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0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 A Visually Captivating Escape to a Long Forgotten Time , 2008-11-24
"Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" is loud, noisy, silly, unbelievably ridiculous, and it's one of the most fun experiences I've had watching a movie in the past six months! This is a movie that whisks the audience off into a long forgotten era of filmmaking that I for one am grateful to see it put back on screen with the advancements of today's technology. I was just amazed that anyone would actually have the nerve to go back into the realm of camp, and cheese of the old shows and actually try and take it seriously (I don't mean the actual movie, for it is very tongue-in-cheek).
This is fun for the entire family; the action will entertain children and the visuals will entertain older audiences, especially ones who are fans of old movies and serials. This movie has lots to offer as popcorn entertainment, and I was entertained throughout. I loved the way New York City looked, and I loved their jungle homage to the original "King Kong" towards the end of the film. This film just is all visuals, and for the most part they're all good, and I never once felt the film overstayed its welcome.
The movie is set between World Wars I and II (though the advanced technology won't have you believing that for a second) and starts off with a story about scientists who have started to mysteriously disappear. Soon we find New York City under siege by giant robots that fly into action with their arms spread out straight and then start to lumber up and down the streets (They look like they flew out of "The Day the Earth Stood Still"). Events like this apparently happen quite frequently judging by the looks of things and the people are quick to call their hero Joe Sullivan (Jude Law), or as they call him Sky Captain, a man who flies around in an airplane and seems to fight against to forces of evil with his own private air force, complete with science lab and Bond-style gadgets built into his plane.
Bad things are happening worldwide, and the authorities are balled. Who could be doing this? Leave it to Sky Captain to find out these events are orchestrated by the evil German scientist Dr. Totenkopf, who wants to retrieve two cylinders which were given to Joe's obsessive reporter ex-girlfriend, Polly Perkins (Gwyneth Paltrow), and soon the two of them are put together in an adventure to stop Totenkopf from destroying the world! Along the way they're thrown into a serious of ridiculous action sequences, or moments where you expect to see the screen freeze and bold letters surface stating "Too be continued..." This is all part of the fun that is "Sky Captain." This movie knows it's ridiculous, and that's the entire point, which it exploits whenever possible.
Giovanni Ribisi is Sky Captain's gadget supplier, and is obviously inspired by Q from the orginal Bond films and Angelina Jolie also shows up as a sexy British pilot (Her British accent really hasn't improved that much since "Tomb Raider") in charge of a massive flying airstrip, which utilizes one of the most fun, if not most unbelievable designs in the entire movie. Robots and flying airbases are only a few of the unbelievable, yet fun creations you get exposed to during this movie. Everyone on the special effects team of this film must have had a lot of fun!
The film is shot almost entirely with blue-screen and that gives the filmmakers lots of freedom with their visuals. They could've gone overboard with this, but I feel they took it just far enough to capture the idea of the old serials and movies, and it all looked very nice on Blu-Ray. I love this little effect they do that fades to colors to make it look like an old film.
I just really like the feel of this film. The actors know this is ridiculous, they know it's absurd, and they obviously have a lot of fun with the whole thing. They could've played it to death giving winks to the audience, but they never do. They act serious, but with an underlying message that they know what they're doing is silly. They find a fine ground between campy and too serious, and just make this film very good as homage to those long forgotten films.
The thing that got me was that in an age of serious films where we typically have emotionally confused heroes, and incredibly serious plots Director Kerry Conran actually went through with making a movie that paid homage to the movies, and serials of the 1930s-1950s. Every character, every set piece, prop, and robot seems to have walked out of that early age of entertainment, and in my opinion the industry was in serious need of a retrieve from the barrage of serious films and a look back into a simpler time.
This movie was an escape for me. Don't get me wrong, I love serious movies, but I feel we need some movies like "Sky Captain" every now and then to help even out the industry, or else we may become too serious. I don't want every movie I see to reflect the gritty horror that is reality and would like to every now and then escape back to childhood daydreams of airplanes that convert into submarines and where every character is clean cut, being really good or really bad.
For people who enjoy special-effects or the old serials of the 1930s-40s "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" is a must, or even for the people who enjoy the original James Bond films where just about anything seems possible. This is Grade-A, no brain entertainment at its finest!
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 Technically and stylisitcally intersting but falls very flat, 2008-10-03
This is hard movie to rate, it's interesting to see once for the FX, for the designs, for the production. It was one of the first films to use a 'digital backlot' with almost no sets or props just blue screens and computers.
The idea is also fun, it's a homage to 30s serials with a high-flying ace in his super plane and a spunky reporter tagging along as he travels to lost civilizations and battles a mad scientist.
But Sky Captain is horribly miscast, Jude Law sleepwalks through this never having fun, never bringing any energy to the part. A film like this calls for an over-acting scenery-chewing he-man instead it gets a calm, polite understated Englishman.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 Calling Sky Captain! Repeat, calling Sky Captain ! , 2008-09-26
Cornball plot but cool movie nonetheless. Although Gwyneth Paltrow, as Polly Perkins acts and talks like she's spaced-out (i.e. reading from a script) like she tends to do in a lot of her movies. Jude Law's (Sky Captain) voice somehow always seems to grate on me.
The digital special effects seem to take one back to another time in film-making (yeah, I know). Though the acting was rather stiff; especially from Angelina Jolie, it was a fun adventure film. Funny also with Gwyneth Paltrow and her camera; deciding whether or not to take a shot, knowing full well she's almost out of film.
The "robot monsters" were pretty cool. But it was kind of stupid that Sky Captain was flying a "prop job" (P-40) with some "futuristic hardware" that didn't go with the airplane.
Giovanni Ribisi plays Dex, the chewing gum chomping stereotype of a mechanical wiz that's a throwback from the "old movies" - yeah, I know, that's the way it was meant to be. But he over-acted to the point of being very annoying.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Surprisingly good, 2008-09-18
Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow is perhaps the first film whose computer special effects wizardry was trotted out as a reason to see it that I can honestly say is a good film, a very good film. Are there films that bowl one over more impressively? Yes. But this film is virtually all special effects, and was filmed on a blue screen soundstage. The texture of the film, the lighting, and the iconographic imagery, as well as stylistic techniques, all evoke the feel of 1930s-1950s era science fiction films, especially the serial films of that period.
First time director Kerry Conran does a marvelous job of recreating the feel of when the world was still large and dark and fearsome, in this late 2004 film, even more so than Peter Jackson did in last year's late sci fi entry King Kong. Where that film was a remake of a classic sci fi film from that era, this film is an homage, and it succeeds all the more for it. Perhaps the only thing that could have made it more rollicking was the use of chapter breaks, which the DVD commentaries say was tried, but ultimately cut out of the final cut of the film, which is only 95 minutes long, and moves briskly. The plot is threadbare, but that's perfect for this action oriented sci fi serial homage. The pre-World war Two world is being decimated by giant flying robots who steal all manner of industrial equipment. New York is laid waste, and reporter Polly Perkins (Gwyneth Paltrow) has a lead as to who may be behind it all.
Yet, as referential as it is, the film establishes its own identity, with repartee between Polly and Joe hinting at a romantic past that went kaput, and their banter about her only having two photograph shots left, add quite a bit to characterization, in an offhanded way. Paltrow evokes the sort of heroine a Faith Domergue played in many such films. There are also many small touches that enhance scenes and characters, such as when Polly and Joe land on the Totenkopf's island, she notices that the reflection of his plane's serial number h110d spells Polly, in the reflected water, or the excellent use of scenes from The Wizard Of Oz in Radio City Music Hall, as Polly questions a scared scientist. Almost every scene has such details that subliminally enhance the overall work. Compared to Steven Spielberg's lame Indiana Jones serial homage film series from twenty years ago, Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow shows how to do it right, using special effects as an integral part of the tale, not just for a wow factor. It will be interesting to see, if after a decade making this film, Conran is only a one hit wonder, or a true young stud of cinema. He's already shown he has a better visual style than Spielberg, and certainly a better understanding for character and plot, for he knows that such beautiful fluff plays best when played straight.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
GREAT ENTERTAINMENT UNLIKE ANYTHING BEFORE IT!!!, 2008-09-06
MAGNIFICENTLY ORIGINAL! I've read many of the negative reviews of this film, and I'm astonished at some of the complaints people have come-up with. Well, don't listen to them. If you're looking for something very different from what you've ever seen before (with a pretty good fantasy story line as well) just turn your brain off for a while, and enjoy the stunning visualizations that unfold before your very eyes! The incredible talents who produced this film should be proud of their stunning accomplishment!
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