I.S.S.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.