As an apocalyptic “can’t we all get along” parable set in space, “I.S.S.” can be poignant and even pulse-pounding. But a promising lift-off, chilling set-up, dazzling production design and good effects can’t overcome a “more impressive than entertaining” label.
Oscar winner Ariana DeBose (“West Side Story”) is mission specialist Dr. Kira Foster, a newcomer to the International Space Station and the character who is our surrogate in this story. She is the one who has to have space station routines, protocols and rituals explained to her (and us) by her fellow Americans — family man/scientist Christian (John Gallagher Jr. ) and mission commander Gordon (Chris Messina) — and Russians Nika (Masha Mashkova), Alexy (Pilou Asbæk) and Nicolai (Costa Ronin).
Kira’s learned a little Russian. “We’re all in this together” seems an important thing to mention in both languages, as they’re absolutely dependent on each other to survive. Pretty obvious foreshadowing, too.
Nika makes an effort to bond, and there’s always a Scorpions sing-along to help morale.
But the most important thing, her commander tells her, is to “make sure we don’t talk about what’s going on down there,” where a new Cold War has turned hot (it is implied) in Ukraine.
That’s going to be hard to do when communications are interrupted and they see the bright flashes across both hemispheres below — atomic explosions and fires. How will they respond now that the worst has happened?
Nick Shafir’s script takes pains to humanize all six characters, but can’t help but fall into “sneaky, untrustworthy Russians” stereotypes. A hundred-years-and-counting of national ignominy is a hard badge to shake
A bigger issue is how the characters fit into categories so neat that their fate is pre-ordained. As if seeing Kira’s mice-in-Zero-G experiment tearing each other apart isn’t allegory enough.
We can guess who-will-do-what-to-whom and “how” so quickly that the middle acts seem an utter waste. At least this waste has been recycled from many other movies, “2001” among them.
But director Gabriela Cowperthwaite (“Our Friend” and the documentary “Blackfish” are hers) stages excellent chases, escapes and DIY fights to the death in weightlessness. There’s some dread in the middle acts and a bit of suspense in the third act. And we rarely see anything that lets us in on how this is all being faked for a film.
The semi-forgotten ticking clock of orbit degredation, the fact that characters wander into traps as if they’ve NEVER SEEN “2001: A Space Odyssey” and the cultural cliches (hard-drinking, Scorpions-worshipping Bolsheviks) don’t quite crash “I.S.S.” But they cripple it.
That doesn’t mean it isn’t worth ducking into just to see how far the state-of-the-art in faking space travel has advanced, even in a modest-budgeted thriller. And DeBose and the rest of the cast make a decent show of it, in spite of everything they’re up against, floating on camera but toting a dead-weight screenplay as they do.
Rating: R, grisly violence, profanity, alcohol consumption
Cast: Ariana DeBose, Masha Mashkova, John Gallagher Jr., Pilou Asbæk, Costa Ronin and Chris Messina.
Credits: Directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite, scripted by Nick Shafir. Bleecker Street release.
Running time: 1:35
Movie Nation 
I’m about to stop reading your reviews even though I love your writing style and insightful film-making comments. Here’s why. It’s bad enough when you go and on, detailing every single beat of a movie. But in this review for I.S.S.? You give away the major plot twist. What gives? You’re making me bananas!! At least slap on a spoiler alert for crying out loud.
Oh? You’ve seen “2001?” I only mention plot points from the first third of any movie. That’s fair game — “inciting actions” that set the plot in motion. And I try to keep any “spoilers” oblique in ways that only reward serious film buffs.
Isn’t this a dead giveaway? If I’m misreading, my apologies.
“And we rarely see anything that lets us in on how this is all being faked for a film.”
Ah, no. Not an interpretation of that sentence I anticipated. I was referring to the production values of the movie I was reviewing, “I S.S.” They didn’t actually film it on the ISS. But it certainly looks as if they might have.