Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004)

Title: Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

Tagline: Who will save us?

Genre: Mystery, Action, Thriller, Science Fiction, Adventure

Director: Kerry Conran

Cast: Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie, Bai Ling, Giovanni Ribisi, Michael Gambon, Omid Djalili, Laurence Olivier, Trevor Baxter, Peter Law, Khan Bonfils, William Hope, Nancy Crane, Charlotte Kyle

Release: 2004-09-17

Runtime: 107

Plot: When gigantic robots attack New York City, "Sky Captain" uses his private air force to fight them off. His ex-girlfriend, reporter Polly Perkins, has been investigating the recent disappearance of prominent scientists. Suspecting a link between the global robot attacks and missing men, Sky Captain and Polly decide to work together. They fly to the Himalayas in pursuit of the mysterious Dr. Totenkopf, the mastermind behind the robots.
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004)

 
Hey, I was surfing IMDb and found this movie Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. I checked out the trailer at quicktime.com and it looks pretty cool! Plus, it has the awesome Angelina Jolie. :D Here's the storyline and the trailer:
Set in New York City circa 1939, the film centers on a reporter who notices that the world's scientists are disappearing. Teamed with a skilled pilot and an adventurous colleague, it's up to her to thwart the plans of a mad scientist bent on world domination.
Trailer
 
I saw a preview of Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. It looks like good fun. (y)

It seems to take place in an alternate Earth of the 1930s - somewhat like the videogame Crimson Skies. Gwyneth Paltrow is apparently the reporter/love interest of famous Sky Captain Jude Law. Angelina Jolie wears an eyepatch and looks like a nazi type, but she's a good guy. There are several 1930s style giant robots and flapping airplanes of the enemy.
http://movies.go.com/movies/S/skycaptainan...2004/index.html
For some reason the clip used the theme song of Stargate SG-1.
 
I saw the trailer for this the other day....looks pretty bloody good... a little bit Crimson skies but If Anyones watched 'Last Exile' anime series will see a similarity there too
 
Film: Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004)


What a strange film this is! It is set in an alternative 1939 in which mercenary fighter pilot "Sky Captain" Joe Sullivan (Jude Law) apparently defends New York single-handedly while an evil scientist called Totenkopf (well, who wouldn't be evil given a name like that?) is plotting the end of the world.


After flying robots kidnap his geeky assistant and leave a trail of destruction through New York, Sullivan, accompanied by former girlfiend and persistent reporter Polly Perkins (Gwyneth Paltrow) flies to Nepal in his Curtis P-40 (which incidentally can fly underwater…don't ask) in search of the origin of the robots. There they are aided by another of Sullivan's former girlfriends, played by a decidedly kinky Angelina Jolie - in skin-tight black leather with an eye-patch to match - as the commander of a huge British flying aircraft carrier (I told you, don't ask!) as they try to thwart Totenkopf's plans.

I find it hard to know what to make of all this. The silly plot seems straight from an adolescent 1930s comic strip and the acting is unrealistic - it could hardly be otherwise, as they try to recreate a make-believe Biggles-like world in which handsome heroes and their debonaire girlfriends stroll into terrible danger with a light-hearted quip and are completely unflappable whatever happens. The result is that the actors don't appear to be taking it at all seriously and the whole film basically seems to be a spoof, although there's no obvious humour in it (apart from Paltrow's reactions when she finds out about Jolie…).

On the upside, it looks terrific with a wonderful 1930s feel packed with Art Deco iconography, although the heavy sepia tinting makes some of it hard to see. The "advanced technology" reminds me of Bruce McCall's humorous drawings of fantasy ships, aircraft, cars and buildings of the period (collected in his book Zany Afternoons - one of my favourites).

Essentially, the film has huge style but very little substance. Is it worth watching? I'm still trying to work that out. I expect that this is one which some people will love and others hate, although having said that, I'm somewhere in the middle. I gather it failed at the box office despite good reviews, but I can imagine it acquiring minor cult status in the future.

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(This entry is cross-posted from my science-fiction & fantasy blog.)
 
I liked this movie as well....
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It was very silly, but fun.
... for this same reason. It was a throwback to the old Flash Gordon type serials when indeed "handsome heroes and their debonaire girlfriends stroll into terrible danger with a light-hearted quip and are completely unflappable whatever happens."
 
I didn't care for this movie at all. I can keep an open mind for most any type of movie, but this one had a total cheese feel to it. Who knows, maybe that's what the creators of this movie were going for? Anyway, it's not the fact that it was filmed entirely on a green screen. Sin City pretty much did that, but it was a fun, action-packed and coherent movie. Sky Captain did not do it for me, I guess. Just my two cents for what it's worth.
 

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