Tensions flare in the near future aboard the International Space Station as a conflict breaks out on Earth. Reeling, the U.S. and Russian astronauts receive orders from the ground: take control of the station by any means necessary.
The first half of the twenty-twenties feel earmarked by a litany of franchise revives, requels, and corporate-level filmmaking that seems to have completely erased the riskier (by Marvel standards but tame by IFC standards) middle-budget movies like this one. “I.S.S.” derives so much of its drama from the human element at the center of it, and something like this getting even a mild theatrical release feels revelatory where, after a few weeks, we pray it doesn’t get buried on V.O.D. menus or swallowed by Netflix algorithms. It’s the kind of middle-budget movie Netflix thinks it keeps making but only makes twenty percent of the time. It’s tightly focused with breath-holding tension and more than a few twists and turns that left me in shock and awe. “I.S.S.” promises a high-minded premise and delivers a character-driven thriller in ways that delighted me if only felt a little overbaked.
Ariana Debose plays Dr. Kira Foster, a newbie on the intercontinental space station among American and Russian colleagues alike. Her doe-eyed newness shines a light on the inner workings of the space station as she walks into a work environment that fights not to be toxic. When these astronauts and scientists witness several nuclear attacks across the face of the Earth, they are told by their respective governments to take the I.S.S. “by any means necessary.” Thus begins the treacherous path to attempting a détente, if not a full peace, that slowly escalates by both tragic mistakes and by malicious attempts. The lion’s share of the film focuses more on the backstabbing, cross-communicating, and wavering loyalties than the complications of nuclear war on a planet, and most of the sci-fi elements fall by the wayside.
Debose plays Dr. Foster with deft aplomb. Her wide-eyed excitement blends with discomfort like any one of us might identify. She’s not some eager-to-please scientist who thinks zero gravity is fun but a normal person who can’t sleep in zero g. Her teammates Commander Gordon Barrett (Chris Messina) and Officer Christian Campbell (John Gallagher Jr.) round out the American side of the equation as earnest yet hard-working military scientists. They come across as faultless when the backstabbing begins, and the only question is if one of them will cave and forgo peace treaties altogether. It helps that the Russian side of the station includes some shady characters.
Costa Ronin plays the equal to Foster’s biologist, Nicholai Pulov. His bearded face and sharp eyes betray a litany of emotional mixtures that start with annoyance at a new face and go through betrayal, guilt, shock, horror, and finally, peace. His commander Alexey Pulov (Pilou Asbaek) seems the more earnest of the two and his emotional journey feels more excitable watching him from beginning to end. Lastly, there’s Weronika Vetrov (Masha Mashkova), who may or may not be flirting with the American commander.
The movie’s inciting incident rings shocking in the film after about fifteen minutes of introduction. After unraveling the rules of the location and setting up a few loaded guns (not literal, just a pun), the nukes fly, and the surface of the Earth gets coated with bright orange. It doesn’t take long for the last communications from Earth to arrive at the station, and both the Americans and Russians realize they’re told to take control of the I.S.S. To make matters worse, the station was scheduled for a resupply dipping right along the Earth’s atmosphere. Without the resupply to boost them back into space, the whole station will fall to Earth with everyone inside.
It’s a perfect bottle film that doesn’t need a big secret or a unique gimmick to carry itself. The film is rooted in human emotion. Little time bombs like Christian’s family on Earth or Weronika’s baby niece slowly tick down until they promise to explode, and on a space station, one single error can take out the entire thing. So, the question remains: How do you take control of a space station where even sabotage could bring everything crashing down around you? It takes careful manipulation, insightful planning, and even a wild card or two, but the battle is long. Allegiances shift sequence after sequence that it felt, at its worst, like an elaborate game of “Survivor.” Still, this film’s drilling down on human emotion makes it more impactful where others might hope for more space hijinks.
There’s plenty of space stuff, make no mistake. Technically, the whole film happens in zero gravity, so the fights are simultaneously terrifyingly brutal and wholly comic when seen outside. The intro’s loaded guns do fire. Small sci-fi side quests bring characters to peace occasionally, only to shift alliances once they’ve reckoned with their own actions. The effects in this film work pretty well. It doesn’t spend too much time outside the space station itself, and when it goes wide on Earth or space, the cracks in the beauty begin to appear. Still, director Gabriela Cowperthwaite knows how to pull her punches and doesn’t dwell on the enormity of space. Her clever refocusing on the human element keeps us from lingering too long on human emotion.
The script feels tightly wound, and at a nice ninety-minute run time, I think people will be pleasantly surprised by this one. While the film does couch its moral superiority on the Americans, it gives a surprising amount of human emotion to the Russians as they contemplate betrayal of who may be some of the last humans alive. That scene of the Russians mourning the loss of someone they just killed must’ve played really well, but my screening didn’t have the finished subtitles. By the time this goes to theaters, I’m sure they’ll have worked out that kink.
It’s an excellent little movie with a clear focus. There’s no grand revelation in the end. There is no final rug pull. It simply works through its characters one by one until we both sympathize and despise them in different turns. It shows how precarious a peace pact can be, even between six people. The heightened emotions translate well, and even though actual space combat feels goofy, the sabotage and emotional fallout carry more than enough drama. At ninety minutes, it doesn’t overstay its welcome. It does what more movies should aim to do: tell its story and let us soak it up. Go check this one out. It’s a novel sci-fi film with a beating heart at its center, even if that heartbeat is one of anxiety.
In Theaters Friday, January 19th
