SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW (2004)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia
Viewed on October 10th, 2004
RATING: One star
The critics have been kind to "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow." I
suppose they imagined that sepia-drenched vistas with giant flying robots
and
flying airstrips borrowed from the futuristic world of "Metropolis" and
"Just
Imagine" and pop sci-fi tales makes for good cinema. It can but it also
helps
if something of interest happens in those vistas. "Sky Captain and the
World of
Tomorrow" is one of the emptiest, tedious action-adventure movies I've
seen in
a long time. It is so dull, so underimagined on a story level, so devoid
of any
charm or wit, that you'll leave the theatre wondering why this was even
made.
Did the director even look at the dailies?
As far as I can tell, there is a news reporter (Polly Perkins) played by
Gwyneth Paltrow who seeks information on some murdered scientists. One
such
scientist foretells of some calamity coming their way. Next thing, we know
there are dozens of ships coming into New York City circa 1937. They are
not
ships though, they are giant robots who parade around New York City until
they
reach some perimeter to do something dastardly. The robots were apparently
sent
by Dr. Totenkopf (played by a holographic Sir Laurence Olivier) but the
reason
is unclear - I suspect it is nothing more than world domination. Enter the
devil-may-care Sky Captain (Jude Law) whose job is to zoom in and out of
cityscapes in his jet without hitting any buildings or billboards,
especially
when he makes those sharp turns. He wants to wipe out all these robots and
hunt
and capture the nefarious doctor. Polly wants to come along for the ride
so she
can take a snapshot or two. Of course, this Polly is so picky that she
will not
take pictures of just anything, especially when there are only two shots
left.
I wish I could say there is more to "Sky Captain" - some level of surprise
and
adventure to keep us giddy and excited. Director Kenny Conran has so
fallen in
love with these vistas that he assumes they are enough to sustain
feature-length. Not so, not when the characters are so disengaged and so
humorless. There is barely much of a story and the characters are so
paper-thin
as to be thinner than paint thinner. You know those nasty paper cuts you
can
get sometimes - these characters are even thinner than that. They are as
robotic as the giant robots themselves. The whole film is an attempt to
fashion
a world of innocence that never existed except in those pop sci-fi tales
and
sci-fi movies of yesteryear. That's an admirable idea but it is just an
idea.
If "Sky Captain" were to be judged on visual aspects alone, it would
suffice
but then George Lucas has created far more amazing vistas in the "Star
Wars"
films. Nobody recommends "Star Wars" on special-effects alone.
Jude Law attempts to have a good time, but he seems withdrawn from the
adventure - as if it he was always hot and bothered. Gwyneth Paltrow, an
actress who showed range in "The Talented Mr. Ripley," coasts along on
looks
alone - as if the look of a 30's woman with Veronica Lake hair was enough.
Paltrow should do glamour photos for Elle or Vogue, not for a movie as
insubstantial as this one. Only Angelina Jolie as the eyepatch-wearing
Franky,
Sky Captain's former flame and a damn good pilot herself, shows any sense
of
joy - too bad, her performance is nothing more than a cameo (and why
wasn't she
this good as Lara Croft)? Giovanni Ribisi as a gum-chewing sidekick of Sky
Captain's has the right attitude but his performance is also
short-shrifted and
eclipsed by the visuals. As for Laurence Olivier, all I can ask is, why?
"Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" is a big, lumbering, colossally
boring,
noisily incoherent mess of a film. It pays homage to "Raiders of the Lost
Ark,"
"King Kong," "Buck Rogers" and even "Jurassic Park," nary the verve, the
passion, the humor, the human interest or the excitement (I think I may
have
spotted one last-minute escapist moment for what is supposedly an escapist
adventure). "The Rocketeer," a delirious homage to 30's and 40's serials,
had
the right attitude and some genuine excitement, and it evoked a time of
innocence. This movie is a computerized, digitized dud.
For more reviews, check out JERRY AT THE MOVIES at:
http://www.geocities.com/faustus_08520/Jerry_at_the_Movies.html
BIO on the author:
http://www.geocities.com/faustus_08520/index.html
==========
X-RAMR-ID: 38843
X-Language: en
X-RT-ReviewID: 1328177
X-RT-TitleID: 1136138
X-RT-SourceID: 875
X-RT-AuthorID: 1314
X-RT-RatingText: 1/4
|
