I.S.S.

Directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite, I.S.S. details the paranoia and mistrust that ensues among the six astronauts, including Ariana DeBose’s Kira Foster and Chris Messina’s Gordon Barrett, aboard the title station after conflict breaks out on earth. It’s a compelling premise that’s employed to watchable yet forgettable effect by Cowperthwaite, as the filmmaker, working from a screenplay by Nick Shafir, delivers a leisurely-paced drama that fares best in its intriguing, compelling first half – with the inherently engaging space-station locale perpetuating the agreeable atmosphere. (It doesn’t hurt, either, that Cowperthwaite elicits first-class performances from her six stars, with Messina’s commanding turn certainly an obvious and ongoing highlight within the proceedings.) And although the picture’s been peppered with a handful of top-notch set-pieces, including (and especially) a terrific scene wherein Gordon ventures outside to make repairs, I.S.S. eventually progresses into a rather underwhelming home stretch that ensures the picture fizzles out long before arriving at its ineffective climax (ie one character’s turn towards the malevolent is silly, to say the least) – which does, in the final analysis, cement the movie’s place as a decent-enough sci-fi endeavor that feels like it could and should be better.

**1/2 out of ****