The latest entry in the Astronauts in Peril subgenre is ISS (now streaming on Paramount+), a tense what-if thriller from Gabriela Cowperthwaite, who directs her second feature film after making a name for herself with an acclaimed documentary. black fish. The title refers to the International Space Station, a real-life object that is a symbol of international unity floating in orbit, and here is the unique location setting for a potentially intriguing concept: three Russians and three Americans, one played. by West Side Story Oscar winner Ariana DeBose lives in harmony on the station, until World War III breaks out between their respective countries on the surface. The question is: does the Now What of this plot include a lot of ideas or just the usual claustrophobic thriller material? All I have to say about that is prepare yourself for disappointment.
ISS: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
The essence: Kira (DeBose) is a completely new astronaut and makes her first trip to the ISS. She’s a bioengineer who brought some mice to study while she floated in tight spaces, pressed buttons and flipped switches and figured out how to sleep in. zero G, and this isn’t the kind of movie that delves into the reality of space bathing, so it’s not mentioned. Her fellow Americans are the overbearing mustachioed man Gordon (Chris Messina) and Christian (John Gallagher Jr.), who work alongside three Russian cosmonauts, Weronika (Masha Mashkova), Alexey (Pilou Asbaek) and Nicholai (Costa). . Ronín). Gordon gives Kira a tour of the nickel, pointing out things like which keys work for which drawers and points out, “That low hum you’re hearing?” That’s our life support,” and all of this is something that will certainly have nothing to do with the developments of the third act and does not adhere to the old film law that states that if a life support system is introduced in the first act act , will almost certainly close in the third. Continue then.
Americans and Russians make somewhat awkward friends thanks to the language barrier and some cultural differences. For example, Americans criticize the Scorpions’ ballad “Wind of Change” as maudlin, offending Russians. Note that the song is excellent hard cheese and is important to East Blockers because it became an anthem symbolizing the fall of communism and the hope for a more peaceful future, and the end of the Cold War, which is ironic considering what happens next in this movie. Also note that a Scorpions power ballad with lots of hissing is pretty much what it’s all about when it comes to deeper contextual and thematic fodder in this film. Remember what I said earlier about being disappointed.
Then we have a moment where the six astronauts discuss what the First Rule of the ISS is like, we don’t talk about politicswith the corollary, Especially about what’s going on down there right now.. Then they gather in the observation room to look at the Earth in all its amazing beauty, to remember how connected they really are in their humanity and that they should sit in a circle and sing kumbaya and strum ukuleles and celebrate their differences and all that. So they do it and live happily ever after. No! In reality, the next day, Kira thinks she sees a volcano erupting on Earth, but then many other bright explosions appear. A whistle shakes the station and the power flickers and, well, those blasts must have been nuclear bombs. Gordon strokes his authoritative mustache as he reads Houston’s secret communiqué: TAKE CONTROL OF THE ISS (dot dot dot) BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY. And it seems that the Russians received the same orders. Well, shit. So much for the ukuleles.
What movies will it remind you of?: ISS takes a lot of things Gravity, Sun, Astronaut, Ad Astra, Interstellar, Stowawayetc., and doesn’t do anything new with it. Next is a much more compelling ISS astronaut drama.
Performance worth seeing: DeBose’s charismatic screen presence is tempered by this less than mediocre script, but she does what she can and emerges unscathed.
Memorable dialogue: Alexey brings up the irony as all the happy astronauts look at the still unexploded Earth: “You forget about everything that happens down there, when you can see the beauty from up here.”
Sex and skin: None.
Our opinion: The winds of change do not blow in, on or around this standard genre exercise. The premise sets up a situation that could go in any direction, and ISS chooses a fairly conventional one, implying that no one would want to see a film in which the characters of this terrible enigma talk and/or reflect on the existential implications of their difficult situation. That could lead to a different kind of tension than we have here: a sloppy narrative, told primarily from Kira’s point of view, that leaves her unsure of who she should trust. She also finds us entertaining the terribly cynical notion that studio executives and bean counters surely have, that a movie without violent conflict is not a great movie at all.
And then we have the clichés of who’s going to make the first move and we didn’t see the body: the question of whether there will be a very dangerous spacewalk leads to an annoyingly obvious question. response, which plays out into a passable second act, but ultimately inspires our “we’re not buying this” shrug for the increasingly clumsy third. Nick Shafir’s script includes a cross-cultural romance subplot that jeopardizes any patriotic alliance and makes us wonder if the characters will align not over who carries which flag, but over who is or isn’t a morally compromised idiot. . Beyond that, the ideas here are frustratingly underdeveloped, ignored and/or sidelined by cheesy plot twists and fights with power tools and kitchen knives. I will say that ISS It looks good, thanks to solid special effects work and set design that belie its modest indie film budget (reportedly $13 million), and overall, the gravity-free simulations in modern movies are as convincing as they come. always. Beyond that, this is just another mediocre script that ignores its potential to be more than just a rote thriller.
Our call: Houston, we have a problem: this movie is disappointing. SKIP IT.
John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic living in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
