I.S.S. (2023) User Reviews

Wasted premise.

[AfricanBro · 4/10 · 20 January 2024]

It's a very interesting premise, not one I recall being done. Astronauts from different superpower countries are up in space while world war 3 essentially breaks out down on earth. Problem is it lacks tension and intensity. We didn't get time to get acquainted properly with each of the characters, as well as their connections between each other. Although the film invests initial moments in character development, it falls short in getting a genuine attachment to any of the six characters for me.

However, there's a couple minutes in the movie when the war down below starts, a brief moment when the trust between Russian and American scientists disappears after they both receive orders but don't know if their counterparts also got the exact same ones. While this brings a brief sense of tension, it dissipates quickly, leaving the overall impression of the movie feeling rather meh. Also wouldn't other countries also be on the ISS?

'Gravity' with Sandra bullock was a compelling movie that this one reminded me of. This tries to evoke a sense of claustrophobia, but I didn't feel it. I mean yeah there's the evident spatial constraints and the characters confined to a limited number of rooms, but the film struggles to convey this effectively on screen. Felt very slow, I was aching for it to move on and just get to the end. It's just not much of a memorable watch. The "so do I" line was satisfying though.

A wasted opportunity

[ewillisva-78160 · 5/10 · 22 January 2024]

The premise of the movie is great, but some poor decisions in the script ruined the movie for me. This could've been a very good, Hitchcockian suspense thriller. Instead, they give away too much too soon, and make every action too predictable. There is some suspense, but it does not pervade the entire film; it is only intermittent. The characters are not very complex at all, and the viewer isn't very vested in any of them by the time things turn sour. As for the ending, I'm not sure what they were going for there.

I was really expecting more from this movie, but left very disappointed. Not the worst I've seen this year, but it also could've been one of the best.

Watch the trailer a couple of times--That's the entire movie. No, really!

[bleu30 · 4/10 · 22 January 2024]

I got done watching it a few hours ago and as I write this review, I have a degree of uncertainty as to which rating to give it. It's not as high as a six and not as low as a three.

There are three American astronauts and three Russian cosmonauts on board the I. S. S. The trailer provides all of the other story: a nuclear war has broken out on Earth. The astronauts are instructed to take control over the I. S. S. By any means necessary. How could such an amazing trailer and story result in such a disappointing movie? The answer: The movie, while having faults on several fronts, ultimately fails because it refuses to take a single serious risk with everything that follows the nuclear war on Earth.

The movie moves quite quick in the beginning with the introduction of the characters. More effort could have been put in the character development, especially since this movie is only one hour and thirty-five minutes long.

Two of the Russian male cosmonauts looks quite similar. I had trouble telling them apart.

Astronauts and cosmonauts are very intelligent, but the characters here seem pretty impulsive.

So when I thought about the direction that this movie could go, I thought that, generally, there were two. One would be where they fight and try to kill each other. The trailer more than hinted that that's the direction it was going in. I felt astronauts and cosmonauts would try and solve things more diplomatically--that's the other direction--and that the movie should do a better job of selling the idea of this fighting to the viewer. In other words, I was watching out for a series of specific events that put these six people in such a situation--'a perfect storm'--that they have no choice but to resort to violence. This was completely absent.

Early on, one of the Americans needs to go outside of the I. S. S. And fix an antenna. This was long after the American crew realizes that that the Russian crew would have likely received the same order to seize the I. S. S. By any means. One might think it's not a good idea to go out and leave the two Americans with the three Russians at a time when these orders are in place, but it's done anyway. That's when the sabotage and fighting starts.

At no point, do we see any scenes from Earth or know more about what's happening down there than what is shown in the trailer.

The problem is there's nothing creative. If the writer had asked him or herself 'how can I make this as generic as possible', this is the direction the movie would have gone in.

Give me anything original, even if it's bad. Give me something that will leave me thinking long after the movie is done. Give me something bold. Surprise me. Make me laugh or cry. Make me angry at a character. Heck, give me an ending where the bad guys win. Anything! But we get none of this in this movie.

Another original sci-fi movie fails

[FeastMode · 3/10 · 19 January 2024]

I love sci-fi. I love original non-franchise movies. The combination of the two are becoming increasingly scarce. I want these movies to succeed so Hollywood will continue to invest in them. But like with The Creator and 65, we have another failed attempt.

This movie is all over the place. So much of it feels off. The characters are extremely stupid. They make so many questionable decisions. It's just poor writing, which is also likely the reason I could barely get invested in the story.

There are also some questionable sci-fi elements. I caught a couple mistakes with the zero-G. And it was frequently noticeable that they were hanging, not floating. It was ambitious to attempt zero-G scenes for the entire runtime, but like much of this movie, it feels off.

There is also something major that only happens because an astronaut doesn't follow one of the most basic safety procedures, something even a regular movie fan like me would know. They mention it but never explain why that basic procedure wasn't followed.

Another reason I think this movie fails is the performance by lead actress Ariana DeBose. I found it flat and bland. She does not seem like leading role material. I assumed she was a newbie, but she has a decent filmography. It's mostly musicals (which I don't watch), but apparently she won an Oscar, which is shocking to me.

I was looking forward to watching a new movie in theaters opening night. But with this one, it was so unsatisfying that I decided to see another movie right after, unplanned. And it worked out because Godzilla Minus One is drastically better in every way. Watch that instead.

(1 viewing, opening Thursday 1/18/2024)

Wild and frightening!

[rooshana_08 · 7/10 · 20 November 2023]

Although the plot description gives you a good idea of what's ahead - war between Russia and the U. S. - the special effects shows you the actual consequences of the conflict from the International Space Station. It is unnerving. Then, what we see transpire between the Russian and American crew keeps you on the edge of your seat. A woman next to me sounded like she was in agony, closing her eyes and turning her head, moaning oh no! It's a story about allegiances, and how long do you keep them to both your crew mate and to your country, all the while fending for yourself. There is a love story within all the chaos that pulls you in emotionally. You leave with the question of could this happen? And if so, what happens to all that we know?

Great idea poor execution

[gabriellaquintard · 2/10 · 19 January 2024]

Maybe I know too much about space but this felt incredibly unbelievable. Like the things they do make no sense, it's really rushed and the plot has too many competing factors that don't get enough attention. Also why is there only 2 countries on the ISS, it's literally a global initiative!! It just felt like someone didn't do their homework on how ISS runs to make a believable story. Like none of the characters felt developed, it seemed like none of them knew any skill besides 'science' and no one actually uses the science they are suppose to be on the station for to actually fight against each other. Again it just felt empty and it was such a good idea.

A timely look at consequences of intolerance.

[Boristhemoggy · 7/10 · 6 March 2024]

Tensions flare in the near future aboard the International Space Station as a conflict breaks out on Earth. Reeling, the U. S. and Russian astronauts receive orders from the ground: take control of the station by any means necessary.

I really liked this film and watched in one sitting, quite entranced by the story, and excited by the drama.

OK the production isn't great, and the photography appears to have been done with no lighting on an android phone. The acting wasn't great but the dialogue was more than passable.

However, it's touching how they mention the first view of the earth through the cupola at the beginning, saying how we see ourselves all as one race, with no borders. But later, they are all fighting to the death simply because they were told to. There scientific minds and unique spiritual view from space meant nothing once war broke out on earth.

I did not see it as a love story as some say, I saw it as a vision that war isn't created by different nationalities, it's created by different people. At the end the only survivors are those who ignored the orders of their overlords, and relied on their humanity to pull them through.

At the end while the escape pod silently detaches from the ISS, we hear the US ground crew voice stating, "We will help any American on board." Despite an all out nuclear war, people look through the eyes of nationality and forget that space explorer scientists are united in their endeavours and dreams. They belong to the science of exploration primarily and their geographical nationality secondarily.

Right now, at this moment in earth time, this film says stop: look at who is creating war. Don't listen to them. Rise above it. We are intelligent humans and we don't need to be controlled by a handful of individuals who want us to murder our fellow humans, for their own power gratification. Let's be better than them.

Mediocre - good premise, but felt lacking

[yelrek · 5/10 · 11 February 2024]

I enjoyed the plot overall. It seemed realistic for the situation, wasn't overtly preachy on anything and had some crazy moments. The hardest part watching it was around how they depicted the space experience. The way the astronauts 'floated around' was very distracting for me. So much so that it definitely caused my review to drop a couple stars. The other aspects were just weird character moves and missed opportunities for some action. The floating was obviously done in a green screen harness and was just silly. I almost wished they would have just made up some gravity as a convenience instead of trying to make it seem like space floating. The other aspects were around the characters and how they responded. While I called it realistic, the characters behaved oddly in some of the interactions, felt like it was against the grain of their character at times. Maybe they tried to tackle too much, but for some reason this movie didn't really resonate with me and I would not recommend it to my friends. It was not horrible by any stretch and had good aspects, but it was just not that fun to watch.

Not a bad film, if you can get past the scientific flaws

[chrisgauch · 6/10 · 28 February 2024]

First and foremost, the nuclear exchange is entirely unrealistic, and poorly portrayed. There's talk about "EMP" and most the globe looks to be aflame as if a comet collided with Earth...as seen from the astronauts' point of view as they look out the I. S. S. Windows. EMP only factors in when thermonuclear explosions occur at extremely high altitudes, in space, more or less. There are all sorts of documented films of ground and air-burst nuclear explosions that the US and USSR blew off from the 1940s-early 1990s (thousands of tests in total, many if not all were filmed and documented). Did the cameras filming within 20 or so miles from the explosion end up fried from EMP? What about all the electronics nearby...the instruments gathering metrics from the explosions, for example? How about electronics in nearby towns and cities a few hundred miles away? Nope. The whole "EMP will wipe out everything electronic" is a simple-minded scientific misconception, mainly from films like "The Day After" from the early 1980s.

While some damage would surely be visible from space after a nuclear exchange...2/3rds of the globe would not look like a lava pit, inferno from hell nearly a day later. Busses and trams were running in Hiroshima just hours after "little man" was detonated over that city. Most the fires from a nuclear explosion get put out rather quickly after the hurricane-force winds from the blast wave pass through. Maybe someday one of these nuclear-apocalypse themed films will contain accurate portrayals of a nuclear exchange...so far that hasn't happened.

At any rate, if you can get past the scientific inaccuracies in I. S. S., it's not a terrible movie. Definitely better than a typical low-budget "B" movie...many "B" movies have subpar acting and terrible scripts. This one wasn't bad at all. Overall the script was decent, the interactions between the characters were believable, and the film was suspenseful throughout. It's not a 9 or 10 out of 10 Oscar-winning prospect, but it's entertaining and worth a rent.

it's like someone asked chatgpt to convert amogus into a real life movie script

[yourfriendmissminutes · 2/10 · 19 January 2024]

That's pretty much what we've got here. Nothing but a bunch of flat characters being put through one implausible situation after another, making one inexplicable decision after another, making one uninspired dialogue after another, and so on... I don't watch movies for the special effects, but they were so egregiously bad here by modern standards that I got immediately sucked out of the supposedly intense scenes and couldn't feel less for any of the characters, none of whom had any backstory of depth to begin with. And come on, even an amogus youtube let's play holds more intrigue and interest than this.

Grossly underrated film

[vasilios87 · 8/10 · 18 February 2024]

Initially I wanted to give this movie a 7, but after seeing how poor the average was, I decided to go with an 8, because this movie is much better than the ratings are giving it credit for. Let's start with the acting, the cast of this movie is top notch, everybody in this film was fantastic. As for the pace, I never felt like there was a dull moment in this fairly short movie, it just hummed along at a nice pace and I never felt like it was dragging. The story is believable, which makes for great levels of tension as you find yourself wondering what you'd do in that situation. Overall, this movie is a very great movie and I almost didn't watch because of all the terrible reviews people have written. That just goes to show that we're all different and don't put too much stock in what other people think.

Better as an Audio Drama

[jeporter-47532 · 6/10 · 19 January 2024]

Great concept for a story. I found it to be original and exciting. The acting (outside of the zero G) was quite good and I was really drawn in by each of the performances. However, the zero G effects were so bad and it kept pulling me out of the story. It doesn't take an expert to realize just how lazy this production got with ensuring even a hint of accuracy. If this story took place in a near future where artificial gravity was established, I would have enjoyed it a lot more. Or I would have enjoyed this movie more as an audio book or audio drama so I could use my imagination of what it looked like. But the visuals were so distracting and disappointing. The story was good and an interesting and original concept that I would have enjoyed if I could have focused.

Insanely Stupid Script

[movies_are_life_ · 3/10 · 20 January 2024]

The premise is fairly strong, but would need a great script that takes the story into a direction that subverts expectations. I. S. S. Doesn't do this. In fact, it goes the route of turning characters stupid and having situations happen to fit the narrative rather than coming off at all realistic.

Nothing is worse than a movie that has plot holes that glaringly stick out while you're watching it. You foresee where the shaky plot will falter, then the film proceeds to flounder itself into becoming more and more stupid because the original plot points are too weak to be paid off in a smart way. It is written into a corner where there's too many instances of plot convenience, with many going off the deep end of all plausibility. Characters inexplicably become different persons on a flip of a dime. At one point a character "dies" off screen only to come back for no reason. A character does evil things early on only to become a good guy by the end. Another character can't speak Russian well at all only to become fluent later. Someone else chooses to make a distraction in an unbelievably dangerous way. If the conflict is between the U. S. and Russia, why is the Yucatan Peninsula being bombed? These, and many other dumb decisions, lead to an end that is perhaps the dumbest moment of all.

Ultimately, when a writer can't figure out a smart way to resolve a conflict, then you should rethink the conflict. I. S. S. Becomes more stupid as it goes because its conflicts are too weak to begin with and it digs itself into a never-ending hole by the end. There's not much positive to say about this, because any positivity that I had was only in the first 30 minutes of the movie. Do yourself a favor and skip this one.

Lacking

[dmerette · 2/10 · 20 January 2024]

I expected so much more, I dont know what, but more than I got. How do mvies like this even get made? Someone had to write this, then sell it, then millions was wasted making it. Now I wasted my money watching it, don't forget about the few hours I wasted too. The best parts are in the movie preview, so I suggest watching that since that is the most excitement you will get. There were several odd moments that could have went someplace interesting, but the story was never fleshed out, they just suggest things at the end, nothing happened and we have no idea or clue where it would go. So please don't waste your time or money. Huge fail, pass on this one.

I.S.S. 7/10

[tmhansen-22492 · 7/10 · 24 January 2024]

• Plot: 7/10
• Cinematography: 8/10
• Acting/Script: 6/10
• Enjoyability: 7/10
• Notes: I'm not too sure if I understand where all the hate is coming from for this movie. I thought the concept of the movie was very unique and realistic. The character development was good to some degree. The music and score used throughout the film did a great job of building suspense at the right times. Don't get me wrong the movie could've had some better casting and there were a few loopholes in the story line that made it feel all over the place. I do think that some parts of the movie were predictable and the ending almost felt incomplete but overall I thought it was a solid film.

Radiation Sickness

[nogodnomasters · 4/10 · 10 February 2024]

Kira (Ariana DeBose) is the main character as she and others join the International Space Station. There is an attempt to create characters among the Americans and Russians stationed onboard, but it didn't work out too well. They had the time and opportunity to create situations to do so but failed. Then they notice bright lights flashing on Earth as the US and Russia drop the big ones on each other. The ship experiences effects from an EMP all the way in orbit. Both sides get messages to take control of the ISS by any means necessary. Crewmen suddenly experience accidents. The reason why- PLOT SPOILER is because they are working on a cure for radiation sickness as if it were a disease that can be cured. It isn't.

The acting wasn't good. They seemed to have done well with weightlessness special effects, too bad it was wasted on this feature.

Guide; No swearing, sex, or nudity.

Leaves you wanting more

[christame-43395 · 6/10 · 8 March 2024]

I was really looking forward to see this movie and I did quite enjoy it.

All the actors did a good job and the premise was very interesting.

The special effects and sound design where both very good and the parts where well cast.

The film is a bit of a slow burner and while this may sound like a bad thing it actually helps build the tension up until the final act.

Spoilers ahead.

My issues begin with the final act and the two survivors making their final descent back to earth not knowing what awaits them.

Then the film ends and what I wanted to see for the whole film is never shown.

In one way I really appreciated not knowing but part of me really wanted to see.

Overall I would recommend watching.

Legitimately top 10 worst movies I've ever seen

[Mrblue6 · 1/10 · 19 January 2024]

Terrible. Trash. Horrible. Awful. Horrendous. Atrocious. Garbage. Useless.

There's not enough negative adjectives in the English language to even get close to describing just how bad this was.

The premise actually sounds pretty promising, Russians and Americans trapped on the ISS while the earth is in a nuclear war. But the execution of the premise.... Just terrible.

The characters are among the dumbest characters in any media ever. Aren't astronauts supposed to be smart? If any of them used even 1% of their brains, nothing wouldve ever happened.

Gordon gets hit by the big robot arm because he's just standing there staring at it, and not doing anything. This is just after he stood around for a few mins in space doing nothing and not loving while the Russians inside are plotting against him. All of this was after he was already suspect of the Russians.

The American guy for some reason lied to the American girl that the node 0 didn't exist. And she just accepted that with no explanation. They also could've just both left in the escape pod together while the Russians were distracting each other.

Then later the American guy somehow finds out about the women planning for just the American girl to leave with the Anti radiation stuff. The Russian girl died, so there really isn't a way for him to have found out.

The "fight" between Gordon and the bad Russian guy, was just trash. It doesn't even make sense how the fight started. Gordon let's go of his weapon for no reason, then gets killed by that weapon lol. He debately shouldn't really have died from that wound either.

There was no conclusion in the story at all. The Russian guy and the American girl leave the ISS in a Soyuz capsule. He asks here where they're going and she says "I don't know." All while they've finally received responses from their governments. I'd think it's probably a good idea to at least think for a second about where your gonna go when you're going from Space to Earth. And I'd imagine you don't want to just fall out of space into some random radiated country.

Giving Space For Moral Exploration, But Needing More Time To Reach The Stars

[rgkarim · 6/10 · 19 January 2024]

LIKES:

The RunTime -The movie clocks in at 90 minutes without credits, meaning it's not the monumental time investment -It helps to an extent with the pacing, and gives a concise feeling that is refreshing given some of the bloated experiences.

The Acting -A strong cast for a very character focused movie, I quite enjoyed the crew and the psychological thriller that was assembled for this mission.

-Gallagher is strong in the role cast, the neurotic personality, the composure, and the speech components solid for the part he was cast. Made for a very engaging character that tried to spice up a rather bland story.

-Messina wasn't bad, his character holding some vim, vigor, and guts that I liked seeing come out in a few moments that called for it. Yet, I found his utilization missing a lot of, primarily in the latter half of the movie.

-And for Debose, she was the star, holding the most evolution across the board, the scientist that has a story to tell and kind of tells it. More time was needed, but she was a stronger inclusion than most of the others.

-The other three deserve a shout out for hitting their marks well. Each adding some small sliver that helps round out the cast, but again holding ore potential that a time extension could have helped.

The Music Use -This is no popular track set pumping out of the speakers or original songs that are going to be the next radio storm.

-No, instead, it goes back to some of the classic elements the movies did, using it to establish so much of the mood of the shot.

-I. S. S uses the symphony to help illicit the terror of the moment, sort of representing the very setting that we are in and adding that claustrophobic intensity to the movie.

-Some psychological tones lace the violin work to bring something simple, yet so empowering in this film, and helping add to that experience. An art that seems lost, at least to this level.

The Atmosphere -Another major factor, the movie's cinematography is gorgeous and truly conveys the scope of the I. S. S. And the theatrics happening in this time frame.

-Beautiful outside shots give you the grandiosity of the world below, and the circumstances below that hold this gorgeous effect that is terrifying and yet majestic at the same time.

-Inside the station, the perspective changes so much, that it helps change the tone of the movie, evolving into something that you either will love or hate depending on how much you enjoy the start of the film.

-But throughout it all, you get the emotions in the shot, feel every angle and action as the camera shifts and finds just the right spot and really capture the life in this station and then some.

The Realism -It's a Sci-Fi like movie that holds merit and less fantasy, which helps add to the theme of this movie.

-I felt much of the movie was believable, giving the characters merit and helping add some more suspense and mystery to them.

-And for a movie like this, keeping themselves grounded was, to some degree, worth it and I found it really helping connect so much for the Thrilling element that should appeal to these types of dramas.

The Character Development, To Some Degree -And some of the character testing held the potential for some of the best storytelling given what was going to be tested.

-What starts as one goal, quickly escalates into about four types of moments that test their fortitude, willpower, loyalty, and more, all vying to win over the rest for the goal at hand.

-That enigma of what will win was the driving force for me, alongside what the people would do and that was the thrilling part of the premise of this movie and what it had in store.

-And yet... it might not have been fully reached (see below)

DISLIKES:

The Pacing -The movie tries hard to compact a very loaded story into a short time span, and for me that led to inconsistent and often a disappointing pacing on my part.

-Much of the movie is set up, elaborate additions to the movie testing that character fortitude and giving you a lot of dialogue, planning, and talking about their interests.

-And then... nothing. Sure, the movie evolves to the typical tropes of the thriller element, but the payoff for the buildup didn't quite deliver, making the pacing now seem very much not the right pace for the 90 minutes we had to see.

The Incomplete Feeling -It leads to an ending that has merits that were good for me. Again, the music, the shots, and the acting enough to really help buffer this feeling with the ending.

-Not enough though. I. S. S. Really left me feeling vague and ambiguous finale just feels like a cop out to an extent, much of the characters just losing connections with too soon and feeling that there was so much more to tell.

-As such, the movie has that artistic flair that is beautiful and leaves that lingering feeling in my mind to reflect on. And yet, the fulfillment of the story being complete and not a setup is fleeting, as if drifting out into the void this movie takes place in.

Lackluster -Compared to the potentials of the trailer, the movie kind of felt dull and lackluster in the end.

-Certainly, the morale studying and character building did the work, but so much of the movie felt very cut and dropped in favor of a rapid finish that just didn't hold the same majesty of space.

-But when most of the shocking moments take place in the span of twenty minutes, nor do we have the full essay they seemed to want to take, the result just felt very moot and lacking the bite that I had sought.

THE VERDICT: For me, this film is beautiful on so many levels and again shows the talent of the director and his team to make space come alive, or space station. A fantastic collection of shots, CGI work, and editing really brings the emotions of the space station during this rather charged et of events. Acting brings out the taxation of the station, gives us characters that I wanted to explore and learn more about them as they take on these tests granted to them. Add in that musical element to enhance the factors, and this is an essay on the effects that Hollywood technology can place on you with the right guidance and use. Yet, the short runtime, while respectful for my personal life, doesn't do justice to fully deliver on all the buildup and promise of the movie. Such disappointing finishes left me feeling incomplete, with so much happening in about twenty minutes that the buildup did not feel worth the investment, when there was so much more to tell. Sure, there are these facets of moral testing and inner characters that are natural, realistic, and quite honestly that artistic soul that people like. And yet, I feel there was so much more that could have been done, that another half an hour or a mini-series could have taken given the amount they were putting in. My scores for the movie are:

Sci-Fi/Thriller: 6.5 Movie Overall: 5.5.

Early Candidate For Worst Film of the Year

[moviemanmo973 · 1/10 · 19 January 2024]

The premise for this film seemed slightly intriguing so I gave it a chance despite my doubts. I thought perhaps the trailer was returning to form by not giving away too much. Instead the filmmakers literally filmed enough scenes to form the trailer. Thankfully this film was only one hour and thirty-five minutes because this was a bore.

The plot is straight forward with both onboard Americans and Russians trying to gain control of the I. S. S. While watching I kept hoping something would happen to give this film some depth but that never happened. Since this film takes place in a single location with a cast of only six people it is very easy to predict everything that will happen.

Frankly, no creativity went into this film. The visuals were barebones as well as the characters. The characters had names and that's all they had. The actors weren't given anything to work with. Each character had a couple of lines of dialogue and had to make do with the minimum they were given.

I found it hard to believe that Americans would be sent into space with Russians and would not be able to speak Russian. There were parts where the Russians would speak Russian but there weren't any subtitles to let the audience know what was said. So it felt as if they were speaking for no reason.

This film missed an opportunity at creating a thriller that could off also been a political/war drama.

The standards for theatrical releases should be reconsidered because there should be no reason why this film should be in theaters. This is easily an early candidate for worst film of the year.

Much better than expected

[gardenerquest · 8/10 · 27 January 2024]

I am surprised to see such bad reviews. For its genre, it's a good movie- suspenseful, fast-moving, with enough twists in the plot, so you can't easily guess who gets whom until the final scenes.

With everything that's going on in today's world, the movie makes you thinking that this scenario is no longer a total fantasy.

The Russian cosmonauts are portrayed well, not too stereotypical but with some humour that people of my generation growing in the late Soviet era can appreciate.

The movie is not frightening, as some reviews say, more like gripping. It kept me entertained and left something to think about.

A bit of a failure to launch.

[djpdickie · 6/10 · 9 February 2024]

The premise is good, but the execution misses the mark. The idea is that 3 Americans and 3 Russians are on the ISS as the world goes into nuclear war. The astronauts are tasked by their respective governments with "securing the ISS" under their own control (kill the other guys).

The problem is, despite establishing scenes of how they're all friends and looking on Earth with the perspective that you only get from looking back at Earth from space, they immediately start killing each other. The suspense and tension is blown. Had the film gone on with gradually increasing mistrust and suspicion to the last act before anyone finally gave in and followed their orders, it'd be more believable of the characters (considering the previous scenes), hold more tension, and deliver a more impactful tension release as they finally took their friends lives.

Theres also the question of the guy who got "spaced". Turns out he managed to hold on, and he comes back onboard to... Immediately die killing a second person because a third person was killed by a fourth person. What was even the point, just let him die in space.

The visuals and effects were good, it did feel like I was watching events unfold in space, and the acting was fine. Not spectacular, but I never felt like they failed in any deliveries.

Its overall fine to watch, but could have been better by exploring questions of loyalty to your country, humanity, as a whole, and what lengths you'd go to for either one. Something you'd only watch once.

ISS dissapoints on every level

[prberg2 · 1/10 · 31 January 2024]

Just got out of watching ISS.. and it was bad.. really bad. To me, it just failed on almost every level. The script and dialogue was just painful. Predicable and just not engaging. The characters had no depth, and did so many silly things. They did not feel like real astronauts and I just kept laughing at many of the things they did. So many of the actions just felt forced and not what the characters would really do. I think most of the actors were pretty good and were doing the best they could. But the script was just so bad, they could only do so much. Visually there were some big problems too. Things just didn't look right. Also some of the emergencies that were happening.. didn't seem to have to be an emergency. There were obviously solutions to the problems.

Just a frustrating experience and really disappointing.

A tense space drama that is worth watching

[hiside-64664 · 7/10 · 7 February 2024]

How about a space drama without the aliens? At the beginning at least the first 15 minutes it is just a normal astronauts in space but after that the idea of taking over the ISS due to a war on earth is new and I thank them for that. I don't remember watching a movie with the same idea and here where it gets interesting.

The movie is worth watching for the idea itself and some visuals of space and the space station which is truly amazing and only the luckiest are able to look from the windows and watch earth and in this movie watch earth burn to the ground.

I support new ideas for movies related to space and this one got my vote.

What was it?

[ekaterina-32235 · 4/10 · 21 January 2024]

As someone who rarely writes reviews, I felt compelled to share my thoughts on this film. The experience left me questioning whether I was watching a student project rather than a professional, cinema-grade production.

Firstly, the casting was notably inconsistent, with only two of the three actors playing Russians actually being Russian. The third actor's rendition of the Russian language was so flawed it was nearly unintelligible. Should finding a Russian actor have been a challenge, the use of voiceovers in Russian scenes might have been a prudent alternative. Moreover, the supposed official communications to Russian astronauts were nonsensical, merely a string of random letters. It begs the question, why not strive for a semblance of authenticity?

Secondly, the film unfortunately indulged in stereotypical portrayals, particularly the overused trope of Russians invariably drinking vodka. This is akin to unfounded stereotypes of American astronauts being overweight and constantly eating burgers. It's pertinent to mention that the I. S. S. Strictly forbids alcohol and related products, including mouthwash and aftershave, due to the potential damage their chemical components, like ethanol, can cause to the equipment. A little research in the scriptwriting phase would have been advantageous.

Lastly, the graphics in several scenes were disappointingly reminiscent of the 80s, detracting from the overall quality of the film.

There were stupid moments all 90 minutes long.

As a school project, this work might get a 10/10 for its effort. However, as a commercially-released movie, it struggles to reach a 4/10 in my view.