The Doctor’s Diagnosis: C+
I.S.S. is one of those movies that doesn’t live up to its own concept. Coming from a relatively unknown director (Gabriela Cowperthwaite) and featuring a relatively unknown cast (although I’ll elaborate on that), this is a movie that had me very intrigued by the trailer and ultimately a bit let down as I left the theater. Although this is a perfectly serviceable thriller, I can’t help but wonder what someone like John Carpenter or Brian De Palma could have done with this material a couple of decades ago.
The film is set on the titular international space station and features teams of scientists from the United States and Russia, with each country being represented by two men and one woman apiece. All is well until nuclear war breaks out on Earth and both groups of scientists receive the same orders from their respective government: take control of the space station at all costs. They must all then decide if they are going to work together or kill each other as the tension and distrust builds between them.
That is a hell of a concept and the film’s script was on the Black List in 2020 (that’s a list of the best unproduced scripts in Hollywood). And the first act of the film is promising. The scientists all come across as likable people and their interactions are genuinely entertaining. My favorite sequence in the film is just all of them sitting around together, drinking and singing Winds of Change by Scorpions. The actors have great chemistry and there is a sincere feeling of camaraderie among them while still having an undertone of the political gulf that separates them. Hell, I would have watched a movie just about these scientists working together and discussing their differences.
But then the main plot kicks in and the movie doesn’t seem to know what to do with it. I’m not exaggerating when I say that the entire second act follows one character as he tries to repair an antenna outside the space station while a couple of the Russians try to sabotage him. The sequence is initially suspenseful and effective, but then goes on for-fucking-ever. Following this half-hour excursion into antenna repair, the plot becomes a McGuffin hunt as its revealed that one of the Russians is working on an advanced form of radiation treatment that could be invaluable to either nation. I’m not sure how helpful it will be when we can literally see the Earth on fire in the background, but that’s all that the movie can think to do with the premise.
What’s really frustrating about I.S.S. is that the first act does such a good job at establishing these characters and then the remainder does so little with the dynamics that could arise from such an extreme circumstance. There is little, if any, conversation between the two sides about what they should do. There is little discussion of the horrific events unfolding on Earth and the potential futility of controlling the space station. They could potentially be among very few humans left alive and yet the gravitas of the situation is never really addressed. The plot plays out like a fairly standard thriller in a vacuum (ha!) that’s separated from the massive situation unfolding around it. While I appreciate the short running time, this is a movie begging to be fleshed out and given additional depth.
As mentioned, the cast members all do an admirable job of making these people interesting, even if the script is predictable in terms of who will end up being a villain. The lead is Ariana DeBose, who creates a sympathetic avatar for the audience and effectively carries the film. I didn’t recognize her from anything, but apparently she won an Oscar for her role in the remake of West Side Story that about twenty people went to see (including myself) and she was named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world because Time is still a bastion of legitimate, non-pandering journalism. Thankfully, she uses her massive influence on the world positively here and I genuinely enjoyed her performance. The rest of the cast is solid too and they create a group of people that I would like to have a beer with when the world isn’t in the middle of a nuclear apocalypse. Special mention to Masha Mashkova, who probably plays the most three-dimensional and fun character in the film.
I.S.S. is a quick, effective thriller with solid performances that will provide you with a good 90 minutes of entertainment. The problem is that it could have been so much more than that with such a strong premise at its core. It isn’t particularly insightful or suspenseful, but it does just enough to warrant a watch if you are on the fence about checking it out.
Image by: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I.S.S._(film)#/media/File:Iss_film_poster.jpg
