“The Creation of The International Space Station (ISS) served as a symbol of United States and Russian Collaboration after the Cold War. The ISS is used primarily as a research facility where the crew makes advancements in medicine, technology, and space exploration. Today, both American Astronauts and Russian cosmonauts are living on board the ISS. The Soyuz Rocket Transports Astronauts From Earth to the ISS. Soyuz Rocket Present”

Ever since 2001 A Space Odyssey directors and writers have been trying to make thrillers set in space or on some kind of ship or space station. Alien, Interstellar, and Sunshine come to mind with this sense of filmmaking in mind. The latest movie with a thriller sense about itself set in space is I.S.S. If you’re asking yourself if it’s that I.S.S. your answer is yes. This film is set on the International Space Station and it’s not a bad film. 

Three Astronauts and three Cosmonauts, Russian Astronauts, are stationed on the I.S.S.Among them are Gordon Barrett (Chris Messina),  Dr. Kira Foster (Ariana DeBose), and Christian Campbell  (John Gallagher Jr.) Veronika Verov (Masha Mashcova), Alexey Pulov  (Pilou Asbaek), and Nicholai Pulov (Costa Ronin) With Debose characters just arrived as the film began. What happens next is inexplicable, War breaks out on Earth, and both sets of space people are given explicit instructions to take the I.S.S. by any means necessary. 

Director Gabriela Cowperthwaite, with a script written by Nick Shafir, creates a sense of dread among the six men and women.  Once the communications with Earth are severed they start to take things into their own hands. Before this event on Earth happened these people were friends and had conversations about personal matters and may have even had romantic interests with one another. The fact that they start to sabotage the I.S.S. and try to kill one another is quite surprising to some.

The clues are there in front of their eyes though and eventually, one of the Astronauts figures out what is going on and she may have underestimated one member of the crew. The claustrophobic nature of the space station plays a big part in the suspenseful nature of this story. What you think would be going on isn’t necessarily what’s going on. That’s what is so good about the movie. It has a good script that it’s based on. 

With any film set in space, the sets and technical aspects have to be on point and this movie has beautiful cinematography and realistic sets and costumes. The characters do and say things that make sense in the context of this setting. Gorgeous shots of Earth are very visible through the windows and with all the explosions create a foreboding atmosphere for the characters. This is as real a space film as I’ve ever seen. That benefits it in a big way.

One thing we the viewer are let in on is video footage of some of the wrongdoing on the space station. This means we’re part of the suspenseful nature of the story. As the movie progresses the clues are there for certain members of the crew to figure out. The director created this aspect to cause confusion among the crew but not with the audience watching. That was a nice touch on her part. We’re like a fly on the wall while all this is going on. 

Another element of the movie that struck me hard was the score. It was very loud and intense at times and helped create an ominous feel to the film. A great score can do that. This one was quite voluminous, to say the least. Add in the other technical aspects like visual effects, cinematography, and costumes as well as production design and you have a very good film from that point of view.

I.S.S. is a slick space thriller with genuine stakes at its core. The cast with some notable actors including Academy Award winner Ariana DeBose are all very good in their respective roles. As mentioned, all the technical stuff is on point and the story is very good.  This movie could have gone to another level though. I felt it played itself safe and that’s the one big quibble I have with it. I kept wanting it to get crazy and it never did. The twist ending was pretty predictable so that did suck me in at all. I liked this thriller but I didn’t love it.

3 stars

Dan Skip Allen