by Nick Ferro, Contributing Writer
I.S.S. tells the story of six people on the International Space Station, a joint collaboration of the United States and Russia. But when a nuclear war between these two countries breaks out, the three American astronauts, Ariana DeBose, Chris Messina, and John Gallagher Jr., receive orders to take the station by any means necessary. When it becomes apparent that the three Russian cosmonauts, played by Masha Mashkova, Costa Ronin, and Game of Thrones’ Pilou Asbæk, have received the same orders, it becomes a fight for survival in a location where there is nowhere to run.
One thing that holds this movie together is the strength of these six performers. We are introduced to the characters as they are meeting DeBose’s Kira for the first time as she boards the station. We get to meet each astronaut through her eyes, and the first act spends a fair amount of time letting us know just enough of who these people are to keep us interested. There is clearly tension of all kinds between different people aboard the station, though, some of which is due to different backgrounds, while some is from having to live in close quarters; there is even some sexual tension. The setup of this tension is a bit on-the-nose for what comes later, but all in all, the movie does a good job giving the audience some people to trust and some to be cautious about. I really enjoyed the tension building as the movie progressed — I was on the edge of my seat the whole time, wondering who would do what next.
As far as the story, the inciting incident which causes all the aforementioned tension kicks off pretty quickly. We never leave the station throughout the 95-minute runtime, and the sequence of events is broken up into easily digestible bites which take the audience through the greatest hits of a space thriller movie. We get the obligatory space-walk scene, the life support system going out scene, and the scene where someone tries to blow up the station. Of course, no thriller would be complete without a scene where multiple characters are in a small room and don’t know who they can trust, while the camera lingers on Chekhov’s knife on the table. Despite all of the clichés and unoriginal beats, I.S.S. creates an experience that took these familiar tropes and makes them unique. I also like how takes movie never takes the stance that the Americans were the good guys and the Russians the bad guys. There are good and bad people on both sides, and if someone is conflicted because of their orders, the movie showcases those emotions. Asbæk especially is the standout in that regard. I was never sure if he was going to be a voice of reason or go full Euron Greyjoy.
But subtlety is not exactly a strong point for I.S.S., from the script to the plot. The movie really wants us to remember that Gallagher Jr.’s character has daughters. It’s the one defining feature of his character, and if you forget, don’t worry, he will remind you every few scenes. DeBose and Messina also have a very exposition-heavy scene regarding their pasts. It’s a way for the characters to distract each other and give the audience backstory, but the only way to write this scene to be less obvious would be to have her hold up a sign that read: “I have trust issues!” Additionally, in the first act we learn that Kira has brought mice to the station to aid in her research, and after one night she finds that a couple of mice have maimed the others due to the fear of their new circumstances. The blunt force trauma of that metaphor was not lost on me at all, and yet the movie feels the need to hit us with a repeated Russian phrase about how they will be okay if they stick together. The weird thing is, even with the obvious messaging, imagery, and moral of the story on display from start to finish, I appreciated the movie for being a little deeper than the standard January fare. There is some actual subtext, even if the caps lock stays on. These storytelling short cuts allow the movie to stick to its shorter runtime, rather than dragging on for over two hours, which I can appreciate. For me, an unnecessarily long run time can be a movie Killer, so I was over the moon that I.S.S. was a brisk walk through the Flowers.
There are a few negatives that baffled me as I watched I.S.S. First, I can’t stand continuity errors, and this movie has plenty. But continuity errors that lead me down a rabbit hole of box office returns is a whole new level of distraction that I wasn’t expecting. There is a scene where a character uses an electric drill as a weapon and someone gets drilled. We get a closeup of a mortal wound that starts to yield a ton of blood. But the camera cuts away before it gets too graphic for PG-13; in the subsequent wide shot of the two characters fighting, there is not even a speck of blood on the character’s white shirt. At first, I thought this was to keep the PG-13 rating, but I learned later that the movie is rated R. This lead me to ask, why keep the violence to PG-13 levels and have very minimal cursing if the movie is rated for worse? If you are going give your movie an R rating, lean into it! Entice people with the rating, otherwise you unnecessarily cut off an entire demographic of movie-goers, guaranteeing smaller box office return. If a large box office return is the goal, wouldn’t you try to maximize those profits? This movie doesn’t need to be rated R and for the most part, it isn’t. The reality of the scene broke my concentration, and it’s never ideal to lose sight of the scene due to weird constraints made in the editing room.
The biggest issue I have with I.S.S. is its presentation of some very interesting questions which it fails to make a priority. Throughout the film we see the Earth from orbit. We are shown multiple nuclear blasts from space, and as the movie goes on, more and more of the Earth appears to be on fire. However, the dread of this moment and the subsequent imagery, which the trailer captures perfectly, never truly grasps the terror of the situation. I’m not really sure how to fix this problem. I think the hook is the fear of nuclear war happening and the helplessness a person would feel being made a spectator. The movie thinks the hook is how people engulfed in fear become like caged animals. Or how the lack of trust in times of crisis can be disastrous. I particularly disliked the film’s ending because it treats the situation of global nuclear war as something easily solved, and then it just ends. An ending where there is still hope but with adversity is what I think it’s going for, but it comes off more flippant than intended. When I.S.S. comes out to Blu-ray, I will not be surprised at all if there is an alternate ending added to the disc.
A couple years ago I watched Moonfall, and the funniest part of the movie was how Patrick Wilson didn’t want to help save the Earth from the falling moon because his son was arrested. The lack of perspective in that movie is so intense that it becomes comical. In I.S.S., the lack of perspective that some of the characters show is more annoying than anything else. There is a nuclear war destroying the planet below and everyone on board has stated that they don’t bring politics to the station. Yet they put the request of their governments ahead of common sense. Right there, at least, is another interesting question the movie asks but doesn’t answer. What is more important, the personal struggle to do what is right, or letting loyalty to your country destroy your humanity?
I.S.S. asks a lot of questions, but doesn’t get enough time answer any of them. For once, I think I might have liked this movie stretched out to be a series that would allow more time to really dig deep into this very interesting idea. I don’t mean to imply I.S.S. isn’t worth seeing. I did enjoy my time; it was a good watch. But do I wish it delved deeper into the idea of living in a society of people instead of a society of nations? Yes. Do I wish that there was more emphasis on the terror of the situation? Also, yes. Ultimately, what I really wanted out of I.S.S. was more. Would that have been such a problem, Houston?
Rating: Liked It
I.S.S. is currently playing in theaters
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