‘I.S.S.’ A Captivating, Character-Driven Feature

In the intense space thriller ‘I.S.S.’, tensions flare in the near future aboard the International Space Station when a worldwide conflict breaks out on Earth.

Soon, the U.S. and Russian astronauts each receive orders from the ground: take control of the station - by any means necessary.

A few weeks ago when I first saw the trailer for ‘I.S.S.’ I immediately got hooked. After viewing the trailer I first thought that it was good to see an intriguing-looking original sci-fi/space movie. And then again, most original sci-fi/space movies are really hit and miss. Well, ‘I.S.S.’ is definitely one of the better ones for sure!

‘I.S.S.’ really delivers on the intensity of the situation that the astronauts are going through. First, you get to see the I.S.S. crew bond and enjoy their time together, which is great because you can get a feel of the characters and see how they are around one another before things get crazy. Then, that’s when the explosions from Earth begin to happen.

The trailers all show the explosions as they happen on Earth from the POV of the astronauts. And, seeing that on the big screen is still tense and the visual effects are really good. From there, we get to see how they react and what would follow once they get the message to take control of the station.

During some of the moments where they are planning on figuring out what to do next, you can really feel the intensity. There is a sequence where you see one of the U.S. astronauts go outside the space station to fix a satellite and it really didn’t need to be fixed, one of the Russian astronauts (or cosmonauts) try to knock him off. This shows that anyone would do what it takes to survive. 

Also the visual effects during that sequence are really amazing. Now, it’s not quite as

visually incredible as the sequences in the 2013 film ‘Gravity.’ But with the lower budget the filmmakers had to work with, it still looks really compelling. 

There are several other tense moments that show the astronauts doing whatever they can to survive this ordeal and you also see some twists and turns during the movie that are really intriguing. Another thing I enjoyed about this movie is that it doesn’t dive into why war broke out down on Earth and left that open. 

I highly suggest checking out ‘I.S.S.’ on the big screen while it’s showing at the Dietrich. It’s intense during quite a few sequences and the visuals are great!

The small cast: Ariana DeBose as Dr. Kira Foster; Chris Messina as Gordon Barrett; John Gallagher Jr. as Christian Campbell; Masha Mashkova as Weronika Vetrov; Costa Ronin as Nicholai Pulov and Pilous Asbaek as Alexey Pulov.

‘I.S.S.’ is written by Nick Shafir and directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite, who also directed ‘Our Friend,’ ‘Megan Leavey’ and the documentary ‘Blackfish.’

In December 2020, the screenplay of the movie was included on that year’s “Black List” of most liked unproduced screenplays. In January 2021, production company LD Entertainment gave it the green-light and last August, Bleecker Street acquired the domestic distribution rights.

‘I.S.S.’ is rated R for some violence and language and has a running time of 95 minutes.

https://youtu.be/BywoLxuBgT0?si=OPG0AgLR3KTdmUo9