REVIEW: ‘I.S.S.’ has some suspense but execution is clunky

The International Space Station may bring astronauts to the final frontier, but as this film shows, they are still very much tied to what’s happening down on Earth.

“I.S.S.” centers on six characters aboard the station in Earth’s orbit. There are three American astronauts: Kira (Ariana DeBose), Gordon (Chris Messina) and Christian (John Gallagher Jr.), as well as three Russian cosmonauts: Weronika (Masha Mashkova), Nicholai (Costa Ronin) and Alexey (Pilou Asbæk).

Kiras is the newest to the station and is still adjusting, but she finds everything going smoothly on board as the crew gets along and stays busy. That is until they all witness massive explosions and find out that a major war has started. Each group then receives notice from their nations to take over the station.

This film doesn’t have a bad premise. Getting to look at Earth with borders and geopolitics seeming so far away and yet conflict still emerging on the station is interesting. The concept is enough to hook a viewer in early during the flick and the anticipation is nicely built for the coming conflict.

When the war on Earth does break out, the rest of the film has a mix of highs and lows making for a middling experience. There are no doubt some suspenseful and tense moments littered throughout the picture that keeps one engaged with what’s unfolding. Scenes featuring a daring spacewalk and characters hiding from other armed crew members provide thrills.

At the same time, though, it’s a premise that leaves a person wanting more. Bottle films like this, where several people are kept in a small area, are usually powered by the internal debates and how a situation should be handled. Watching as that situation devolves can also really grip an audience.

With “I.S.S.,” the two sides are set against each other fairly quickly, and it makes a viewer wish the brakes were pumped a bit for these intelligent scientists to debate each other on what they should do, what Earth will look like after so many nuclear strikes, who shot first and more.

That’s not to say the whole movie needed to be a dialogue-heavy drama, but that a situation where a group tries to be diplomatic before things descend into violence, like something you’d see in old “Twilight Zone” episodes, could work for a small thriller. It would also reflect on how things often go on Earth.

The movie remains watchable, though, thanks to the solid effects of recreating the zero-gravity setting. The Earth in many shots of the movie has a haunting orangish glow from the bombings that have taken place, which adds to the intensity of the situation. Inside the station, meanwhile, characters have to combat one another without gravity, leading to more tension.

Academy Award winner Ariana DeBose makes her first appearance on screen since her role in 2021’s “West Side Story” and does fine work here in what’s basically the lead role of the film. Her character not only has to learn on the fly as she’s new to the I.S.S., but is also the most level headed, and DeBose is really solid in getting that across.

“I.S.S.” works well enough for a matinee thriller at best, but the premise warrants a better script and plot. It poorly pushes the characters into killing each other off without enough nuance and there’s a lackluster twist late in the film that subtracts from the movie even more. 2.9 out of 5.