Overall Rating
  Awesome: 26.49%
Worth A Look: 34.59%
Average: 16.22%
Pretty Bad: 16.76%
Total Crap: 5.95%
12 reviews, 113 user ratings
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| Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow |
by Luke Pyzik
"Snore Captain and a World of Disappointment"
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“Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow” is among the most dignified of noble failures. It is so filled with visual ingenuity and genuine passion for moviemaking that I’m still looking for reasons to like it more than I did. Writer/director Kerry Conran successfully recreates the mystique around old-fashioned, globetrotting, sci-fi adventure tales, but it is not enough to simply evoke that spirit. The elements of the story still have to be intriguing enough to hold audience attention from start to finish, and no matter how visually spectacular “Sky Captain” may be, it is hard to admire when all you can see is the back of your eyelids.When giant robots attack New York City for mysterious reasons, a sexy journalist named Polly Perkins (Gwyneth Paltrow) stumbles upon a connection between the incident and dead scientists. Just before Polly is about to be crushed by a massive robot foot, in swoops Joe “Sky Captain” Sullivan (Jude Law) to save the day. The two have a romantic past, haven’t seen each other in years, and must now team up to solve the riddle behind the angry robots. Luckily for them, Polly was given a juicy lead, and it seems if they can find one Dr. Totenkoph, the mystery behind the robots will be uncovered. It is a breezy, classic set up, and the early action scenes easily entertain us as we are still under the spell of the movie’s technical achievement.
“Sky Captain” looks like no movie you’ve ever seen. Shot entirely against green screen with actors inserted into the digitally created backgrounds, the movie manages to be futuristic while still maintaining the distinctly old fashioned look of a classic comic book. The result is jaw dropping; the neo-historic cityscape is detailed and wholly original, while the actors fill out the canvas with expertly crafted costume design.
At around the half hour mark, when Joe and Polly are off to search for Dr. Totenkoph, the initial majesty surrounding the visuals begins to wear off, and we are left with a film that has grand aesthetic ideas with very little innovation in the way of plot development. Conran wants to strictly follow the parameters of an archetypical serial adventure, which is fine, but within that framework he doesn’t cook up anything particularly exciting in terms of action or adventure.
Law and Paltrow fill out their roles nicely – Paltrow is a classic beauty that brings along a certain intellect and strength, while Law is strapping and charming enough to believe that citizens would actually refer to him as “Sky Captain.” Some over zealous critics have compared Law and Paltrow’s chemistry to classic pairings like Grant and Russell or Spencer and Tracy. This is a drastic overstatement. Law and Paltrow are fine, but Conran’s screenplay is not nearly as clever as the ones those legendary actors got to work with, and their supposed “snappy” back-and-forth is not very biting or entertaining. Their chemistry, and the entire thrust of the story for that matter, is more reminiscent of the awful Julia Robert/ Nick Nolte journalist adventure “I Love Trouble” than it is classics like “His Girl Friday.”
Thinking back and trying to remember what actually happens in the movie proves difficult, as so little actually does happen. Joe’s friend Dex (Giovanni Ribisi) is kidnapped by Dr. Totenkoph’s minions, at which point Joe and Polly’s mission becomes “personal.” The duo is thrust into a series of painfully unexciting adventures as the story plods along from one spectacular digitally created location to another. The lack of excitement might be remedied if we cared about the characters or took any delight in their interaction with one another, but they are so flat and uninspired that their downfall would have come as a welcome surprise to an otherwise bland narrative. There is a moment of hope when Angelina Jolie appears late in the game (her advertised “supporting role” is, in reality, a small cameo) as a fiery ship captain who happens to be Joe’s ex-girlfriend. She has fun with the part and livens things up when she is on screen, but unfortunately she comes and goes faster than you can say “Billy Bob.”The movie ends nicely, with a gorgeous image and zero pretension. It is clear what Conran’s intentions were with “Sky Captain,” and in many regards he succeeds. The technology is used to create beautiful and captivating images, and the movie certainly does evoke the wonder and aura that surrounds old-fashioned adventure films. On a larger level though, in terms of sheer entertainment value, “Sky Captain” is severely lacking. For all the obvious care that went into creating the world these characters inhabit, a little more creativity could have gone in to writing something interesting for them to do.
link directly to this review at https://www.efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=10762&reviewer=381
originally posted: 09/22/04 01:46:07
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OFFICIAL SELECTION: 2005 Boston Sci-Fi Film Festival. For more in the 2005 Boston Sci-Fi Film Festival series, click here.
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USA
17-Sep-2004 (PG)
DVD: 25-Jan-2005
UK
N/A
Australia
03-Feb-2005
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