When playwright/deviant Oscar Wilde famously remarked that imitation was the most sincere form of flattery, he probably never predicted the idea appliying to a new Netflix original, but well, it fits, and here we are. Their new sci-fi horror thriller, “Oxygen,” is a film that borrows heavily from such intimate looks at claustrophobic spaces like 2010’s “Buried” and a dash of, say, cryonic-freezing drama, “Forever Young. ” Not only does “Oxygen” steal heavily from the former, still-decent Ryan Reynolds thriller, but director Alexandre Aja—who shot the movie filmed during the heights of 2020’s pandemic—utilizes the need for socially distanced movie sets to his advantage with a story that somehow manages to incorporate not-so-subtle references to last year’s viral outbreak, whether intentional or not. With a spartan cast that’s elevated by star Melanie Laurent‘s downright gripping performance as the lead, “Oxygen” may not be the most original film on the block, but it’s still taut and compelling thriller that straps you into the cryo-chamber and viscerally punishes you as much as it does it’s protagonist.