I’ve wanted to watch this for a while and having seen Sin City not too long ago I was intrigued to see what other computer generated films would be like, and anyway Sky Captain and the world of tomorrow looked cool, so buy it I did.
The story is fairly simple, robots are rampaging through the city and only one person can stop them – Joe ‘Sky Captain’ Sullivan. After saving the city; Sky Captain meets up with his old flame, intrepid reporter, Polly Perkins, and finds out she has a lead on the robots. After an attack on Sky Captains airplane hanger, which leads to the kidnapping of Dex, Joes trusty sidekick, Joe and Polly head off to rescue Dex and find out the secret behind the robots.
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow is split into three distinct parts, the intro, journey, and conclusion; with each part taking place in different locations. The intro is very noire styled, high contrast, and reminded me of old detective films, especially with the intro of Polly the reporter.
The middle act, the journey, was kind of like, and I mean in this in a good way, Gerry Anderson tv shows such as Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet. The journey takes place largely in Sky Captains plane, with a quick stop off at a floating sky airfield (Captain Scarlet anyone?) where an eye patched Angelina Jolie helps Sky Captain get to the island hosing the robots that have been attacking the city.
Finally we’re into Jules Verne territory, the dinosaurs and erm… I don’t want to spoil it for you, suffice it to say that Joe and Polly rescue Dex, and save the world from certain annihilation – but you probably guessed that.
They’re crossing Sixth Avenue… Fifth Avenue… they’re a hundred yards away…
The film has a very ‘b movie’ feel, with lots of little nods towards different genres of 60’s movies. It’s not black and white but the colour has been treated so that everything is very desaturated and a little grainy, artistic choice that adds to the 60’s feel.
I’m a big fan of Easter Eggs in both movies and video games, and the references to other films are many. The quote at the start of this post is straight from The World of Tomorrow, but Sky Captain lifted it straight from Ray Collins’s lines in Orson Welles’s “The War of the Worlds” (that’s the original, not the recent Tom Cruise, Steven Spielberg remake).
Like Star Wars, Sky Captain won’t win any awards for the story or acting but if you are happy to go along for the ride I think you’ll enjoy yourself.
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