I.S.S (2024): Space Adventure Revel True Human Nature

There is this weird practice of mine to see if a movie can talk by itself, watch the trailer without audio, I.S.S seems to be that kind of movie, just by watching the opening scenes you could tell how everything starts with rainbows and unicorns, moments latter everything turns sour as scientist on board of the International Space Station watch a scary global conflict blow up on Earth, they watch from above and probably the first question to come to mind is who the F do we go down?. This is a movie directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite and written by Nick Shafir with a cast I do not know much off but I did recognize Masha Mashkova from "For All Mankind" a recent space travel series, hit of a TV series, where she plays Svetlana Zakharova a Russian Cosmonaut.

The plot unfolds as a group of American astronauts and Russian cosmonauts are involve into the chaos that is Earth, I would assume that some one either receive orders to take control of the station if this kind of situation ever happen, they end up fighting to death so by any means take over. This movie had its world premiere at the Tribeca Festival on June 12, 2023, now soon to be release in theaters in the United States on January 19, 2024.

Director Gabriela Cowperthwaite, to my naked eye there is not much I know about her to be honest probably she is well known for her work on documentaries and feature films, brings a unique touch to “I.S.S.” , but I did find info about her powerful documentary Blackfish (2013) received a BAFTA nomination for Best Documentary, leading to major changes in SeaWorld's treatment of orcas. Cowperthwaite's ability to transition seamlessly between documentary and narrative film making is evident in works involving other productions as Megan Leavey (2017) and Our Friend (2019).

From what I could find online the process of creating “I.S.S.” It involved a series of intriguing developments, for example the script, written by Nick Shafir, earned a spot on the well known “Black List” of most appreciated un produced screenplays in December 2020, I'm not sure how to fell about it, are they praising the script or for some reason no one was interested?. Got green light for production in January 2021, LD Entertainment enlisted the collaboration and expertise of the director Gabriela Cowperthwaite who from her IMDB profile has been around for some time but I did not see any world wide known productions with the exception of the documentary Blackfish (2013) as mention above, to my knowledge. The cast, which included Chris Messina and Pilou Asbæk, was expanded to include Ariana DeBose in February 2021. Filming began at Screen Gems Studios in Wilmington, North Carolina, in February 2021, and in August 2023, Bleecker Street acquired US distribution rights. The film received positive reviews at several film festivals in the fall of 2023, further raising expectations and speeding up the process for its theatrical release. Bunch of text book data, the movie basically went through a lot of though process with certain ups and downs.

The main cast of “I.S.S.” includes Ariana DeBose, Chris Messina, John Gallagher Jr., Maria Mashkova, Costa Ronin and Pilou Asbæk. Some of them have work on a few well known productions for example the main protagonist Ariana DeBose, or well they all going to be on the same small space this entire time so who is not the main actor; she work on West Side Story and West World. Chris Messina who I saw last year on the TV Show "Based on a True Story" that I like very much, a comedy with Kaley Cuoco but he also had roles on other great productions like "Air (2023)" and "Argo", Costa Ronin he had been involve in a fair amount of great TV series like Gotham, Shooter and Homeland, all three F ing awesome shows so he is no stranger of putting a good acting on an action scene. Overall despite some of this faces been new to viewers depending on the type of content you might watch this is a great cast with tons of experience that will have a challenge because keep in mind that the movie is all develop inside the International Space Station, a confine space so there is no much room to work it, prepare to feel desperate and claustrophobic.

“I.S.S.” It is not simply a space theme thriller; It carries with it subliminal messages about trust, generosity, teamwork and the dangers of blind nationalism. Online some critics have noted that, although the film attempts to transmit these themes, the messages are somewhat simple. The slogan, “The war on Earth will be decided in space,” suggests the possible consequences of terrestrial conflicts on international cooperation and space exploration.

The film has received positive reviews, with a score of 92% on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics praise its suspenseful plot, effective foreshadowing, and solid performances, giving it a spot as a fun type B movie that's hard to find these days. However, criticism persists about its generic nature and simplistic messages, sometimes I really don't understand how much people directors and writers to do on a movie, everything under the sun has already been on a movie. With a very high score among critics before its release on theaters there is a lot of anticipation from viewers, its been some time since a movie in space will generate so much tension as the protagonists has no where to go and no body to help, a space adventure that will bring probably the worst side of humanity that anyone could think about.

I love this kind of movies that start very soft, every one is happy, seems that when Dr. Kira gets to the I.S.S everything is great, all smiles and selfies until one day they look down at earth and see the first explosion that brings down hell on Earth, then all of the sudden they start to turn into each other taking sides, some probably with military background or some kind of patriotism ideology when in fact they should be thinking about how to survive because if things are that bad down there then who is coming to get them? unless they have some kind of emergency shuttle they can use but still up there should be about lets make this work, get to Earth and once we hit the ground then its a different story but well someone has a different opinion and orders so they start to attack each other trying to get control of the I.S.S, this is going to be a great movie in my opinion, based on the story, cast, trailer and support from critics after its world debut.