Directed by Kerry Conran, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow revolves around the mysterious disappearance of some of the world's most revered scientists. When an investigation is launched, Polly Perkins (Gwyneth Paltrow), reporter for the prestigious Chronicle, and Sky Captain (Jude Law), resident flying ace, are at the forefront of the case. Though the mission's perks include traveling around the world, the stout-hearted duo are nonetheless risking their lives with each passing moment, as
the culprit is none other than the nefarious Dr. Totenkopf, and his goal, from what they can gather, is to destroying the earth in its entirety. Luckily, Sky Captain and Polly are not alone -- Franky Cook (Angelina Jolie), the commander of an all-female amphibious squadron, and Dex (Giovanni Ribisi), an unparalleled technical genius, have joined them in hopes of saving the planet before it's too late. Laurence Olivier appears posthumously as Dr. Totenkopf, via old film-clips "recycled" (or CG-altered) to fit the dialogue and scenes at hand. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi
Such an interestingly silly movie that I found myself idly wondering what particular audience was being targeted with its peculiar conceits and infinitude of special effects.
His nostalgia enabled by technology, Conran takes the ghosts in his machine seriously, and the results appear at once meltingly lovely and intriguingly inhuman.
Generally speaking, I'm not a big fan of style-over- substance movies, but this one is so gorgeous that it's possible to become literally lost in the richness of the images.
"Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow" is a war movie without subtext. Its deliberate lack of moral coding and pandering effort to please audiences with a vintage cotton candy pulp that never was is more than a little insulting. At least it has Angelina
Director Kerry Conran hasn't just mimicked his favorite serials and comic books. He's written a love letter to the full scope of 1930s and '40s films by basically making one.
The clincher is how the actors are reduced to puppets and ciphers; Paltrow straight-jacketed in her Hildy Johnson-style two-piece and the evidently bored Law reduced throughout half the movie to giving the gimlet eye through flying goggles.
It should feel like Star Wars, yet it fails to feel like a movie at all. Conran has done his work almost too well. It's as if you're sitting in front of an outsize comic book with a speed reader as page-turner.
Occasionally threatens to collapse under the weight of its own production, but all in all it's an exhilarating experience, and raises the bar for the use of digital technology in film.
A technical wonder of a tribute to the action/adventure films of 30's Hollywood ... lacking the most important element other than chills and thrills: character development, the human element, the ghost in the machine, the stuff that seduces an audience into caring about the schlubs jumping through hoops. The Indiana
Jones series carry the same DNA and knew enough to break the action long enough so you got the impression of knowing the cliches always in harms way. This one regrettably misses that key ingredient. Still its a marvel of execution.
In an alternate version of wartime New York, a dashing mercenary tries to prevent the evil plot of a megalomaniacal German scientist and his army of giant robots. One of the first films to abandon sets and locations in favour of green screen CGI, Sky Captain still looks surprisingly good. As such, it can be blamed for
everything from the sins of Lucas and Cameron to Sin City but although the CGI looks dated, the fact that it beautifully renders the retro look of the 1940s means that it never looks cheap and nasty. Add some gorgeous art deco production design and a very attractive cast and this film is still rather special to look at. The plot, although rather episodic and convoluted and often just an excuse to cue up another visual spectacle, does successfully capture the cheerful corniness of the Saturday morning serials it sets out to reproduce and although I did tune out from time to time when the actors' lips were moving, it never gets overly dull. An entertainingly cheesy homage to Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers that does exactly what it says on the tin.
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