- Kerry Conran's Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow is the purest cinematic distillation of pulpy sci-fi drama I've ever seen, and I mean that as a compliment. The acting, writing, music, and set design all work in concert to generate a gee-whiz nostalgia for a bygone era that, of course, never actually existed on film or anywhere else. But that's not all! It is also the first live-action film for which the sets were entirely computer-generated. I know, this entire description sounds like the setup for a lesson in filmmaking hubris, but somehow everything hangs together much better than you would think.
- One advantage of a film entitled Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow is that the plot is required to be ridiculous, and the film delivers on that count. In short, an army of giant robots attacks New York, putting reporter Polly Perkins (Gwyneth Paltrow) and the heroic Sky Captain (Jude Law) hot on the trail of the elusive doctor Totenkopf (footage of Laurence Olivier) and his taciturn assistant (Bai Ling). Angelina Jolie, Giovanni Ribisi, Michael Gambon, and Omid Djalili all lend assistance in some way or another, and whoa, isn't that an amazing cast for a director's first feature-length film, not to mention one shot entirely in front of green screens? At any rate, everybody seems to be having good, clean fun zipping through the skies, shooting ray guns, and stopping Nazis from destroying the Earth (but in a fun way!).
- Speaking of fun, I can't remember the last time I saw such a light and carefree adventure movie. Even Thor: Ragnarok and the Guardians of the Galaxy movies sneak in a few moments of heartwrenching seriousness, and those films are downright frolicsome compared to anything Thanos or the DC superheroes are doing. In Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, the banter between Polly and Sky Captain is playful, the battles are short and bloodless, and the villains are intentionally cartoonish. Although it is amusing to note visual homages to the Fleischer Superman cartoons, Godzilla, Forbidden Planet, and most explicitly The Wizard of Oz, this is not a film that merits any serious critical dissection. It exists simply to be enjoyed over its pleasantly brief runtime, and I am more than happy to oblige.
