Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

Giant Robots take an alternate 1940's Manhattan, siphoning off both science and technology, and a string of missing scientists by a dark and mysterious force. New York's greatest hope lies in Sky Captain (Jude Law) and his mercenary flying squad. When his best friend and inventor-mechanic, Dex (Giovanni Ribisi) is kidnapped, he takes it upon himself to track down Dex and save him. Already on the trail of the missing scientists, Polly Perkins (Gwynth Paltrow), a reporter for the New York Chronicle, hitches a ride, hoping to get the story of her career. Teaming up with Francesca "Franky" Cooke (Angelina Jolie), an aircraft carrier commander, the unlikely duo gets to the bottom of the mystery and find answers of a bizarre nature.

There is a sub-genre of science fiction known as Steam Punk, where technology is based on metal, hydraulics and gears. Very few films and television shows use Steam Punk because it requires setting and precision for each unit of technology, plus it nearly always is a bit on the side of ludicrous side of appearance. So, the choice for the writers is whether or not to explain the workings of the tech or just to use it and spare the explanations. Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow uses the second approach and does so with distinction, leaving the narrative to do what makes the film great: its cheeky humor and film noir cinematography with a production design that is jaw-dropping and simply beautiful.

As I understand it, this film began as a student project, but ended up beginning the popularity of a film style used by Zach Snyder in 300 and the upcoming action film Sucker Punch. Shot purely against a green-screen and sparsely utilized props and set pieces, it's a great exercise in acting for our cast, and they do it wonderfully. Especially done well is the Giant Robot attack, as Polly runs from the wake of the crushing metal feet: Paltrow's Polly feeling the quakes (that were never there physically) and reacting to tremors that don't physically exist. Green-screen is useful in the film for the many places Sky Captain and Polly travel to, from Manhattan to Shangri-La, Also in the creation of new settings such as Franky's aircraft carrier, which is quite literally an aircraft carrier flying around the world's airspace.

Now the story. Hmmm? Well it reads slightly like an Indiana Jones-caliber adventure film, complete with the red line on the map as our hero pair fly all over the world looking for Dr. Totenkopf (Laurence Olivier) and his assassin accomplice. Each turn has some fantastical setting and the action is campy, smooth and cheeky. The humorous exchanges between Polly and Sky Captain in their romantic tension as they work out their backstory brilliantly layers out the bizarreness that surrounds the rest of the plot making it a human drama with human emotion allowing us to relate to our main cast effortlessly. The overall plot is fun and humorous with great action, witty dialogue and an over-the-top concept that is "fun for the whole family."

****

In: Giovanni Ribisi

Out: Jude Law

Coming Soon: Sleuth