MovieChat Forums > Life (2017) Discussion > The Meaning of Life...

The Meaning of Life...

posted 5 years ago by Ace_Spade (9654)
6 replies | jump to latest

Did anybody else want this movie to explore the concept of life itself a little more? The title is life, they've discovered life on Mars, one of the crew is a new father... And then it's a bargain bin Alien movie.

I just felt like there was such richness in the topic of life and what it means and not being alone in the universe, such depths to plumb regarding what happens now that we're not alone. Nobody got emotional or philosophical.

Recently I've been watching a lot of Star Trek (Next Gen) and I was thinking about the episode where they make a bunch of nanobots that evolve into a consciousness. This new race of mutated robo-bugs is a threat to the Enterprise and everybody in it, but Picard refuses to attack or kill them (though they are capable) arguing against genocide.

What an interesting tack this movie might have taken with one or more of the crew of the ISS pointing out the ethics or wanting something bigger than mere survival and adaption.

[–] TheAdlerian (2092) 5 years ago

The thing was way too smart.

I figured out things that it shouldn't be able to and would have to be a hundred times more ingenious than our most ingenious genius.

Along the lines of what you said, it would have been cool if by the time it killed most everyone it started talking and realizing what it was doing. That would have showed that it represented the entire cycle of life.

Instead though, it was basically a dumb movie with a lot of huge plot holes.

[–] Ace_Spade (9654) 5 years ago

I was wondering about that, too. It had no way to communicate with the scientists. If it did, it would have known they wanted to help it.

But part of the plot was about how Jake Gyllenhaal's character didn't know all the "safety nets". The ISS team didn't know everything, but the creature did. I guess...it's psychic?

It would have been a lot cooler if the alien were physically more powerful - the nigh-invulnerable super-being as presented in the film - but it just didn't know how to work the tools and tech. That would have been a neat showcase of nature. Humans don't have the claws, scales, speed, or senses that most other animals possess, but we know how to create and use tools.

Your idea just there: having the creature develop a conscience and realise that the humans were sentient and scared would have been beautiful! Imagine that plot twist: halfway through the monster movie, the horrible Thing From Another World starts behaving more humanely than the humans.

The movie was...enjoyable enough. It had plot holes and was dumb, but...I guess it's a bummer because of Alien. We've seen filmmakers tread these boards before and pull it off so much better, so now the question is: if you're going to go over the same ground, why do a slipshod job?

Could it be that they came up with concept, then envisioned the last shot of the film, and then bent over backwards to get to that (admittedly, darkly amazing) final moment?

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

No.

[–] Ace_Spade (9654) 5 years ago

Oh. Okay.

[–] Kowalski (78704) 5 years ago

THE RED LETTER MEDIA GUYS COVER A LOT OF THE SAME ISSUES,GOOD REVIEW.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zwjc9HbZug8

[–] Ace_Spade (9654) 5 years ago

I love those guys. They've got one of the best review programs out there right now. They have high standards, they're as consistent as anybody can be while performing a subjective critique, and they're never too snobby. Plus they do have legitimate chuckles in there, too.

Plus the Star Wars prequel reviews...wow.