Review of:Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004)
Director:Kerry Conran
Rating:PG for sequences of stylized sci-fi violence and brief mild language
Starring:Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie, Bai Ling, Michael Gambon
In a world where movies can easily become carbon copies of each other, it is nice to at times see something that goes against the grain. The film Sky Captain and the World of tomorrow goes against the traditional grain of filmmaking‚ and for its efforts brings a solid film to us without suffering from the splinters of being different.
The story is set against the backdrop of an everyday looking city (ok it looks like a city out of a fifties comic)‚ and puts us into the action fairly quickly. When the city is attacked by an army of giant robots‚ it is up to the Sky Captain (Jude Law)‚ and his for hire army to fight them off. Investigating the robots mysterious appearance happens to fall on the beautiful shoulders of ace reporter Polly Perkins (Gwyneth Paltrow). Polly and the Sky Captain have had previous dealings with each other (romantic of course)‚ and struggle to keep their feelings in check while doing their jobs. Their investigation leads them to one name‚ Dr. Totenkopf‚ and a trail that is hidden at best. Together again‚ our two adventurers set out to stop evil before a terrible fate falls on mankind.
The best thing about Sky Captain has to be the gorgeous look of the film‚ which was imagined by Director Kerry Conran. I’m willing to bet that if you took a fifties comic and somehow could digitize the image‚ it would look exactly like this.
The film also gives us the classical look of romance‚ pitting two strong women after one man‚ with each recognizing the strengths in the other woman‚ but ultimately confident enough in themselves to let things sizzle just underneath. Angelina Jolie (playing as Franky Cook) puts in one of her better performances‚ and the genius of the group‚ Dex (Giovanni Ribisi) does an admirable job as the best friend.
This film should be seen if not only for its aestitics ‘but on top of that’, it is a good film.
