Space wars ‘I.S.S.’ weightless for all the wrong reasons
“I.S.S.”- the letters stand for International Space Station — is no “Gravity,” although it borrows some locations and tropes from Alfonso Cuaron’s great, Academy Award-winning 2013 outer-space thriller. Featuring Oscar winner Ariana DeBose (“West Side Story”), sporting a buzz cut hairdo, as young astronaut-scientist Dr. Kira Foster, “I.S.S.” begins with her arrival via a Russian Soyuz rocket at the space station shared by Americans and Russians.
Along with her is fellow American scientist-astronaut Christian Campbell (John Gallagher Jr), who will make the first of several references to “my girls” i.e., his children back on Earth. He never mentions a wife or partner. We quickly meet the other members of the I.S.S. They are likable American space jockey Gordon Barrett (Chris Messina) and welcoming Russians Alexy Pulov (Pilou Asbaek, “Game of Thrones”), Weronika Vetrov aka Nika (Masha Mashkova) and Nicholai Pulov (Costa Ronin). After a brief debate about the true meaning of the German band Scorpions’ 1990 hit “Wind of Change,” the space station inhabitants see fiery bombs explode all over Earth’s surface below from the space station’s glass “cupola.” Oh, the windy irony.
A nuclear war has broken out between the U.S. and Russia. Both teams receive messages from their superiors to take over the space station “by any means necessary.” The next thing you know, Gordon, who is in a relationship with Nika, is summoned to go on a oneperson space walk to repair an antenna. That darn antenna has gone on the blink in how many outer space movies now? While outside the station, Gordon repeatedly says, “I didn’t call for the ‘arm.’ ” The “arm” is the movable extension the astronauts use to move things around outside the station. I must say that shots of planet Earth decimated by nuclear weapons and glowing like a burning cinder are terrifying, and the weightlessness aboard the I.S.S. seems very real. That is to say that “I.S.S.” has a certain built-in credibility, given the state of the world.
Directed by the talented Gabriela Cowperthwaite (“Blackfish”) and written by newcomer Nick Shafir
“I.S.S.” is nonetheless obvious, predictable and often not credible. Not only is the world on fire; without a boost, the space station is falling out of its orbit and will soon crash to Earth. The only means of escape is the Soyuz. But where would the survivors take it? The planet is on fire. Someone threatens to set fire to the station as well. What is the point of that? We just know that a certain “gift shop” item is going to come in handy. How do you make a sandwich in weightless environment? I’m still not sure.
DeBose, who currently voices the lead character in Disney’s disappointing 2023 animated release “Wish” and won a supporting actress Oscar for the 2021 release “West Side Story,” has talent to spare. But “I.S.S.” is a small, unexceptional movie, a calendar filler in lieu of anything more promising to maintain an income stream. But she deserves a much better showcase for her talent than this drab, derivative entry. Sometimes, it is not good to listen to your agent. Just go on that trip around the world, instead of over the world.
(I.S.S.” contains profanity and violence)