Tim Pyle’s science fiction film is very low tech. There’s really no denying that. Just get those prerequisite biases out of your mind, right now. The reason I say this is because Pyle’s film has to be observed on its own basis. It’s ambitious, it’s epic, and many times it’s entertaining. Sure, it’s formulaic; even after watching “Sunshine,” I tended to notice the character types were basically the same, but that’s not a caveat on either film. “Decaying Orbit” is a film in the vein of “John Carpenter’s The Thing,” and “Alien,” in which it teams a bunch of mismatched veterans and soldiers and forces them in a confined space with zero hope of escape. And then, Pyle basically lets them get at each other’s throats. We’ve seen it before, and most times it’s good.

Now locked in orbit, they can’t go back home, the possibility of infection lingers, and there’s simply no supplies on board. Pyle’s writing is an asset that really fuels the film’s mystery and the possibilities that soon arise. Is someone on board infected? And did someone on board sabotage the mission? Pyle raises these questions in a rather entertaining form as our two captain’s battle for control, and old demons are dug up as a basis for the possible saboteur. The special effects as a whole are rather above par, with some shots making for the best visuals in the entire run time. The effects team (I couldn’t find any information on them) seems to really try their best to prevent the space sequences from resembling a video game and in all respects, they succeed.

I bought these establishing shots in space, and for all intents and purposes, I bought that the team was on board an escape pod. The top shelf effects made for a very thick feeling of danger and imminent death, while the Pyle goes for a “Stalag 17” vein halfway in by motivating the crew to find the traitor amidst the remaining group who may have sold away the secrets about the virus to the enemy. Pyle definitely seems to know what he’s doing here and he definitely compiles a strong mystery that presents a threat aboard this escape pod and enables its survivors to lunge at each other’s throats for fear of infection. For that “Decaying Orbit” is worth the watch. I enjoyed it.

I just wish the performances were much stronger. Many times I just didn’t buy much of what was occurring mainly because while the actors are weak, Pyle relies on formula much too often. This is a crew with no real chance of going back home, with zero supplies, and an infection and saboteur aboard and simply no one looks irate. There’s no actual biting desperation amidst the cast and the film never convinced me that this was a deadly situation with horrible consequences, and the pacing never helps matters, either. Certain characters goof, others engage in some perverse acts (seriously, I didn’t buy Rob as a sex hound), and others simply deliver routine dialogue you can find in all these movies from the paranoid monologues, to the on ship bickering.

Darren Schnase really seems to try his best at going toe to toe with Gossett, and is often times much too cartoonish to really take seriously. I can’t count how many times he screamed “I’m the captain here!” but I almost made a drinking game of it. Denise Gossett is hardly horrible, but in many respects she just didn’t convince me as a strong captain either, especially when she possesses submissive traits and a softer voice that never seems commanding even when ordering folks around. The banter between the two actors never quite sell as the most compelling moments of the story, and it just felt like obligatory antagonism for the sake of creating conflict, rather than acting as an important relationship between folks struggling for power. I’ve seen this dichotomy many times before, and Pyle never quite re-invents the wheel here.

Pyle’s science fiction film is flawed, and is mostly dragged down by the unconvincing performances and formula plot devices, but thankfully “Decaying Orbit” has a strong enough story, good tension, and an interesting multi-layered plot that more than makes up for it all.

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