When a film’s publicity hails its status as an “homage” to
certain influences, this is usually PR-speak for “stolen from”
these same influences.
There are only so many times an audience can witness a buffed-up
action hero evading a gigantic fireball or a sultry temptress
stalking an unfortunate girly-man with feathered hair.
However, in rare exceptions the homage succeeds, transcending
its original source material and staking a unique claim in cinema’s
pantheon.
“Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow” is such a film. Brace
yourselves, folks, this is one of the year’s best.
“Sky Captain” begins with the first of countless incredible
sights–a zeppelin docking atop the Empire State Building. This
shot coats the film with nostalgic dreams of yesteryear, and when
hardboiled reporter Polly Perkins (Gwyneth Paltrow) soon deduces
that the world’s leading scientists have been kidnapped, nothing
seems corny or forced.
When giant robots attack Gotham, America has no choice but to
call on Sky Captain (Jude Law) and his elite team of mercenaries. A
breathtaking aerial dogfight soon escalates into a world-spanning
quest to defeat the nefarious Dr. Totenkopf (a digitally recreated
and enhanced Laurence Olivier) and his minions.
The plot is unabashedly straightforward, a collection of
action-packed scenes building to the inevitable confrontation
inside Totenkopf’s primordial island fortress. Like Indiana Jones
before him, Law’s Sky Captain allows his stiff jaw to do the
talking. He says little, but acts often.
A tragically underused Angelina Jolie appears as Franky Cook,
Sky Captain’s eye-patch wearing former love interest. Jolie’s
choice in scripts has been previously suspect, but in “Sky Captain”
she captures lightning in a bottle. Franky’s team of underwater
pilots provides one of the film’s most arresting moments–an entire
squadron taking off from an airborne base and plunging into the
ocean for aquatic action.
Beside Paltrow’s tough–but vulnerable–Polly, Law’s swagger
carries the film. While traveling the globe, Polly and Sky Captain
must revisit their troubled romantic history. This underlying
romance drives the film. No matter how incredible the visuals of
“Sky Captain” become, they never distract from our desire to see
these two lovebirds reunited.
And what incredible visuals they are. If nothing else, “Sky
Captain” is a landmark achievement in Hollywood special effects.
Everything on-screen, with the exception of the actors and a few
miscellaneous props, was conceived inside a computer.
The results are a staggering combination of eye-popping
surrealism mixed with total believability. Not since Burton’s
“Beetle Juice” has a young director struck such a distinctive
visual note on film.
First-time director Kerry Conran’s killer robots are the stuff
of sugar-filled, Saturday morning legend, and his beautiful
recreation of ’30s New York City will astound your
grandparents.
In many ways, Conran is the anti-Peter Jackson. The latter’s
lenses transformed everyday New Zealand countryside into a dreamy
Middle Earth. Conran convinces the audience that his world of lush
jungles, furious snowstorms and picturesque cities are completely
grounded in reality.
Clocking in at 107 minutes, “Sky Captain” is a white-knuckle
thrill ride that ends all too early and should leave audiences
clamoring for more. Perpetual critics of Hollywood’s creative rut
would do well to see for themselves: Kerry Conran has directed a
monumental film that rekindles childhood’s wonder for viewers young
and old.
If your imagination ever transformed a dirty linen towel into a
glorious superhero cape, see this film.
