Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

23:57.30 - Saturday 2nd October 2004   (Link to This Entry)

Woah! I read about this film on Wired and I thought it looked different enough to hold my interest for the duration - and it was. Starring Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow, Sky Captain tells the story of intrepid investigating reporter Polly Perkins (Paltrow) in the year 1939.

After Gotham City is attached by giant flying robots (pffft!) and Joe 'Sky Captain' Sullivan (Law) steps in to help repell the mechanical invaders, he and Perkins set out to determine who is behind the attacks - which are not just limited to the US, but occurring worldwide. The whole film is shot in an old-world '40s style, a bit film noire with typical wartime-era costumes and styles, but with the addition of robots, lasers and other staples of your common-or-garden parallel universe.

Angelina Jolie has a small, but perfectly formed part as Captain Franky Cook, as does Giovanni 'Phoebe's-Brother-out-of-Friends' Ribisi. They play their weirdly stiff-upper-lip parts exceedingly well, and the whole movie has the feel of a spoof 40's radio programme.

Given that the selling point of the movie is that there were no actual sets, and that all of the backgrounds were actually rendered, the film is pretty darned good. There are some genuinely funny moments and one-liners, and the robots, sound-effects and cast are more convincing than you might expect.

All in all this is a thoroughly enjoyable movie. 8/10.