By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Director: Kerry Conran
Starring: Angelina Jolie | Giovanni Ribisi | Gwyneth Paltrow | Jude Law | Laurence Olivier | Michael Gambon
Country: italy, united_kingdom, united_states
Year: 2004
Running time: 107
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0359423/combined
Janet says: “You’ll notice that this review is a departure from my usual style. It comes from my better and more technical half, Linc Ross.”
Lincoln says: “As a film dilettante, I would not normally feel competent to review a movie for your august organization. However, SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW is not a film that I’d expect a typical member of Chlotrudis to see.
“I’m a sucker for adventure films, particularly if they share less than 99% genetic material with one of the last few such films I’ve seen. Those more serious films are just too intense; for instance, I remember being THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH for quite a long time after getting out of that film. I suppose this is a personal failing as, even after seeing the less than serious (to my mind) HERO, it felt funny NOT to do something dramatic with the long knives in the kitchen. (I didn’t.)
“SKY CAPTAIN is an uneven film, but one point in its favor is that it’s unlike anything I’ve seen in theaters for a long time. It wasn’t even like HELLBOY (which also seems a little different, but don’t get me started on the lame cosmology, or the monsters, for that matter). This point particularly recommended SKY CAPTAIN to me as the previews of other movies at today’s screening included a remake of FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX, a SpongeBob movie, and a Disney movie about aging superheroes and their
families which reminded me of those kid spy movies, even though I haven’t seen any. Perhaps the IRS taxes Hollywood more when they have an idea? I suppose if I’d seen all of METROPOLIS, read lots of old comic books, seen more film noir, and remembered more early Tom Swift, it might all seem quite hackneyed.
“Someone involved in this film had the hots for mediocre Curtiss aircraft. Sky Captain himself flies a fairly stock looking Curtiss P-40, which nevertheless carries a large number of improbable gadgets, has room for a rear seat, and turns so tightly that it must not be more than a tenth of the weight of a real one. Oh, and it can dive into the water at 400 or 500 mph and function as a submarine without splattering its occupants all over the windscreen. In real life, the P-40 was inferior, but cheap and available in large numbers. The other good guys fly a modified but recognizable Curtiss Ascender, a dangerous experimental plane that earned a different informal spelling and accented syllable, due to its canard configuration and tendency to swap ends without warning.
“Sky Captain has a base in what appears to be a very large volcanic or meteor crater which (if I am not mistaken) is nevertheless reachable by automobile from New York City in a short time. All approaches and takeoffs will probably have to be steep ones. The dirigibles appear to be full of hydrogen instead of helium, even though Sky Captain appears to be on very good terms with the Americans, as, by the time of the Hindenburg, the Germans were not. Actually, the way I remember the footage, it must have had oxygen mixed in…..
“I suppose it is beside the point to complain about the technological inaccuracies, bad physics, and plain impossibilities, but if Hollywood would just expend a tenth of the resources on writing that it does on special effects, these problems would go away. And anyone who goes to the movies at all knows that every high budget, techno spectacle is required to violate many known scientific principles. Perhaps distribution is prohibited otherwise? Maybe those audible explosions in space and billowing vacuum (or in our film’s case, underwater) explosions looking just like ones in our atmosphere had to be inserted into STAR WARS and all the other movies after the fact, against the objections of the directors. And I could swear I just heard a porcine snort, just above the level of my second story window…..
“I suppose where Sky Captain succeeds is in creating a ‘30s feel and style, though it’s beyond me why anyone my age would think they have a clue about this. As I recall, it’s all in sepia. The first sequence seemed to have parts that were maddeningly fuzzy. Whether that’s because they are supposed to evoke ancient newsreels or the footage is preserved from the original demo done painstakingly on a Mac over four years, I don’t know. Sam Spade, especially Bogey’s version, would seem just a touch too modern in this film. Along with the period architecture and cars, the occasional almost soft focus (which must have saved a lot of bits) and the sepia, the attitudes exhibit a sort of official naivete, only occasionally broken. Most of the enemy’s creations exhibit the style of a somewhat earlier period, though this is justified toward the end of the movie. On the other hand, one or two of the gadgets seen at that point are entirely too slick, or at least appear to be post Art Deco. I suppose at that point we’re not supposed to notice anymore. And one or two of the action sequences feel a bit like a video game.
“Now we move on to shaky territory. I am no critic of acting. However, I will say that Jude Law exudes a certain period flavor, most of the time. I am not sure where that soft, and strange to my ear, accent comes from, though I’ve heard it before somewhere. It’s certainly from before the time when all American heroes were supposed to drawl like Chuck Yaeger and be just
regular guys. It makes me think somehow of old ivy league days and penny dreadfuls at the same time, although what makes me an authority on either of those I couldn’t say. Law manages at times to develop an amusing, bickering tension between himself and Gwyneth Paltrow (Polly Perkins). Paltrow comes across as convincingly obnoxious, and sometimes unreliable, when she is not being idealistically dedicated. What I was not convinced of is that anyone would be crazy enough to remain attracted to Polly for several years. I guess I can remember similar foolishness on my part in years when my hormone levels were higher and my stores of experience were lower. I suppose it’s to Paltrow’s credit that I’m still a little angry at the character.
“Angelina Jolie’s character, whom I will not name here, is rather wooden. I’m not sure if this is a good thing or not. It’s possible that a little more believability would make her more interesting. The role as written seems intentionally flat. Giovanni Ribisi did an acceptable job with the part of Dex Dearborn, the techno genius, but much more could have been done with him. On the other hand, I’m a once and future engineer, and you have to take that into account. The sequence with the ray gun hints at a possible flair that is not followed up on. Michael Gambon, who plays Polly’s editor, seems to have a throwaway part, but he does a good job with his rather parental concern and probably should have been developed more. I wonder if he didn’t end up partly on the cutting room floor. Now we come to the really strange casting: Laurence Olivier as Dr. Totenkopf. I’m not quite sure why they had to play Frankenstein with a dead actor, but apparently computers are used to make him say words he never said on film. How outraged to be about this zombification, I am not sure.
“If you are unemployed, as I am, someone offers to pay for your ticket, and you are feeling open minded yet in need of an escape, there’s no question you should go see this film. The rest of you should probably consider what you’ve read here, and what your time and money are worth. Though much of it is appealing, and there are things here I’ve never seen on screen
before the film never develops the satisfying consistency it needs. When you see a film like THE USUAL SUSPECTS or BEING
JOHN MALKOVICH, you know that gun on the mantel will go off before you leave the theater. Not so with this film.”