‘Life' movie familiar, because it's so derivative

What is it, exactly, that’s alive in “Life,” a grim and fairly effective cross between “The Martian” and “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner”?

The “it,” nicknamed Calvin, is a squishy, microscopic life form discovered in a soil sample taken from the surface of Mars. If Matt Damon had discovered Calvin in the first 20 minutes of “The Martian,” “The Martian” would’ve had a running time of 21 minutes. Described at one point as all muscle, all brain and all-seeing, the rapidly growing Calvin escapes the confines of his petri dish (this is one kid desperate to see the world). He requires food, water and oxygen, just like the crew members of the International Space Station charged with bringing the samples back to Earth, along with the special guest star.

If you’ve seen director Ridley Scott’s “Alien,” “Life” will be mighty familiar. It’s an ensemble picture, with a progressively smaller ensemble. The time is now, or now-ish. Jake Gyllenhaal and Ryan Reynolds are aboard the ISS, as is Rebecca Ferguson, who plays a Centers for Disease Control quarantine specialist. Ariyon Bakare is the scientist who makes the discovery, and then makes the mistake of trying to wake Calvin up when he’s napping.

There’s a Russian commander (Olga Dihovichnaya) and a Japanese crew member (Hiroyuki Sanada), the latter about to become a father. Once the lil’ Martian traveler in “Life” establishes himself as A) a freakishly fast-developing adversary and B) a real stinker, the zero-gravity blood globules float freely and, like in “Alien,” we have a slithery antagonist slithering amok in the space station, snacking on the fly.

Lately, global audiences have responded warmly to science fiction adventures offering images and stories of international cooperation and humanist affirmation, thanks to “The Martian” and “Arrival.” Despite the heartening degree of cooperation among the ISS staffers in “Life,” no matter how misjudged their actions, “Life” is not one of those movies. The screenplay by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick establishes a mood of wondrous discovery, and then dashes it, as the Martian life form starts feeling its oats. Reese and Wernick wrote “Zombieland” (2009), which I liked a lot, and last year’s massive smash “Deadpool”; this one’s destined for less of a commercial happy ending, I suspect, but it proves they can write in more than one key.

Director Daniel Espinosa has the advantage of shooting with, and around, digital effects that actually don’t look like the last seven space movies you’ve seen, although the few times the script calls for a Martian’s-eye-view shot, it throws you out of the movie temporarily, rather than pulling you in deeper. Espinosa made, among others, the 2012 action outing “Safe House” co-starring Reynolds. I’d say this one’s right on the beam with that one - proficiently made, often nerve-wracking, derivative enough to undercut its own modest achievements.