I.S.S. Review
Streaming Movie Review - Thriller
Space has always felt like one of the best settings for thrillers. The silence, the vastness - it all just seems primed for tension. And plenty of filmmakers agree. Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey.” Ridley Scott’s “Alien.” Paul W. S. Anderson’s “Event Horizon.” Something about being trapped on a spaceship adds something extra to an already fraught situation. Now Gabriela Cowperthwaite throws her hat in the ring with the new film “I.S.S.” currently in theaters.
Kira Foster (Ariana DeBose) is a new crew member on the International Space Station. She is coming aboard to work with her two other American crewmates, Gordon Barrett (Chris Messina) and Christian Campbell (John Gallagher Jr.), as well as the three Russian members of the team, Nicholai Pulov (Costa Ronan), Weronika Vetrov (Masha Mashkova), and Alexy Poulov (Pilou Asbæk). The two groups get along well, but when war breaks out on earth between Russia and the United States, both teams receive orders that put them at odds with one another. With a lack of trust among the teammates, can anyone survive?
The first act of this movie felt promising. There wasn’t much time given to learning about the crew members, but honestly, that didn’t feel like a terrible thing. While we did get some explanation about how things work on the ISS because Foster was new, there was also an expectation that we could figure it out. I appreciated that, as it added to the authenticity of the film. Sadly, when it was time for the tension to rise, I never felt like it reached the boiling point I had hoped for.
With just six people in the cast, this is a movie that is very reliant on the performances, and I felt like they held up. At different times, everyone is overtaken by the stress of the situation, and we can feel that from them. Their surroundings constrained them, so the performance had to show in their faces, and each performer did a solid job.
As I mentioned before, the film lost points for me when it came to a sense of apprehension. Despite the situation that they found themselves in, with each side recognizing that they had the same orders, the movie didn’t capitalize on that as much as I hoped. In the most stressful scene, two characters try to keep one another calm, which works. I found that it worked too well because it also left me feeling more calm. I think the inclusion of some additional stressors might have amplified the tension and made the film’s overall impact more powerful.
I went into “I.S.S.” expecting it to be really great or really terrible. I was surprised to find myself in a middling place where I didn’t hate it, but I wasn’t blown away either. It’s a really fascinating idea that I wish had a little more finesse on it.
This review originally appeared in The Dominion Post on January 21, 2024.
While watching the trailer I thought "Definitely gonna watch this" then immediately switched to "It'll probably disappoint maybe I'll skip it and just rewatch Gravity." Was really curious to hear your take. Seems where I would land too.