Ryan Reynolds sci-fi movie criticized by the real-life astronaut who was consulted during production

(Image credit: Sony)

A 2017 sci-fi movie starring Ryan Reynolds and Jack Gyllenhaal has come under fire from a real-life astronaut – one who worked as a consultant on the film.

Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield's main issue with the movie was with the way in which the protagonists kill an alien that gets aboard their ship, using an oxygen candle. "An oxygen candle is this canister, looks like a small beer keg, and it's got a certain chemical in it that if you heat up one end the chemical reaction releases great amounts of oxygen," Hadfield told Vanity Fair (via ScreenRant). "It's kind of like an emergency oxygen supply. He smashes it against a handrail and you hear glass tinkling. Imagine what shards of glass would be like without gravity. You don't have glass on board a spaceship. It's not an oxygen candle. It's like, touch 'em with the hundred-watt light bulb."

The movie, which also stars Rebecca Ferguson, follows the crew of the International Space Station who discover the first evidence of extraterrestrial life on Mars. However, it soon turns out that the lifeform is much more intelligent than they ever anticipated.

Hadfield continued: "That's a flamethrower inside a spaceship. One of the worst things that can happen on a space station is fire. It's one of the three big emergencies on a spaceship. A puncture where you're depressurizing, a contaminated atmosphere that you can't breathe anymore, and a fire. You want to have no chance at all of an open flame happening on board a spaceship. The space station is festooned with smoke alarms but here we have Rory filling the entire spaceship with flame. Not one alarm goes off."

If you want to see the oxygen candle scene for yourself, Life is streaming now on Starz. For more, check out our picks of the best sci-fi movies of all time.

I’m an Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering everything film and TV-related across the Total Film and SFX sections. I help bring you all the latest news and also the occasional feature too. I’ve previously written for publications like HuffPost and i-D after getting my NCTJ Diploma in Multimedia Journalism.