Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

An interesting experimental movie based on the spirit of 1930's serials. I'm not sure what the creators were shooting for but I'm afraid this film doesn't really do much of anything.

It was a bright and sunny Sunday afternoon that I went to watch Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. Having seen previews for it as far as a year in advance, and having heard all sorts of things about how revolutionary the look would be, I went in expecting an over-hyped Hollywood movie of mythic proportions.

It wasn't as bad as I'd expected. Warning, spoilers follow (not that you wouldn't figure it out from a combination of the first few minutes of the movie plus what you saw in previews).

Ambiance - sort of

The first few moments of the film reminded me of the first Batman movie (no, not the one with Adam West, the one with Michael Keaton). The Manhattan represented in Sky Captain is a dark and angular place, full of shadows and softly glowing highlights. The entirety of the style score I gave this movie comes from the beauty of a majority of the environments. The faded, timeworn look of the entire piece makes the parts where vibrant colors appear (like the Union Jacks blazoned on the airships you see in the previews) that much more eyepopping. If only they'd been timed for impact (like that little girl in the red dress in Schindler's List) rather than appearing randomly.

Characters - a mixed bag

The lovely Gwyneth Paltrow plays Polly Perkins. She's the spunky reporter covering the disappearance of six (soon to be seven) scientists. Now, I know that she's a great actress and very easy on the eyes but I'm afraid bluescreen acting must not have appealed to her. Her lines all come out in a sort of deadpan... even when I liked them. I didn't see any chemistry between her and Joe (which may have been intentional) outside of some contrived references to their history. Perhaps it's just something I missed but Polly was a nuisance of Pippic proportions. Every time her senseless motivations drove her to, for lack of a better term, be extremely dumb on cue, I buried my face in my hands and wondered when it would end.

Our leading man, Joe the Sky Captain, is pretty well done by Jude Law (who I repeatedly confuse with Ewan McGregor). It seems alot like they were going for a James Bond style hero (unflappable and charismatic)... and I think they succeeded to a certain degree. Unfortunately, he just seems too perfect (most likely intentional) and invincible. Part of enjoying an action movie is to share in the danger experienced by the protagonists. That's hard to do when, instead of the human hero, he faces every situation as if it's already taken care of.

I was happy to see Giovanni Ribisi (who played a lamentably suicidal lifesaver in Saving Private Ryan) as the Q equivalent Dex. Although he was easily identified as the stereotypical genius greasemonkey, he handled his sidekick duties with distinction through the early portion of the movie... and even surprises us with some heroism later. For some reason, I got a real kick out of the ray gun he tests in his introductory scene.

Last but not least, there's the ever-hot Angelina Jolie as Lara Cro- er - Captain Frankie Cook. While I'm not a tremendous fan of the films she's been the leading lady in, she honestly brightens this movie up for me when she arrives. You see, Sky Captain is surprisingly short on action. The entire time Frankie and her fleet are present, exciting stuff happens. Once she's gone, things slow down again but at least there's some visceral chemistry when she and Sky Captain interact. Why he'd want Pippin Perkins I just don't know.

A Grand Old Adventure - sometimes

I'm afraid this world-spanning tale of a mad scientist bent on destruction just isn't all that grand. There are a few niggling continuity problems (like nearly circumnavigating the globe on one tank of gas in a souped-up fighter plane) and motivation troubles. Why would a mad genius kidnap scientists for something he had already built and automated? Why take things from around the world when you've already got the hidden super-base and an armada of super powerful robots, planes, and robot crabs? Why is Polly's little handheld camera more valuable to her than the survival of the world? How did this script make it all the way to the big screen?

Sky Captain reminds me, more than anything, of Final Fantasy: the Spirits Within. An amazing looking movie with all the emotion of a video game in foreign language text. It was hard to fight back yawns in the slow bits between the three bonafide exciting parts... but it was nice to look at. Stills from the movie are beautiful.

Conclusion - no surprises

I can't think of any particular mood I could be in to want to watch this one again. It's too confused to be a fantastic period piece, not exciting enough to be an action film, not dramatic enough to inspire any feelings, and lacks the personality to overcome the rest of its shortcomings. That said, it's a testament to the visual quality that can be achieved with some artistic inspiration and modern technology. If you want some eye candy, see it once... but wait for a second-run theater and eat before you go. Then you'll just be out the price of admission.

Oh, and it was cloudy and started raining the moment I stepped out of the theater.

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Note: all images were borrowed from the wallpaper section of the official Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow website.

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