Saw Sky Captain...but...

[thomas7g]

I saw that Sky Captain movie. Sadly I can't give it a high review even though it looked absolutely gorgeous.

Visually, this is one of the strongest films I have seen in awhile (though Hero was really good too). This reminded me of those old 10 cent scifi comics you use to be able to find.Or those old serial movies that played before our time which would give a new episode on a big screen. The way they shot each frame, the way they lit and filmed it and even the design of the enemy machines was incredibly neat. Both old school and wonderfully fantastic.

But the dialog....oh man...first casualty. Gwen Paltrow also was pretty damn boring. She had a smug kinda attitude. Which could work. But...welll I just thought she was kinda blandly annoying. Jude Law was reasonably likable...but just as boring. Which is a shame cause he shined in AI, a movie that was dull whenever he left the screen.

I think the film picked up abit when Angelina Jolie joined the cast. But sadly that's not till fairly late in the movie.

This is not a horrible film. Its actually quite decent. But its just we've seen this plot before. And its very predictable. And mostly to enjoy this moive you have to just be there to absorb the look of the world rather than its substance.

:salute:

[julix]

I saw it too Tom and have to agree it looked amazing.........I just loved the retro feel and look of the film. I thought it was good...I was hoping for great and it didn't pull it off. I loved the tie in with many sci-fi films.

[thomas7g]

I'm glad you liked it! :D

I was wondering though... what kind of tie ins are you talking about?

[Gemini1999]

Here's my review (from CA)

I finally got to see "Sky Captain" yesterday afternoon. I found it terribly diverting and a visual feast to put it mildly! I fell in love with the detail and artistry that went into this film. The story is a bit muddled at parts, but I realize that someone was re-creating a film style that has been gone for almost 60 years or more. They did a fantastic job paying homage to that style of storytelling and filmmaking. I can't wait until it comes out on DVD so I can see all the "extras"!

I should tell you that I went with 2 friends - there was the one friend, Beth who was the one that insisted that we see this film together. There was another friend, Nora that decided to come along as well. Nora enjoyed the film as much as I did - reveling in the simplistic story elements and feasting on the visual elements. At one point, both of us were leaned forward in our chairs with our chins propped up on the chairs in front of us with our eyes wide as possible. I felt like I did when I was a kid and saw an old Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers serial on TV for the first time...corny, but lots of fun!

My friend Beth didn't seem to share the experience. She said that the first hour bored her and was pissed off during the second hour because she was so bored in the first...! When Nora and I were talking about what we liked at the film, Beth said "I'm surprised at what people like these days..." I was kind of surprised - she's a designer and big into visual things. One of her favorite styles of design is post modern retro - go figure some people....! She's also a big SciFi fan as well.

I don't know - I enjoyed the heck out of it and might even go back a second time this weekend!

Tom - here's a thread from CA about the SciFi visual Tie-ins:

CA Thread on Sky Captain Sci Fi Tie-ins (http://www.cylon.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=914)

Enjoy!
Bryan

[Eric Paddon]

In terms of tie-ins there are a ton of visual and dialogue references to classic movies and sci-fi of the past. The original "King Kong" comes to mind not just with the Empire State Building shots, but did you notice the wreck of a ship called "Venture" on the ocean bottom? That's the ship from "Kong." During the newspaper montage for Japan one can glimpse a silhouette of Godzilla, while when Paltrow is describing the approach of the mechanical monsters over the phone her dialogue is taken word for word from the Orson Welles "War Of The Worlds" radio script, while her fishing in the sewer for her camera is a nod to Alfred Hitchcock's "Strangers On A Train."

I found the film to be an okay time-killer, with the one problem being that in early 1939 no one would have used the term "World War I".

[jewels]

I loved the look and feel of it, was a little taken aback by the darkness of the beginning (film noir isn't something I watch much of and I'm more used to say "Star Wars" style sci-fi in a movie. I love the 30s and loved the creativity of going from there into sort of an alternate future technological development.

The story had a lot of loose ends, but most of the ones that bugged me were right in line with the type of things that the old serials did all the time (ignoring the lives lost in NY and at the airbase so you are centered only on the main characters; the plane sort of self-heals between the airbase attack and the Nepal flight (didn't seem to be anyone left to fix it)).

I thought it was creative both in visuals and in the "futuristic" technology that wasn't anything like what has been created so far.Loved the "mobile aircraft landing platforms" and the amphibious planes. Loved the ray gun Dex made too.

[PlaidSquadron]

I have to agree with pretty much everything said here. The feel of the movie is terrific, and the look is pretty cool (now quite B&W, but not quite color either) I loved that "Sky Captain" was excepted as a hero ("Calling Sky Captain" at the beginning of the film, rather then having some sort of complex story to explain it all. Much of the story just relies on faith

As for other links to film, you missed the most obvious one of all - the Wizard shot at the end (Who dares interupt the great and powerful Totenkof?"

It really was a movie from the 30s (with the exception of the out of place subtitle line in Nepal) and I was set to enjoy it. However, I just cam away thinking, "Missed it by that much" (my own subtle hollywood reference) :)

[julix]

I'm glad you liked it! :D

I was wondering though... what kind of tie ins are you talking about?
Well there is 1138 on totenkop's door(thx1138-lucas)
There is reference to 327- also a bay from Star Wars
On the platform why Sky Captain fights the chick it is like the fight with darth Maul cause it is Dual lightsaber-like
I thought there was a reference to Kong
I thought when they were in subs I saw Atlantis
Hubby said there was a reference to War of the Worlds-not sure what
Sorry this is sketchy...memory fading...sigh

[thomas7g]

Thanks for the LInk Bryan :D

I did notice this reminded me of the Fleisher Superman cartoons. There was one superman movie that was about giant unstoppable robot monsters. Btw if you haven;t seen them, those old superman movies are a treat! They were really gorgeously animated. The quality was really high. They spent alot more work than most films done today.
:D

[jewels]

War of the World reference was Polly's phone conversation with her editor. When she talks about the Palisades and 7th, 6th and 5th avenues: I think someone at CA posted the War of the Worlds radio script and it's very close to, if not, verbatim.

Another obivous homage was that some of Dex's ideas were from the comics and they showed about 4 Buck Rogers in the airbase rubble of Dex's lab.
Jewels

[Eric Paddon]

I had already noted the War Of The Worlds radio script reference earlier in this thread. That was the very first obvious homage I detected when I saw the film.

I think putting a model of the Titanic though amidst all the shipwrecks fell a bit flat, though I liked the one marked "Venture."

[Bijou88]

I found the film to be an okay time-killer, with the one problem being that in early 1939 no one would have used the term "World War I".


When they make references to WWI, the characters say that it happened "30 years ago." Since the movie takes place in 1939, that would place the war in 1909. Since WWI occured between 1914 and 1918, it is clear that the world depicted in "Sky Captain" is meant to be an alternate history similar but not exact to our own. It is possible that the people living in the "Sky Captain" universe had experianced a second world war prior to 1939. So it would be natural for them to refer to the first great war as World War I.

I saw the movie today and enjoyed it. I love pulp adventure fiction , movie serials, comic strips, Golden age radio and early aviation. This type of movie is right up my alley. One thing that I didn't like was the cinematography of the film. The entire film was shot in soft focus with a very muted color pallet. I think this will play better on DVD on the small screen. In the theater, it seems like everything was slightly blurry. It was a distraction that sometimes took me out of the movie.

One last thing. I love the P-40. It is a great looking plane and I have always enjoyed seeing the Tomahawk take wing in movies such as "1941" and "Tora, Tora, Tora" and "Pearl Harbor." But for this movie I would have chosen something more exotic. My choice for Sky Captain's wings? The Grauman F5F Skyrocket. This was an experimental carrier-based fighter that looked really cool but did not go into mass production. It's main claim to fame was that Blackhawk and his squadron flew the Skyrocket in comic books throughout the 1940s (and in the 1980s revival) It would have been a real thrill to see that baby zip across the sky.

It's too bad that the movie isn't doing well at the box office. I would have liked to see a sequel. If you love romantic high adventure, you can't go wrong with Sky Captain.

:salute: