n “Wilson” starring Woody Harrelson, Sandy Oian-Thomas and Shaun Brown and directed by Craig Johnson is a dramatic comedy about an awkward, middle-aged man who is trying to reunite with his estranged wife and meet his teenage daughter for the first time.
The film is rated R for language throughout and some sexuality.
n “Railroad Tigers” starring Jackie Chan, Jaycee Chan and Zitao Huang and directed by Ding Sheng in this action comedy about a person who is working on a railroad in China in 1941 that ends up leading a team of freedom fighters against the Japanese so they can get food for the poor.
The film is currently unrated.
n “Baker’s Man” starring Alyssa Gabrielle Rodriguez, Patrick Johnson and Devan Long and directed by Maurice Hall and Van White in this comedic romance about a multimillionaire who falls in love with a pastry chef that he thinks was the person who stole his mother’s bakery.
The film is currently unrated.
TV series on Blu-ray and DVD this week include:
n “Workaholics: The Complete Series” starring Blake Anderson, Adam Devine and Anders Holm in this comedic series that follows three friends who work as telemarketers from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and then live together from 5 p.m. to 9 a.m.
n “The Smurfs the Complete first season” starring the voices of Don Messick, Danny Goldman and Lucille Bliss in this animated series that features the lovable, blue Smurfs who are always on the run from the evil Gargomel.