I.S.S. Review

“They told us to take the I.S.S. by any means necessary” - Dr. Kira Foster

This is an independently made, low budget sci-fi thriller that sneaked up on me. Well, to be fair, it did and it didn’t. When I was first told about it, the title was misquoted as ISIS. (Thanks, Steve.) So, I dismissed it because who wants to see ISIS in space – right? What kind of movie would that even be? By the time I heard there was a movie called I.S.S. set on board the International Space Station it was only a couple of days before release. Anyhow, tickets quickly sourced – usual seats naturally, Pierce Mobile One fuelled and ready to go and crisis averted.

For a film of its depth, its technical ingenuity and the cleverness of the plot I was surprised that so few people turned up at the screening. It doesn’t seem to me that this one is going to be in cinemas very long, and I remarked the same to Steve when we watched another recent sci-fi movie The Creator on Blu-ray for the first time a couple of days ago. (That was another film that we had planned to go and see, but it seemed to disappear rapidly. But on watching it I couldn’t help but feel that back in the day, Starlog and Starburst would’ve been all over that movie, there would’ve been merchandise and a long summer run in multiplexes along with a paperback novelisation. And maybe a comic book adaptation. Those sure were the days.)

The plot of the film is simple. As we know, the International Space Station is in orbit around the Earth, and it’s routinely occupied by crews consisting of both American and Russian nationalities, working alongside each other to further the cause of scientific knowledge and development. (It so happens that we were on a family vacation to Florida in 2001, and visited the Kennedy Space Centre. There, we saw a part of it being built.) The crews are ferried on to the station by Russian Soyuz spacecraft and returned safely at the end of their tour of duty. The I.S.S. is surely a symbol of the finest level of international co-operation and is pretty inspirational. So, we have a mixed compliment on board, but one day – contact with Earth is lost, nothing from NASA, nothing from the Russian Space Agency. No internet.

Looking through the observation ports, they several nuclear explosions across the United States, and both crews get the same message on their emergency channels; all-out nuclear war has broken out between the United States and Russia. Each crew is to take control of the station by any means necessary. Now these people who have formed a strong bond are now at war with each other, will kill each other if they have to, all within the confines of the claustrophobic interior of the International Space Station. It’s such a simple plot as I mentioned, I’m surprised nobody thought of it before. BUT (there’s always a but) the fact they this small crew are now divided and are willing to kill each other isn’t even the worst thing that’s happening to them today – the station is in a decaying orbit and will crash to Earth if not corrected from the ground base within 24 hours.

It’s very much a character driven film rather than a sprawling special effects spectacular, though the effects shots of the station serenely in orbit over a burning planet are both jarring and hauntingly beautiful. The cast, none of which were known to me prior to seeing this film, are all appealing in different ways, and are all realistic and apart from the fact that they’re in space and I’m not, relatable. The fact that this isn’t an all-star Hollywood cast works strongly in the film’s favour, as does the previously low-key career of director Gabriala Cowperthwaite. The intimacy of the station’s cramped interior where there’s little scope for privacy is used to its ultimate effect, as is the weightlessness, particularly in a sequence involving a fight that includes knives.

It's a surprisingly short film at 96 minutes, given the weight of the situation (see what I did there?) And there’s not a microsecond of wasted screen time, and the movie length is exactly what it needs to be with a sense of urgency running throughout.

I must admit I felt when leaving the screening that the ending was abrupt, but now in writing this, around 16 hours later, with the film more bedded in, it was entirely appropriate given the dire situation. It’s certainly a film that stays in your mind after the screening.

This is plausible science fiction (given the state of the world and the idiocy of the people running it) done very well.

Rob Rating = 7