The Big Picture

I.S.S. starts strong with an intriguing premise but ultimately becomes a mundane space thriller. The movie fails to reckon with the unimaginable horror of a war-ravaged Earth, ignoring the big questions presented by its concept. The cast shines in their performances, but the plot’s forced shifts in character allegiances feel contrived.

There was a time (largely the 1980s) when high-concept movies were the order of the day. New York has been turned into a maximum-security prison and the President must be rescued when his plane crashes inside of it. A time-traveling teenager gets stuck in the past and accidentally prevents his parents from falling in love. Terrorists seize a highrise under construction and one man has to fight his way out. All these storylines became classic films for a myriad of reasons but immediately lit a spark in filmgoers’ brains thanks to their supremely clever yet easily conveyed concepts. And the thing about high-concept films is that they’re by definition original, meaning that, in this age of endless sequels, spinoffs, and carbon-copy comic-book movies, they’ve become a much rarer breed. Which is why I found myself rooting for I.S.S. — a high-concept, sci-fi thriller that arrives in theaters this weekend with little fanfare but an absolutely bangin’ logline: Six astronauts, three Americans and three Russians, find themselves stuck aboard the International Space Station with conflicting orders while a nuclear war between their countries rages across the planet beneath them.

I.S.S. Tensions flare in the near future aboard the International Space Station as a worldwide conflict breaks out on Earth. Release Date January 19, 2024 Director Gabriela Cowperthwaite Runtime 95 minutes

What Is ‘I.S.S.’ About?

It’s tough to argue that’s not an intriguing premise. And, in the film’s early goings, director Gabriela Cowperthwaite (Meagan Leavey, Our Friend), working from a Black List-ed screenplay by Nick Shafir, does a well enough job selling the increasingly frightening scenario. West Side Story’s Ariana DeBose plays Dr. Kira Foster, a U.S. astronaut and biologist making her first trip to space alongside a fellow countryman named Christian (John Gallagher Jr.). The pair are welcomed onboard by their American captain, Gordon (Chris Messina, rocking a stately mustache), and the station’s three Russian cosmonauts — Alexey (Pilou Asbæk), Nicholai (Costa Ronin), and Weronika (Maria Mashkova). Early scenes take on a mirthful “getting to know you” tone, as the I.S.S. inhabitants welcome the new arrivals and show them the ins and outs of their new home. There’s also some ridiculously obvious foreshadowing in the film’s opening act. When one character receives a gifted necklace with a strap that the giver carefully points out is made from the same material as their tethers, well, you just know that’s going to come in handy at some point. And when another character breaks down the noisy life-support system to Kira, saying, “When you don’t hear that hum, that’s when you can start to panic,” it’s pretty safe to assume that hum is going away at some point.

Still, that lack of subtlety initially pays dividends when the bombs start exploding on the Earth below. The astronauts are looking out their viewing window when explosions large enough to see from space start spreading across the planet, and, over the course of the film, the entire globe looks like it’s becoming more and more consumed by an orange-ish fire, giving the film truly apocalyptic vibes. It’s not long before the station’s two contingents receive similar but competing messages: War has broken out at home, and the Americans and Russians are both ordered to take control of the I.S.S. by any means necessary. Almost immediately, new friends are looked at each other with a skeptical eye, and those on board must decide whether to look out for themselves, their country, or the station collective as a whole. These people consider themselves scientists, after all, not soldiers. Complicating matters further is the fact that Gordon and Weronika are in a romantic relationship that they are not quite successful at hiding from the rest of the crew, as well as a technical snafu that’s causing the station to dangerously drift back toward Earth and eventually kill everyone on board if not resolved.

‘I.S.S.’s High-Concept Premise Turns Into a Mundane Thriller
Image via Bleeker Street

It’s a setup that, quite frankly, the filmmakers could have taken in a myriad of different ways. There’s a version of this film that has the six space travelers engaging in heated debates about what should come first — your country or treating your literal neighbor with basic humanity? Or the movie could have been constructed as more of a mystery where someone onboard ends up working against the others, but the viewer just isn’t sure who. At the least, you’d think we’d get some existential conversations from the group about what happens to them if there’s not even a civilized Earth left to return to. It’s unfortunate that I.S.S. only feints at those scenarios and instead turns into a fairly humdrum space thriller that feels much too conventional. Sure, the true “villain” of the film shifts a few times from one character to another, but those reveals always feel like a grinding narrative contrivance rather than a legitimate surprise built on what’s come before.

The film choosing the most mundane route isn’t the cast’s fault. DeBose carries herself well in her first leading live-action role, and it’s fun to see a couple of TV standouts (Asbæk played Euron Greyjoy on Game of Thrones while Ronin stole scene after scene as Oleg on The Americans) turn up here as Russians who may or may not have everyone’s best interests at heart. But other things are working against the film in addition to a plot that never takes off from its elevated concept. I don’t know much about the International Space Station, and after watching this movie … I still feel like I don’t know much about the International Space Station. Just from a geographic standpoint, the film doesn’t do a great job of showing how big the structure is internally and just how hard it would be to find a hiding spot if you needed to. (Which is kind of important if your film eventually turns into a cat-and-mouse thriller, which I.S.S. sort of does.) There are also some sketchy motivational beats where characters do things that seem designed to up the tension and advance the plot, but they don’t make a ton of sense when considering the entire predicament the crew finds themselves in. Add in a lightly-sketched McGuffin that feels like a novice screenwriter’s concoction, and the promise of the film’s intriguing premise eventually unravels in full throughout the film’s brief, 95-minute runtime.

Fans of space-based thrillers may get enough out of the movie to be moderately entertained, but anyone else intrigued by the idea of six astronauts floating above a world that may have blown itself to hell is likely going to find themselves disappointed by the fact that I.S.S. barely takes the time to reckon with the unimaginable horror that should have been dawning on these characters. At one point, Gordon asks Kira to keep the others away from the windows, warning that they shouldn’t be looking at the increasingly dire situation on the planet below. But this movie needed those characters to look out of those windows more often. And instead of constantly scheming against each other, they should also have been wrestling with the unfathomable consequences of a war they never expected. I.S.S.’s intriguing premise deserved better.

I.S.S. Despite its high concept, I.S.S. turns into a rather mundane space thriller. ProsThe “what if?” scenario offered up by Nick Shafir’s script makes for a compelling jumping-off point. The movie’s talented international cast is more than capable of bringing these characters to life. ConsThough the film’s elevated concept poses some big questions, those are largely ignored in favor of the film becoming a straight-forward thriller. Allegiances between characters unnaturally shift based on the needs of the plot to the point where you can feel the filmmakers pulling the strings.

I.S.S. comes to theaters in the U.S. starting Jan. 19. Click below for showtimes.

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