Anti-Life – Tight Sci-Fi Thriller
Director: John Suits
Writer: Edward Drake, Corey Large (Screenplay)
Starring: Cody Kearsley, Bruce Willis, Rachel Nichols, Kassandra Clementi, Johnny Messner, Thomas Jane, Corey Large
Plot: On the cusp of fatherhood, a junior mechanic aboard an interstellar ark to New Earth must outwit a malevolent cosmic terror intent on using the spaceship as a weapon.
Runtime: 1 Hour 32 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Anti-Life starts in the year 2246 with the Earth about to die, Noah (Kearsley) and Hayley (Clementi) are trying to board the last spacecraft to travel to New Earth, with Admiral Adams-King (Jane) running this ship, as Hayley his daughter is looking to have her first child on New Earth.
Noah is working on the ship as a janitor, under Clay (Willis) who has done plenty of missions before, this crew will have to work together for the 6 month journey, only not everything is going to plan, when a malevolent cosmic terror is picking off the crew, leaving them to fight back to save everyone on board.
Thoughts on Anti-Life
Characters & Performances – Noah is a stowaway on the last spaceship leaving Earth, he is doing everything to save his pregnant girlfriend, which will see him taking a role as a janitor on the ship, staying awake for the journey, trying to keep his identity a secret, until the mysterious creature starts picking off the crew, with his presence making him the prime suspect, where he must prove his worth in trying to fight back and save his girlfriend. Cody Kearsley does well in this role, being the entry to the world as well as the desperate father to be. Clay is the senior janitor who was once a captain, he must show Noah the ropes, becoming the one that will help fight back against the evil on the ship, showing his leadership from a previous life. Bruce Willis might well be making a lot of films where he doesn’t perform, here he does everything you would expect, not Die Hard levels, but not terrible in the film. Admiral Adams-King is sleeping through the mission, which will see him needing to be bought out of hyper sleep to make the difficult decisions, he is clearly an over the top leader that gets extra entertainment value in the film. Thomas Jane does go big with his role, at times it looks like it might be in the wrong film, but you will remember it. We do get to meet different members of the crew, each with a different role in keeping the spaceship clean during the mission.
Story – The story here follows a stowaway that pretends to be a janitor on the last ship leaving Earth which will see him needing to fight against an unknown evil creature on the ship. This story does seem to borrow from plenty of other sci-fi movies, we get the ideas of needing to move humanity to a new planet, which is a very real reality that does work well for the film, an evil that consumes, which is one that always works for the sci-fi horror. We could look at certain parts of the story not playing the smartest answer for humanity with the threat happening. We are also left with an ending that will frustrate more than anything else, as we would have liked a more conclusive ending.
Themes – Anti-Life is a sci-fi film that takes place on a spaceship turned ark which is taking the last group of humans to a new planet, the alien creature does everything it needs to, adding fear to everything, even if most of the attacks happen off camera, with the biggest moments being flashed over too much. The special effects are mixed, with the moments that do struggle are usually kept off camera.
Signature Entertainment presents Anti-Life on Digital Platforms 12th February and DVD 15th February.
Anti-Life is a by the book sci-fi that does keep the story simple, survival at all costs but never getting dark enough for the world we are in.