Recalling the pulp adventure stories of the 1930s and '40s, Sky
Captain And The World Of Tomorrow is a loving, grand, and passionate tribute to
the flights of fancy of old, using the cutting edge cinematic technology of
today. Taking place in a wondrous alternate Earth of the 1930s, the New York
City of Sky Captain is a sleek, retro vision of the future, populated with such
modern marvels as massive airships that dock at the Empire State Building. When
one such airship, the Hindenburg III, arrives over Manhattan, it carries a very
concerned passenger named Dr. Jorge Vargas, who has two metallic vials in his
possession. He places the vials in a parcel and gives instructions with a
crewman of the airship that the package is to be delivered to a Dr. Walter
Jennings here in the city. Shortly afterwards, Vargas vanishes.
Chronicle reporter Polly Perkins (Gwyneth Paltrow), who is covering the
disappearance of Vargas, as well as several other prominent scientists, receives
a message from a man wanting to meet her at a showing of The Wizard Of Oz at
Radio City Music Hall. He claims he knows who the next missing scientist will be.
When she meets with the gentleman, he turns out to be Dr. Walter Jennings. He
tells Polly that before the start of the First World War, he was one of seven
scientists who worked in a special group known as Unit 11, outside of Berlin.
They've done some terrible experiments, which they have all sworn never to
discuss. Jennings is the last of the group left remaining, and thus he will be
the next scientist to vanish. When the air raid siren disrupts their encounter,
Polly presses him for the name of the man who is hunting down the scientists
from Unit 11 and Jennings fearfully utters the name Totenkopf.
Polly runs outside just in time to see New York City come under attack by an
army of huge flying robots. She takes cover just as the police open fire on the
metallic monsters with machine guns, to no effect. The robots march straight
through the police perimeter, kicking their cars around as if they were toys. An
urgent plea for help goes out on the wireless to Sky Captain (Jude Law), and he
answers the call, soaring into action in his specialized fighter plane that is
just as tricked out as any of James Bond's cars. Although he's able to make a
dent in their attack, and saving Polly's life in the process, the robots
abruptly end their assault and flee New York City when they receive a remote
signal. Sky Captain brings a damaged robot back to his island base so Dex
(Giovanni Ribisi) his sidekick and scientific wiz kid can take a look at it. As
they try to determine who sent these mechanical men on the warpath against New York and the
world's other great cities, Sky Captain gets an unexpected visit from his old flame
Polly, who knows a great story when she sees one and is determined to stick to
Sky Captain's side during his dangerous investigation, which takes them to the far
corners of the world, bringing them face to face with exotic menaces both living and made of metal.
Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow is a fantastic adventure romp through a
nostalgic world that should have been. Writer/director Kerry Conran keeps things
fun and fast-paced, with the kind of exciting, death-defying scenes one expects
from the old movie serials. But what the old movie serials lacked were the
astonishing production design and vivid imagination that is amply displayed in
Sky Captain. From the assault on New York City by giant robots and fleets of
flying wings, to airplanes that can dive underwater and become submarines, to a
gigantic floating airstrip--a flying aircraft carrier of the skies--you can't help
but be mesmerized by the stunning visuals that Sky Captain has to offer. Law,
Paltrow and Ribisi are superb in their roles, as is Angelina Jolie as Franky
Cook, the commander of the aforementioned flying aircraft carrier. Bai Ling is
also effective in her silent role as Dr. Totenkopf's right hand henchwoman.
Draped all in black, with black goggles covering her eyes, Ling acts as the
Darth Vader of the film. One interesting bit of casting has Dr. Totenkopf being
played by the late Sir Lawrence Olivier. With the consent of Olivier's estate,
his image and voice has been used to eerie effect.
The special features on the DVD include separate commentaries by producer John
Avnet, and writer/director Kerry Conran and the VFX crew. There's also an
excellent "making of" documentary called Brave New World that looks at the film's unusual process at
being made, plus a look at the
film's magnificent art design. There are also two deleted scenes, and a gag reel, as
well as the original six-minute short that inspired the motion picture. It is well
known that Star Wars and Indiana Jones creator George Lucas had been inspired by
the serials of the 1930s (Sky Captain even has a brief tribute to Lucas in one
scene), and writer/director Kerry Conran has also obviously been inspired by the
same source material, and he has thus invoked the spirit of these serials, along
with the pulp books, as well as the old Superman cartoons produced by Max and
Dave Fleischer, and mixed them together to create this potent, stirring adventure
that can be enjoyed by children of all ages. --SF
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