In Theatres Now: Review of Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

I just returned from Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004, Directed and Written by Kerry Conran in his debut). All I can say is – go see it. It is not perfect, it won’t cure cancer, and I doubt that it will change the way Hollywood loves to create movies drained of innovation, but go see it anyway.

The film starts as the dirigible Hindenburg III is docking atop the Empire State Building. A scientist (Dr. Vargas, played by Julian Curry) aboard the airship sends a package to a Dr. Jennings before mysteriously vanishing. Dr. Jennings (Trevor Baxter) then meets with a reporter working hard to crack the case of the missing scientists, of whom Dr. Vargas is only the latest. The reporter, Polly Perkins (Gwyneth Paltrow) soon learns that All of the missing scientists were part of a secret scientific group called Group Eleven that worked outside Berlin during World War I. All have vanished except for Dr. Jennings, so he know that he is next. As Polly tries to learn who is doing this, air raid sirens sound, sending people running for cover. Before he slips away, Dr. Jennings warns her of a man named Totenkopf.

Outside the sky is filled with odd looking aircraft. Aircraft which land and turn out to be giant robots seemingly bent upon destroying the power generators in the center of town. Unable to stop the 50-foot tall behemoths, the city sends out the call to Sky Captain….



Before I begin the review proper, let me explain a bit about my father. Dad was born in Chicago in 1923, the son of a baker. He grew up on a steady diet of comic books, radio, and movie serials with a thick layer of Edgar Rice Burroughs, H. Rider Haggard, and the pulps as a foundation. He enlisted in the army the day the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and spent what free time he had during the war reading Buck Rogers, Superman, and the great science fiction pulps. He used the G.I. Bill to become a doctor and settled into life as a family doctor in northern Indiana, eventually having 8 children.

And now a bit about me, too. Although one of the youngest children in my family, because of a combination of factors I spent the most time with Dad of all of us. I grew up reading the same things and have always loved John Carter, Alan Quartermain, Doc Savage, Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, and all the rest of the two-fisted heroes that modern adventure heroes are based on.

As I result I know a lot of arcane trivia, like the fact that The Rocketeer was not based on Commando Cody from Radar Men from Mars but from Jeff King in the earlier serial King of the Rocket Men. I know, I know – who cares, right? The point is, I have an abiding love of the science fiction of the first three decades of the 20th century. So when I heard the buzz about Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow I was hopeful but afraid of being burned yet again.

You see, after Raiders of the Lost Ark a lot of people in Hollywood realized that there are enough people like me to make money so the ‘80’s were chock-full of poor attempts at 1930’s nostalgia. Most of these attempts thought that period costuming and a ‘retro-tech’ look were enough. But the difference is greater than that. You can’t put modern dialogue into a period movie and expect it to work. And, even more common and an even bigger failing, you can’t use current motivations. In the 1930’s the heroes were brighter and the villains were darker.

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow does a top-notch job of capturing the combination of optimistic dreams of the future while living in a gritty present that lies at the heart of 1930’s sci-fi. I have often found fault with Gwyneth Paltrow in the past (I thought she was dreadful in Emma) she can also be quite good (she was excellent in The Royal Tenenbaums). In Sky Captain she was on the ‘quite good’ side as the female lead. And thank goodness they stayed away from making Polly “spunky”; as written and played she is a determined, ambitious, and oh-so-glib homage to Rosalind Russell in His Girl Friday.

And Jude Law as the titular Joe ‘Sky Captain’ Sullivan also turns in a great performance. He had a great mix of humor, determination, and (around Polly) exasperation. His performance was spot-on for the period portrayed, as well, and he should consider doing something like it again. His acting here convinces me yet again that the entertainment media spend too much time focusing on Law’s good looks and not enough realizing that he is a far better actor than most believe (just see his multi-layered performance opposite Jennifer Jason Leigh in the overlooked Cronenberg thriller eXistenZ).

While the two don’t match the legendary performances of the 30’s hero/heroine pairings like Grant and Hepburn or Gable and Colbert (and who could every match Powell and Loy?), they have wonderful chemistry and seem to have enjoyed themselves while making the movie. The bantering required from the period was unforced and natural and drew a lot of laughter from the audience when I went, including three ‘whole theatre’ outbursts.

Although Joe and Polly were obviously the focus of the film, there were some great secondary characters, mainly Giovanni Ribisi as Dex, Joe’s friend and the man who makes Sky Captain’s art-deco-tech gear. And Angelina Jolie plays the commander of a British amphibious force: a small role, but she seems to have enjoyed it and added a bit of depth to a potentially dull part. There are several good character actors, especially Mr. Djalili, a favorite in the BMM household. And in a very interesting bit of stunt casting, there is a brief cameo by Sir Laurence Olivier, who ha been dead for a more than a few years. While this could have been tacky, it not only avoids sleaze it works within the context of the movie, as well.

Much has already been written about how this film was shot entirely on soundstages in front of blue screens with very minimal sets. All I can say is, it is done superbly. Even aware of how the movie was made I was usually completely oblivious. Tight and smooth, I only ‘lost my disbelief’ in the settings in one scene, a relatively minor one. Otherwise, the locations seemed entirely believable from snowy Manhattan to steamy jungles.

The story was minimalist, but this is entirely in keeping with the source material and the genre. Pulp heroes didn’t have complicated motivations; the complexities were left to the villains and the death traps. Sky Captain is not overburdened with plot, but then again, neither was Raiders of the Lost Ark. But the story is compelling, the pacing is tight, and the dialogue snaps along.

I recommend this movie to anyone (and you can take the kids), and I heartily recommend it to fans of the pulps, the serials, or the screwball comedies of the ‘30’s.