I.S.S.
Rated R, 95 min.
Now playing in theaters.
The new sci-fi from Bleecker Street, titled I.S.S., floats a scary thought: What if you were in an orbital space station with another country while World War III seemingly broke out below on Earth? Explosions start going off, the world is set ablaze, and communications with your home countries are lost.
Let’s add more fuel to the fire, shall we? Imagine that the countries at war on Earth are the same countries working together on this international space station. So, while the nuclear obliteration of our planet is happening below, a Lord of the Flies type of situation is brewing in space.
That’s the premise of I.S.S., and it’s a damn-good one, especially when you add the acting of Ariana DeBose (West Side Story), Pilou Asbæk (Overlord), and Chris Messina (Air) to the mix. Oh, and John Gallagher Jr. (10 Cloverfield Lane and Short Term 12), a severely underrated talent who can deliver punches to the gut just as much as he can twist your guts in knots. Well, depending on his character. So, in other words, Gallagher Jr. has range.
Does the film, directed with style and class by Gabriela Cowperthwaite (Our Friend), take us for a ride and bring everything to a satisfying land? For the most part, yes. This film doesn’t have all the visual bells and whistles of something like Gravity, nor does it need to. This is a pressure cooker film where a knife is placed in the middle of a room, and two parties must decide who will grab it first.
The question of trust is at the film’s center, and it’s absolutely nerve-shredding. Although I.S.S.’s thrills are not entirely new, its character-driven nature earns its keep. It shares a lot in common with Danny Boyle’s Sunshine in that regard. Even though Boyle’s film features his signature style and roughly twice the budget of Cowperthwaite’s film, both titles are more engaged with the space in the characters’ heads rather than what revolves around them.
But Cowperthwaite does incorporate a look that’s alienating. For instance, because many characters know things that others don’t, they sneak around the space station. It’s like a quiet chess game, and Cowperthwaite uses security camera footage to contribute to this surreptitious feeling. Are these characters’ intentions good, or did they get information from their country’s government to overtake the ship? It’s good suspense.
Some attempts at suspense get clunky, most notably between a few characters at the end. But it’s not so unbelievable that it sends the whole film out into orbit. It holds its ground throughout the turns. But, admittedly, more or less could have been done throughout to make it an entirely unique work.
I.S.S. is a solidly-made sci-fi film. You may forget about it when more exciting titles like Dune: Part II arrive. But, for a January release, this film is better than something to come out during Hollywood’s dumping ground season.
Grade: B
