LIFE (2017 movie): The true hero you never saw (theory, contains lots of spoilers)

[ChrisSpace]

Alright, so as the title suggests, this theory of mine contains spoilers, so if you haven’t watched LIFE, go do so before you keep reading. You’ve watched it? Great! Let’s begin.

So it’s pretty hard not to forget the ending. Calvin reaches Earth in the relative comfort of one of the escape capsules, lands somewhere in South-East Asia, and a few fisherman open up the capsule so it can get out. So, that’s it, we’re all dead, right? Wrong. Very wrong. If all my research and theorizing has been even slightly successful, then within a minute of the screen going to black, Calvin, the fishermen and the surrounding islands are atomized out of existence in a blinding white light.

Now, let’s step back a bit and see how I came to this conclusion. First, let’s look at it from the perspective of the people on Earth, specifically the ones in charge of everything. Now, communications with the ISS may have been lost but they could still tell that something serious had happened and that that thing that had happened could threaten all of humanity. Remember, it didn’t take long for them to launch an attempt to boost the ISS into deep space, which meant they’d already determined Calvin’s isolation to be worth more than a $200 billion space station and the lives of several astronauts. Now imagine what they’d be thinking when they see the attempt fail. They’d be so terrified that I actually can’t think of a good analogy to use for them.

Now, if I were in charge, here’s what I’d do: I would do everything in my power to bring as much of the world together as possible together in humanity’s last stand against Calvin. That means using everything in humanity’s arsenal to destroy it if it reaches Earth. And what’s humanity’s best tool for destroying things? Nuclear weapons.

Now, if I’m not mistaken it was said that after the failed attempt to boost the ISS out of orbit it had 39 minutes before hitting the top of the atmosphere. That gives fourty-something or fifty-something minutes before the fisherman open the capsule. Now, that may not sound like enough time to implement the plan I imagine would be put into place, but it turns out it is, and even if it wasn’t, this “Plan B” would’ve been put into action at least as far back as when the shove-the-station-into-deep-space Soyuz was launched. IIRC t takes about 6 hours for a Soyuz to get from the launch pad to the space station, which is plenty of time to implement my plan.

So, what is this plan I’ve been alluding to? First, every orbital-debris-tracker and satellite-observation platform on and around the Earth would keep a close eye on the station, carefully looking at everything that comes off it. IIRC we already have the ability to track everything larger than a tennis ball, so seeing and tracking Calvin’s capsule should be no problem. Next, every time something from the station enters Earth’s atmosphere, the point of touchdown would be quickly calculated and once it has been confirmed with a margin of error of less than a hundred meters or so, humanity’s strength would be launched from multiple airbases, missile silos and submarines.

Well, that escalated quickly. But at this point, this is what I think would actually happen.

Now, you may think that Calvin could simply tolerate the nuclear detonations and continue on its way, but you’d be wrong. In the whole movie the only extreme conditions we’ve seen Calvin tolerate are the surface of Mars, the heat from the flamethrower and the vacuum of space. Compared with being within a few hundred meters of multiple nuclear detonations, that’s all easy. Just look at NUKEMAP and you’ll get a good idea of what kinds of conditions Calvin would be subject to.

Oh, and that’s not all. In the end of the movie we see that Calvin has landed in what is probably South-East Asia, and you know what’s right next to South-East Asia? China. And you know who has the most powerful nuclear weapons in the world? China. Their 2 most powerful nuclear warheads types have yields of 3.3 or 4-5 megatons, and for comparison both the atomic bombs dropped on Japan had a combined yield of just 0.035 megatons. And the travel time from the silos to Calvin, remembering that the missiles were probably launched right after the touchdown site was confirmed (i.e. while Calvin was still in the air), gives no time for Calvin to have escaped beyond certain-death range. And even if China didn’t push the button, other nation’s nukes would only take a few extra minutes, if any extra time at all.

So in conclusion, I believe that the ending of LIFE was one not foreshadowing humanity’s downfall, but merely the deaths of a few fishermen along with one of the most short-lived villains in sci-fi horror movie history.

(PS: If this theory is right, then it means none of the astronauts would’ve survived regardless of which capsule landed.)

[qeveren]

Well, the idea that an alien organism is going to be a superpredator of terrestrial life is ridiculous on its face anyway, so for all that it's worth, dropping a nuke on it probably turns it into a kaiju.

[Green Baron]

Wouldn't that have a better place in the lounge ? Cause it seems to be about a movie. At least it's far from science ...

Edit: just read a critique about the movie. Life on the iss evolves that played part in an extinction on mars and now threatens earth. Aha. I see. :-) Yet another "alien".

Not science. We'd have to discuss evolution and origins of life and i think this is fruitless in connection with a movie meant to entertain.

 

Edited March 26, 2017 by Green Baron

[sal_vager]

I'm going to move this to the Lounge, it's the place to be for non KSP stuff

[YNM]

Alien life, evolving quick, changing minds etc... well it's not science for sure and unrealistic either, so if anything, the director wants a longer movie, not a short, easy one

[KerikBalm]

Didn't see the movie, read wikipedia:

Quote

The crew discovers that each cell in the organism is a myocyte, neuron and photoreceptor, all at the same time.

Great... also, based on pictures, it seems this life form is an amorphous blob with no differentiated structures and organs...

So:

Where is the circulatory and respiratory system? Once it grows to a certain size, the cells on the inside will suffocate. 

Where is the waste processing disposal system? the internal cells will choke on their own waste.

Where is the immune system? bacteria will eat the *#$)( out of it.

Where is the digestive system? how does it digest its food? If the cells also secrete acids and digestive enzymes, they'll need a protective coating that will interfere with other functions, such as synapse connections.

Making use of the "muscle" function will deform the synapse connections, destroying mental abilities and memories: its going to need to have a fixed dedicated brain

Single cell photoreceptors on their own cannot form images, where are the eyes? without an opaque "cup", a lens, and then just a retina with light sensitive cells, it will only be able to vaguely sense in which direction there is more light.

This life form would not work.

[kerbiloid]

They can't eat the Earth, it's already eaten.

http://lexx.wikia.com/wiki/Lyekka

[ChrisSpace]

On ‎26‎/‎03‎/‎2017 at 7:27 PM, Green Baron said:

Not science. We'd have to discuss evolution and origins of life and i think this is fruitless in connection with a movie meant to entertain.

 

On ‎27‎/‎03‎/‎2017 at 0:29 AM, YNM said:

Alien life, evolving quick, changing minds etc... well it's not science for sure and unrealistic either, so if anything, the director wants a longer movie, not a short, easy one

I'm not so much talking about the science behind the super-starfish so much as I'm talking about the most realistic reaction the humans on Earth would have to it being, well... it.

22 hours ago, KerikBalm said:

This life form would not work.

My thoughts exactly. That's why I'm not even trying to understand it any more than I'd need to formulate my idea.

[YNM]

1 hour ago, ChrisSpace said:

 

I'm not so much talking about the science behind the super-starfish so much as I'm talking about the most realistic reaction the humans on Earth would have to it being, well... it.

I know. But I'm pretty sure if someone made a sequel your realistic script will be rejected at first sight (or even if not, it'll focus on consequences of the action). 

[Duhh]

Calvin will die just like aliens in war of the world. Cause of death...bacteria.