Film Review – I.S.S. (2023)

A staple in our current film diet, visions of the future have, of late, shifted from post-dystopian scenarios to ones set just a few years ahead. Last week’s Civil War did just that, with more than a nod or two in the direction of current politics. The latest look at the world ahead gets even closer and more uncomfortable in I.S.S., which makes no bones about telling us it’s set in the present day. Yet this is a film shot through with a distinct sense of the old fashioned.

The International Space Station of the title is manned by a team of Russian and American astronauts and circles the Earth, carrying out research projects. Shortly after the arrival of new science officer Kira (Ariana DeBose), they witness a nuclear war starting down below. With radio silence imposed between them and their control base, mistrust among the team raises its head, getting in the way of their number one priority, which is survival. With Earth below now a ball of lethal fire, two of them discover the ship is carrying a piece of research which could be invaluable to the war-torn planet. Escape is suddenly on the cards.

That whiff of the old fashioned is right there from the beginning in a sequence set on the Soyuz rocket taking Kira up to the ISS. The bone-shaking buffeting is straight out of the opening of Gravity (2013). The station’s confines are also effectively claustrophobic and do their job of bolstering the tension and ramping it up when needed. But it’s the story that really feels like it originated years ago, especially in the way it falls back on the Russians being viewed as the villains of the piece and the references to their political differences with the Americans. But even though what political messaging there is turns out to be unsubtle, the film skirts around anything more complicated or, indeed, contemporary, despite numerous opportunities to turn it into something that genuinely has a sense of the present day.

The crew themselves are problematic, with the cast giving their all in an effort to bring their mainly underwritten characters to life. While the audience shares their dilemma and the tension that goes with the escalation of their predicament, they’re constantly held at arm’s length and prevented from getting to know the characters better. A backstory for Kira is hinted at, but never fully explained and that’s as close as the script gets to filling in the gaps. DeBose, however, also gives the stand-out performance as the outsider constantly questioning the assumptions of her fellow astronauts while struggling to cope with an environment and situation well outside of her experience.

Tight and taut at times, I.S.S. never quite reaches the consistency it needs to make it genuinely thrilling, even though the potential is clearly there. Its discomfort comes from the idea at its core yet its deliberate avoidance of anything too political makes it feel lightweight as a result. Or should that be weightless?

★★ 1/2

In UK cinemas from 26^th April / Ariana DeBose, Chris Messina, John Gallagher Jnr, Maria Mashkova, Pilou Asbaek, Costa Ronin / Dir: Gabriela Cowperthwaite / Universal Pictures / 15