Stream It Or Skip It: ‘I.S.S.’ on Paramount+, a Space Station Thriller Starring Oscar-Winner Ariana DeBose

The latest entry in the Astronauts In Peril subgenre is I.S.S. (now streaming on Paramount+), a tense what-if thriller from Gabriela Cowperthwaite, directing her second feature after making a name for herself with acclaimed documentary Blackfish. The title refers to the International Space Station, a real-life thing that’s a symbol of international unity floating in orbit, and here is the single-location setting for a potentially intriguing concept: Three Russians and three Americans – one played by West Side Story Oscar winner Ariana DeBose – exist in harmony on the station, until World War III breaks out between their respective countries down on the surface. The question is, does the Now What of this plot include a bunch of ideas, or just the usual stuff of claustrophobic thrillers? All I have to say about that is, prepare to be disappointed.

I.S.S.: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Kira (DeBose) is a total newbie astronaut, making her first trip to the I.S.S. She’s a bio-engineer who brought some mice to study in between floating around in tight quarters, pressing buttons and flipping switches and figuring out how to sleep in zero Gs, and this isn’t the type of movie that gets into the realities of the space toilet, so that goes unmentioned. Her fellow Americans are authoritative-mustache guy Gordon (Chris Messina) and the weasel-eyed Christian (John Gallagher Jr.), who work in concert with three Russian cosmonauts, Weronika (Masha Mashkova), Alexey (Pilou Asbaek) and Nicholai (Costa Ronin). Gordon gives Kira the nickel tour, pointing out things like which keys work for which drawers, and noting, “That low hum you’re hearing? That’s our life support,” and all of this is stuff that certainly will have nothing to do with third-act developments and does not adhere to the ancient movie law stating that if you introduce a life-support system in the first act, it will almost certainly be shut down in the third. Carry on, then.

The Americans and Russians are all slightly awkward friends thanks to the language barrier and some cultural differences. E.g., the Americans criticize the Scorpions ballad ‘Wind of Change’ as schmaltzy, offending the Russians. Note, the song is quite excellent hard-rockin’ cheese, and is important to Eastern Blocers because it became an anthem symbolizing the fall of Communism and hope for a more peaceful future – and the end of the Cold War, which is ironic considering what happens next in this movie. Also note, a Scorpions power ballad with a lot of whistling in it is pretty much it when it comes to deeper contextual and thematic fodder in this movie. Remember what I said above about being disappointed.

So we get a moment where all six spacefolk discuss how the First Rule of the I.S.S. is, we don’t talk about politics, with the corollary, especially about what’s going on down there right now. Then they gather in the observation room to look upon the Earth in all its awesome beauty, so they’re reminded about how connected in their humanity they really are and that they should sit in a circle and sing kumbaya and strum ukuleles and celebrate their differences and all that. So they do and they live happily ever after. No! Actually, the very next day, Kira thinks she sees a volcano erupting on Earth, but then a bunch of other glowing bursts appear. A whoosh shakes the station and the power flickers and, well, those bursts must’ve been nuclear bombs. Gordon strokes his authoritative mustache as he reads the secret communique from Houston: TAKE CONTROL OF THE I.S.S. (dot dot dot) BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY. And it sure seems like the Russians got the same orders. Well, shit. So much for the ukuleles. 

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: I.S.S. takes a lot of stuff from Gravity, Sunshine, Spaceman, Ad Astra, Interstellar, Stowaway, etc., and does nothing new with it. Proxima is a far more compelling I.S.S. astronaut drama. 

Performance Worth Watching: DeBose’s charismatic screen presence is muted by this slightly-less-than-middling screenplay, but she does what she can and emerges unscathed. 

Memorable Dialogue: Alexey lays on the irony as all the happy astronauts gaze at the as-yet-un-blown-up Earth: “You forget about everything that happens down there, when you can see the beauty from up here.”

Sex and Skin: None.

Our Take: The winds of change do not blow in, on or around this bog-standard genre exercise. The premise sets up a situation that could go in any number of directions, and I.S.S. chooses a rather conventional one, implying that nobody would want to watch a movie where the characters in this awful conundrum talk things out and/or ponder the existential implications of their plight. That might lead to a different type of tension than what we get here: a sloppy narrative, sort of mostly told from Kira’s point of view, that finds her not sure who she should trust. It also finds us entertaining the terribly cynical notion surely held by studio execs and beancounters, that a movie without violent conflict isn’t much of a movie at all.

And so we get who’s-gonna-make-the-first-move and we-didn’t-see-the-body cliches — the question as to whether there will be a Very Perilous Spacewalk leads to an annoyingly obvious answer — which play out in an acceptable second act, but eventually inspire our we’re-not-buying-this shoulder-shrugs for the increasingly clumsy third. Nick Shafir’s script throws in a cross-cultural romance subplot that throws a wrench in any patriotic alliances, and has us wondering if the characters will align not by who wears what flag, but who is or isn’t a morally compromised shitbird. Beyond that, the ideas here are frustratingly underdeveloped, ignored and/or nudged aside for bromidic plot twists and struggles with power tools and kitchen knives. I will say that I.S.S. looks good, thanks to solid FX work and set design that belie its modest indie-movie budget (reportedly $13 million), and in general, no-gravity simulations in modern movies are as convincing as ever. Beyond that, this is just another lackluster screenplay that ignores its potential to be more than just a rote thriller.

Our Call: Houston, we have a problem: This movie is underwhelming. SKIP IT. 

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan.