Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow | | Cast : | Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, Angelina Jolie | | Director : | Kerry Conran | | Studio : | Paramount Home Video | | Format : | Color, Widescreen, Dolby | | Released Date : | September 17, 2004 | | DVD Released Date : | January 25, 2005 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), Spanish (Subtitled) | | Audience Rating : | PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | August 08, 2005 | | Summary | Astounding Visuals Elevate Hum-Drum Story and Acting | Content
 | I eagerly anticipated Kerry Conran's "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow," ever since I saw the previews in the theater. Who wouldn't love a rollicking yarn set in the glorious adventure hey-days of pre-WWII? With intrepid heroes with intrepid names like Joseph "Sky Captain" Sullivan (Jude Law) and Polly Perkins (Gwyneth Paltrow) engaging in derring-do against a dastardly villain and his titanic robotic minions, what could possibly go wrong?
Suffice it to say that for the first ten minutes of "Sky Captain" I was enchanted. A glorious scene where the Hindenburg III flies through a snow-storm to dock atop the Empire State Building, with various and sundry characters looking gravely concerned and on the verge of panic sets the stage for both grandeur and a suitably sinister plot.
What a let-down! The movie quickly devolves into a murky plot involving some kind of invasion and some kind of plot involving super-secret scientists. And the performances by this normally-stellar cast are uniformly wooden (with Angelina Jolie the lone exception as the delectable, one-eyed Commander Franky Cook) -- it's almost like George Lucas was in charge. For actors such as Law, Paltrow, and Giovanni Ribisi to have so many flat, empty scenes is just shocking. This is a movie where gigantic robots invade New York City, for Pete's sake, and yet in most scenes the actors deliver lines in sotto voce, a soft deadpan that is completely at odds with what is happening around them. Why bring in the radiant Jude Law and make him act like a young John Gielgud?
The plot of "Sky Captain" also has a lumpy, amorphous feeling to it. Despite a wonderful set-up, we are denied much of an explanation of what is going on, and the "unique condition" of the villain denies us any climactic confrontations between good and evil. For a movie that deals in such broad characterizations, this is a surprising twist that doesn't work. Also, the villain has one interesting henchman - an acrobatic female assassin -- who ultimately fails to deliver on her awesomely diabolical potential. She is no Darth Maul!
All in all, Kerry Conran and team have made a landmark film with "Sky Captain," but only on the technical side. The movie is easily one of the best-looking films I've ever seen, and there are several scenes of considerable imagination and craft. And yet Conran's bunch was unsuccessful in uniting their amazing vision with the human craft of acting. The movie feels disjointed, and you can almost picture the actors performing in front of a blue-screen against imaginary backdrops that will be added in later by CGI. Disbelief cannot be suspended, and as a result, the movie fails.
Worth a rental, "Sky Captain" is not essential for any movie library except for its technical expertise. Here's hoping that Conran and team get another shot at using their amazing technology to tell a great story.
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| Rating | | | Date | August 07, 2005 | | Summary | What a stinker | Content
| Someone called this eye candy. Are they blind? Consistently bad photography and poor lighting do not constitute eye candy. If you actually want to be able to SEE any of the stars in this movie you will need to watch them in a different movie. The dreary visuals of this movie will drag you down sooner or later. By the way, I enjoyed the brown tinting in "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" which was masterfully done, so I'm not simply someone who dislikes any attempt to manipulate color or film. But in this movie, the attempt was poorly done and failed miserably.
As for the plot, I'm not the best one to evaluate it. It was so slow and so boring and so unfocused that I lost interest quickly. I couldn't make it to the end of the movie.
The characters? I don't know them as people and thus I don't care. And I always had the feeling that the actors were not sure about what they were doing or were not committed to the movie.
Once of the worst movies I've tried to watch in a very long time. |
| Rating | | | Date | August 06, 2005 | | Summary | A Great Old-Fashioned Action-Adventure Romp! | Content
| An A+ effort in imaginative filmmaking. Hollywood doesn't make movies like this very often anymore, but they should. Even though Sky Captain petered out pretty quickly at the box office (after a good start), I hope it does help to inspire the trend of more clean, old-fashioned movies (like Sahara, National Treasure, etc).
Jude Law is perfect as an understated '30's style action hero (most of those guys were picked for their looks instead of their talent, so they didn't do a lot of emoting as they acted, if you recall). His performance is something of a tribute to that style of stoic leading man (the Tom Tylers, Douglas Fairbankses and even Gene Autrys of the world) in much the same way Kevin Costner played Robin Hood as the unemotional type a decade ago (same thing for Michael Keaton as Batman). Some may say these performances are wooden, and maybe in the originals in the thirties that was true, but now it's a part of the genre that the hero remains understated. We don't need any emotional wusses in adventure movies! Paltrow does a nice "Lois Lane" impersonation as the classic "nosy reporter" that those old movies almost inevitably featured. In a scene-stealing appearance, Angelina Jolie will make you believe you could love a one-eyed woman.
Oh, and the last line of the movie was an all-time cinema best. Hilarious!
RECOMMENDED. |
| Rating | | | Date | August 05, 2005 | | Summary | to underated | Content
| This is a great movie that also looks great with some funny moments I cant believe reviewers are so split on this its seems you like it or you dont I just saw Sin City And i have to say i liked Sky Captain better it just has a great story and the CGI lighting and effects are great a classic type of pattern from the 30's and 40's, BUY IT! |
| Rating | | | Date | August 03, 2005 | | Summary | CRASHED AND BURNED! | Content
| I was looking foward to seeing this movie when I first saw the TV trailer(teaser).I saw a few more trailers and that reduced to me to a mild interest. When the dvd came out I was sorry I even spent one on the rental. The film desperatly reaches in some way to capture the classic image and storyline of a bygone era in filmmaking. It miserably fails. Waiting for it to end was about the extent of the suspense. Gwyneth Paltrows acting was horrendous. Her blank stare and rote lines left me bored beyond comprehension. Jude Law(Sky captain)should never be considered to play any role that even remotely resembles a robust action hero. He is best suited as maybe an icecream man in a lowbudget, British troubled teens film. Angelia Jolie, who was primarily used to sell this film in clips tries , but looks lost, yearning to yank off that eye patch. The story, which is hardly explainable(or worth it)is a convoluted, heaping pile of junk. The film backfired because in its attempt to simulate good old style cliffhangers with futuristic imagery, it actually copied the worst of the films it was trying to duplicate. The old look glow that was intended to enhance the retro feel bugged my eyes out. It is not meant for prolonged viewing. The film appeared very blurry at times because of this. I would have given the movie no stars, but this review system does not allow for that. |
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