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Fans of adventure serials and vintage sci-fi will love this film. It’s like watching Flash Gordon, Indiana Jones and the cast of THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL and WAR OF THE WORLDS all wrapped into one. I’ve been following the production for some time. I’ve met the director Kerry Conran and he seems like a very nice guy, like a nervously excited fan who got his dreams handed to him. He’s a first time director and worked for six years on this project, first making it in animation in his garage. Producer Jon Avnet saw the short and said he’d produce the feature film. It just grew from there.
Jude Law (COLD MOUNTAIN) stars as Joe “Sky Captain” Sullivan, the leader of an elite fighting force, whom teams up with former flame and plucky reporter Polly Perkins (Gwyneth Paltrow, SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE) to discover the secret plans of Dr. Totenkopf (Sir Laurence Olivier, A LITTLE ROMANCE). Worsening the matter, Sky Captain’s best friend and gadget guru Dex (Giovanni Ribisi, THE OTHER SISTER) is kidnapped by Totenkopf’s mysterious female crony (Ling Bai, THE CROW). Making matters doubly worse, Sky Captain and Polly’s romance ended on shaky ground with him possibly having an affair with Capt. Franky Cook (Angelina Jolie, GIRL, INTERUPTED).
The banter between Sky Captain and Polly throughout the film is quite funny and charming, especially in regards to her two last camera shots. Law and Paltrow give performance in the vein of Golden Era stars like Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn. There's even a digital cameo from a Golden Era star.
But the real star of the film is the look and style. It captures a retro futuristic feel perfectly. Visually, the film has a desaturated look, almost sepia toned. It accurately captures the idealized vision of sci-fi from the 1930s in every way. This is a visually stunning, adventure that will entertain everyone of any age. Conran and 16 visual effects companies brought the world to life. Everything in the film that the actors didn’t directly interact with was created digitally in the computer. Some imagery is more convincing than others, but in context with the story and characters it all works.
Like RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, the fantasy adventure is a travelogue of exciting locales. While Conran doesn't have the same touch of dramatic verve that Spielberg has, his imagination is just as boundless. The movie is fun, fun, fun.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
