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Conceived
as the ultimate homage to classic black & white
adventure movies and multi-chapter serials, Sky
Captain And The World Of Tomorrow began
as one man's labor of love. Kerry Conran worked
on his dream project for years and after producing
6 minutes of footage as a demonstration of that
he wanted to accomplish started hunting for financing.
That he was able to bring such an unusual concept
to fruition is a testament to Conran's fortitude
as well as his skills. That he pushed this odd
idea through with the then radical technique of
filming everything against green screens and creating
all the sets and special effects after the actors
were finished makes his accomplishment simply
amazing. Jam-packed with eye-popping sights and
dozens of sly in-jokes for old movie fanatics,
this is a film made by fans for
fans. You've never seen anything quite like this
movie both in look and content — at least in the
last 60 years or so.
The time is the late 1930s. The place:
New York City. Newspaper reporter Polly Perkins
(Gwyneth Paltrow) is investigating the disappearance
of several leading scientists around the world
when the city is attacked by giant flying robots.
Joe Sullivan, a.k.a. Sky Captain (Jude Law), fights
off this weird invasion but is unprepared for
a later assault on his private airfield by more
flying machines. During this attack Joe's best
friend and genius gadget man Dex (Giovanni Ribisi)
is kidnapped but leaves behind a clue to where
he thinks the robots are getting their radio messages.
Polly has discovered the man behind these attacks
is named Totenkopf and also has found two mysterious
vials that the madman needs as part of his plans.
Despite acrimonious feelings between Polly and
Joe they set out together to save Dex and stop
the mysterious man masterminding things. After
finding a deserted scientific base in the Himalayas
they enlist the aid of eye-patch wearing Commander
Frankie Cook (Angelina Jolie), of Britain's Royal
Navy Fleet Air Arm, in their search. With her
flying aircraft carrier (could this be more
Nick Fury?) they battle their way into Totenkopf's
secret island complex and discover his plan to
destroy the world! How can he be stopped?
Strangely, I did not come by my love of
Sky Captain And The World
Of Tomorrow quickly. This movie is geared
precisely for some one like me- I love old adventure
films, watch and collect the classic serials of
the '30s and '40s, read old hero pulp novels constantly
and love retro science fiction tales of all kinds.
But oddly, when I saw this film theatrically I
was pleased but not overjoyed. After the initial
excitement of the opening attack on New York and
the first few hops around the world I began to
feel a distance between me and the story — I just
wasn't involved. I felt that the movie lost momentum
in the last half becoming less interesting and
tiring, so I came away liking Sky
Captain but a little disappointed. But
then I re-watched it at home and I suddenly got
it — almost by accident. Because of my hectic
schedule I was unable to go through the movie
in one session so I divided it up over a two-day
period. This led me to realize that the second
half of the film was not only much better
than I remembered but also easily the best part.
By chopping it into five roughly 20 minutes segments
I had, without knowing it, turned it into what
Conran had envisioned making — a big budget 1940s
style serial! The flaw in the film (for me) wasn't
that it flagged in the home stretch but that it
maintains its energy and excitement for too long
to take in one sitting. Structured as a classic
chapter play it has too many cliffhanger moments
for a single viewing. Any fan will tell you to
never watch an entire serial at one time
— it'll deaden your mind, numb your butt and cause
synaptic overload! Conran and his team have done
a great job of capturing both the serial's good
points (action, thrills, stunts) and bad ones
(thin characters, stilted dialog, logic-defying
stories) but by having to make it into a long
form film they've almost overshot the mark. From
looking at the original 6 minute short Conran
made it's clear he saw this as a serial and the
piece even ends with the promise of "7 Exciting
Chapters". There's ample evidence that they
would've liked to make the story as a multi-part
film; I'm convinced that they should craft an
alternate version someday for DVD. I can already
imagine the chapter titles (Watery Crash!
Island Assault! Rocket of Death!)
and those great sound of doom voice-overs. (Will
Dex be killed by the Metallic Monsters? ...
Can Polly and Sky Captain escape certain destruction?
... Why is Sky Captain diving toward the ocean?)
But even as I confess that I really love
this movie I'm not blind to its faults. Even within
the strictures of the classic serials the dialog
could use more zip and though he does a fine job,
I'm not sure Jude Law was the perfect choice for
the lead. Also first time director Conran's inexperience
shows at times with some flat scenes and missed
details that really bug me. Of course, in a movie
that sports a combination airplane-submarine maybe
I'm being too picky for my own good. This is a
movie I'll be putting in the DVD player repeatedly
for years to come and I'm glad there are others
out there that love these kinds of old fashioned
thrills as much (if not more) than I do.
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Even
though Sky Captain
bombed at the box office and landed on several year
end "Worst of 2004" lists Paramount has
wisely brought it to DVD in a very nice Special
Edition. The film is presented in anamorphic widescreen,
letterboxed at 1.85 with both 5.1 and 2.0 audio
options. The image is flawless, bringing the beautiful
cinematography (a cross between black & white and
early 2-strip Technicolor) home perfectly. No matter
what else can be said about the film it is visually
gorgeous.
The extras include two roughly 25-minute
long featurettes that document some of the details
of the production from concept to final effects
work. Comprised of on-set footage and interviews
with most of the cast and crew, it's a good behind
the scene glimpse but should have been combined
into one long feature. There are two full length
commentaries — one with producer Jon Avnet and the
other with Conran and several members of the design
and effects team. Oddly Avnet's track is the more
enjoyable as the director's has far too much repetition
of the same information. I only need to be told
about how minimal the sets were once or twice and
then its boring, folks! Still, Conran does confirm
my thoughts about originally wanting to do this
story as a multi-part serial — maybe one day. Of
the two deleted scenes one would have made a creepy
addition but the other is a very different version
of Dex's rescue of Polly and Sky Captain that was
wisely changed for the finished film. An 8-minute
piece entitled The Art of Tomorrow goes into
the inspirations for the stylized look of the movie's
design. Then there is the original 6-minute film
that got this whole thing rolling. Done in full
black & white, it introduces itself as the first
chapter of a serial called The World of Tomorrow
featuring "Sky Captain and the Flying Legion".
It's a fun short on its own and easy to see why
so many people were impressed enough to gamble on
a first-time filmmaker. (Love that chapter one title:
Mechanical Monsters!) Capping the disc is
a 2½ minute gag reel with the usual line
flubs and mistakes but it also has some amusing
computer animation jokes the effects team put together
for fun.
A great DVD.
5/15/05 |
