I.S.S.

by Mike McGranaghan

Long-standing tensions between the United States and Russia propel the plot of the sci-fi thriller I.S.S. As the title implies, the story is set inside the International Space Station. Americans Kira Foster (Ariana DeBose), Gordon Barrett (Chris Messina), and Christian Campbell (John Gallagher, Jr.) work in harmony with Russians Weronika Vetrov (Masha Mashkova), Nicholai Pulov (Costa Ronin), and Alexey Pulov (Pilou Asbæk). All are scientists, appreciative of each other’s work.

The nature of their professional relationship changes when they see what appears to be a missile attack taking place back on Earth. No one knows what, specifically, has happened. Nevertheless, both teams are given the exact same instruction by their respective country’s leadership: take control of the I.S.S. by any means necessary.

Once that premise is in place, director Gabriella Cowperthwaite (Blackfish) and writer Nick Shafir unfold a story that deals with issues of loyalty. The characters have to ask themselves what to prioritize – loyalty to country or loyalty to friends. That scenario plays out in a dramatic way. These people have been living together far from home. Nobody else understands the experience they’ve had, just each other. No valid reason exists to act with hostility, aside from the expectation that orders will be followed.

I.S.S. builds suspense as we wait to see what they will choose. Some are content to keep the peace. Some have shiftier behavior. Events don't always unfold the way you expect them to. In the center is Foster, the newest inhabitant of the space station. Her desire is for cooler heads to prevail, and her efforts to hold everything together as the seams come apart are tense. DeBose is effective in the role, emphasizing Foster’s innate morality in a perilous situation. You can see the wheels turning in her mind as she tries to figure out who among her colleagues is being sincere and who is not.

Visually, the movie is dazzling. The set is meticulously detailed, and the actors legitimately appear to be floating within it. An action scene where Barrett goes out on a spacewalk to repair damage thoroughly sells the illusion that he is in space. Credible effects are important here, as they need to reasonably underline the idea that the astronauts are far from home, isolated from an event that nevertheless impacts them directly. The FX team deserves credit for accomplishing that goal.

I.S.S. doesn't have anything particularly deep or revelatory to say about nuclear war, hostility between nations, or the state of world affairs. The film is simply a clever thriller concerning six people in a pressure cooker situation trying to determine the right course of action when time is of the essence. It delivers the goods on that count.

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