Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

Plot synopsis:
The film is set in New York City in 1939. The moment his zeppelin docks in New York, Dr. Vargas (Julian Curry) sends a pair of bullet-like metal vials to Dr. Jennings, another scientist; within moments, Dr. Vargas is gone and his name is crossed off a list.Dr. Jennings (Trevor Baxter) arranges to meet reporter Polly Perkins (Gwyneth Paltrow) during a showing of The Wizard of Oz at Radio City Music Hall. They discuss the disappearance of the world's top scientists, and he reveals that he knows who will be next: himself. He hints that he and the missing men have a connection, and whispers the name of the man behind the disappearances: Totenkopf. (Totenkopf is German for death's head.) Jennings drops a blueprint, which Polly picks up.Polly's return to the office is sidetracked when New York is invaded by flying robots that shoot laser rays out of their heads and crush people and property under their enormous feet. The overwhelmed military broadcasts a call for help to someone called Sky Captain. As Polly runs along the streets photographing the robots and gathering information for a story, Sky Captain (Jude Law), a.k.a. Joe Sullivan, appears in his Warhawk airplane, which is equipped with amazing high-tech modifications, to fight the monsters. He trips up several robots and the rest are driven off. Joe has one of the downed mechas taken to a base near New York, home of his mercenary air force, and turns it over to his gum-chewing technical expert Dex (Giovanni Ribisi). Polly follows and surprises Joe in his office. Polly and Joe have a back-story; they were an item some years before in Nanjing, but split up amid suspicions on her part that he was cheating and on his that she sabotaged his plane. Polly uses Dr. Jennings' blueprint, which turns out to be a plan for the killer robots, as leverage to convince Joe to work with her -- and let her ride along when he goes after the robots.First Polly and Joe go to see Dr. Jennings in his laboratory, but they arrive too late. He's been attacked by a mysterious woman in black (Bai Ling), who escapes from Joe while Polly speaks to the dying scientist. Jennings gives her the two metal vials he received from Dr. Vargas and says that if Totenkopf acquires them, he'll destroy the world. He dies before he can explain.Back at Joe's base, the robots attack again. Joe, following Polly's directions, leads them on a nearly street-level flying chase through Manhattan while Dex tries to trace the source of the robots' control signal. Joe throws off the pursuing robots by diving his plane into the ocean. Polly's sure they're going to die, but the plane can function as a submarine so they're able to resurface and fly back to base. They arrive in time to exchange fire with a departing squad of robots lead by the mysterious woman in black. The robots have taken Dex, but a brief search reveals that Dex left a clue. Stuck to a downed girder with bubblegum is a scrap of map on which he marked the source of the control signal: a remote valley in the Himalayas. Joe and Polly take off immediately to get Dex back.In Nepal Kaji (Omid Djalili), a contact of Joe's, reluctantly agrees to take them to the valley of Shambala. He notes that in Hebrew it's called Eden, "and you may know it as Shangri-la." A trek through the snowy mountains with Kaji and a couple of guides brings them to an old mine, where the guides trap Polly and Joe in a vault rigged with dynamite and make off with the metal vials, which Polly had never mentioned to Joe. Kaji finds them and lets them out in time to save their lives, but not Polly's extra film. (She has only two shots left in her camera and spends the rest of the movie agonizing over how to use them.) The explosion knocks them out and the three of them wake up naked in a large, richly appointed bed. A Nepalese monk comes in and tells them (via Kaji) that they are in Shangri-la. He agrees to help them when they say that they're after Dr. Totenkopf. Totenkopf had forced the people of Shangri-la to work in the "poisoned mine" -- a uranium mine -- and all but one of the miners have died. They ask to speak with the survivor, who gives them a cane that he says will guide them to Totenkopf's base. In return for this favor, the horribly disfigured miner asks them to kill him.Back in the plane, Joe and Polly use the inscriptions on the cane to plot a course to Totenkopf's location, which Joe marks with an X on the map. Then he makes another X, somewhat closer to them than the first. "What's that point there?" asks Polly. "That's where we run out of fuel," Joe replies. Joe radios a message to his old friend Franky, who commands a secret British airborne air base where he hopes they can refuel. Shortly after the plane's tank runs dry and they begin a gliding descent, the air base materializes out of the clouds and they're able to land safely.Franky turns out to be Commander Francesca Cook (Angelina Jolie), who Polly realizes must be Joe's other woman when Franky mentions Nanjing. She leads her amphibious squadron to escort Joe and Polly to the island they've identified as Totenkopf's hideout. Franky and her squadron distract the robot guardian of the hideout's underwater entrance so that Joe's plane can slip through. As they disembark, Polly sees the registration number on the fuselage reflected in the water: h-110d, inverted, reads "polly." She doesn't say anything to Joe.In the island's huge underground base, a spaceship is being loaded with animals. (Joe is astonished that Polly doesn't find this spectacle worthy of her last remaining frame of film.) Dex turns up in a kind of flying flat-bed truck to rescue Joe and Polly from some of Totenkopf's robots. Dex has also rescued several of the scientists who disappeared. They tell Polly and Joe that the spaceship is meant to give life a fresh start on a new world that Totenkopf calls the World of Tomorrow. In addition to the animals, the ship will carry the mysterious vials, which contain genetic material for a new, improved human race -- Totenkopf's Adam and Eve. However, after the ship takes off its booster rocket will destroy the Earth.The group locates Totenkopf's quarters, but they're booby-trapped, and one of the scientists is electrocuted trying to get in. The booby-trap triggers a projection of the head of Dr. Totenkopf (Laurence Olivier), a la the Wizard in The Wizard of Oz. Totenkopf condemns "a world consumed by hatred and bent on self-destruction." He concludes, "I am the last desperate chance for a doomed planet. Now, leave this place or die!"Dex disables the booby-trap and the party enters the villain's study to find Totenkopf's dessicated, long-dead corpse clutching a note that says "Forgive me." Joe, deciding that he'll have to board the spaceship to stop it, first socks Polly in the jaw -- if she's unconscious, she can't insist on coming along and she'll be safe. As he attempts to get inside the ship, he's attacked by the woman in black, who turns out to be a robot. Polly turns up to save him, and gives him a sock in the jaw for good measure.Joe and Polly go aboard and cross a narrow bridge over the deep, hollow core of the ship to reach the controls. The rocket takes off and begins a countdown toward the release of the booster stage, which will destroy the planet. As Joe and Polly struggle to turn off the booster, the robot in black attacks again. Joe fends her off and uses her raygun to disable the booster. He and Polly get away in an escape pod just before the rocket blows up without harming the Earth. They land in the water, surrounded by pods containing animals from Totenkopf's space-ark, which Polly released before they disabled the booster. Polly pans around in search of an image for her final photograph and finally settles on Joe. After she snaps the shutter, he looks disturbed. Polly: "You don't have to say anything." Joe: "Lens cap."

Tags: boring, neo noir, murder, alternate reality, atmospheric, psychedelic, romantic, sci-fi

Review:
But the movie is just too good not to like, sorry guys.It gives the great atmosphere of old cinema plus comic books, and it does so perfectly using flying funny looking evil robots, strange laser guns, and comic-book like dialog.
Computer generated special effects have been around for quite some time now, and often questionably so, but they come into their own with Kerry Conran's SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW--an innovative film that failed in theatrical release but which now makes a big splash in the home market.
With an assist from Sky Captain's faithful sidekick Dex (Giovanni Ribisi) and the disconcertingly military Frankie (Angelina Jolie), the two search the world--and finally track the wicked Dr. Totenkopf (Laurence Olivier, resurrected via CGI) to his secret lair.The look of the film follows suit.
It wouldn't be too much to say that in many respects SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW is akin to an inside joke.But most particularly, your liking for this film will depend on how you react to the visuals.
But I have to come down in favor of SKY CAPTAIN: this isn't an effort to "make it look real;" this is an effort to make a totally artificial world, and whether it be giant robots, Shangri-La, or Radio City Music Hall the designs are stunning and remarkably well executed.
Yet, it is a live-action movie with real actors whose faces aren't altered, except for Gywneth Paltrow's hair which is made more blondish and shimmering.Story-wise, it's nothing special, just a corny old-time serial story about someone using high-tech robots and spaceships to take over the planet.
You won't find many movies with the look of 'Sky Captain', the film has a style that is all its own.Apparently set in the 1930s yet featuring technology most of us associate with a time in the 2030s, 'Sky Captain' does a good job of blending the old generation with the new.
I also think Angelina Jolie's "Frankie" character deserved more screen time.'Sky Captain' is an interesting experiment and certainly a movie that will hold your attention for 90 or so minutes (the movie is pretty short in comparison to other blockbusters).So, if you're curious, check it out, you likely will get something enjoyable out of it..
I am still wary of this possible trend, but after seeing 'Sky Captain', I found that art can be realized in this medium.'Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow' not only boasts one of the longest film titles in recent months, but a great cast: Jude Law as Joe 'Sky Captain' Sullivan, our hero, Gwyneth Paltrow as Polly Perkins, our intrepid reporter and Sullivan's former flame and Angelina Jolie as Capt.
The robots in the first half hour of the film look like something out of comic book, the clothes and character styles are most certainly inspired by the 1930's, and the backdrops and locations are very Deco.
With further attacks around the globe, Sky Captain and his group team up with Polly to track down the source of the robot menace, uncover the plot involved and stop it before it is too late.All the interviews around this film have talked up the visuals and the possibilities of making movies entirely on blue screen etc and, to be honest, the marketing behind the film reflects it really well because it is all about the visual style and effects with very little else.
Thinks looked good at the start with Godzilla making an appearance on a Japanese newspaper but aside from this and a handful of other comic touches the film is played pretty straight  meaning we feel we should treat it so, something I found too hard to do.
I'm not totally sure that bringing back Olivier was a good idea but it was such a small part of the film that it didn't really matter and left me wondering why they bothered in the first place.Law is boyishly handsome and works pretty well with the material, looking very British in his beautiful Spitfire.
None of them are good enough to make the plot engaging or bring out characters in their genre clichés but they try their best and at least fit into the period quite well.Overall this is eye candy but it is candy that will develop a cult following based on how well it captures those old serials and the scale of the visual designs and effects.
My love of serials is one of the few things I remember sharing with my father.So when I was sitting in the theater and the first preview for Shy Captain and the World of Tomorrow came on I was transported back to the safety of my grandparents' home and the love I felt while watching old cliffhangers with my dad.I was instantly in love with the movie, the beautiful quality of every frame that made the movie appear to be one beautifully illustrated comic book and, of course, the similarity to the campy sci-fi movies of the 1930's.
I went home and immediately looked the movie up on the internet.I was stunned to find out that this was the first film Kerry Conran had directed or written, and that Sky Captain was originally a six minute reel that producer Jon Avnet saw and wanted to turn into a feature length film.
By far the greatest reference to past greatness is the appearance Sir Laurence Olivier, who died in 1989, as the villain Dr. Totenkopf, using CGI and archival footage Conran brings back to life one of our greatest actors.I was in movie geek heaven, for about the first hour, and then my attention started to wonder.
We receive through the dialogue what little character development the movie has to offer, which isn't much, and in the end no one grows, or changes, or even becomes deeper than a character in a commercial.Looking back at the old serials I realize that the characters remained the same generic, two dimensional characters they were at the beginning, but the lack of development goes unnoticed in an action film less than twenty minutes long.
"Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" (an amazingly incovenient title) is simply a bad movie; it has no heart, no deep ideas, nothing very special about it.
I kept thinking during the film, you know, this movie would've worked if Harrison Ford was Sky Captain, Karen Allen was Polly, and Steven Spielberg was the director.
I recommend the film as a great way to spend ninety six minutes when the kiddies are looking to see what the old world used to be like.
I suspect that this film was aiming for the sort of insincere fun found in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" series, but unlike the "Pirates" franchise, the acting, humor, and dialog are all played down, rather than played up, and the plot is, amazingly, utterly and notably inferior.While many people have criticized the dialog and acting, in fact, I think that both are somewhat cleverly done, but both are also so shriekingly at odds with the supposed action on screen, that one is reminded of a janitor sweeping in front of a movie screen while a film is running; a veritable exercise in DE-integrating live action and CGI.I think (or at least hope) that this film marks something of a milestone in Hollywood as the final gasp of pure special effects awe over special effects artistry, and film craft.
As computer graphics are becoming more and more a part of movies, it only makes sense that eventually a film would come along that is completely computer animated with humans just inserted into the footage.That's the feel of "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow," a strange but fun fantasy/action movie inspired by the likes of classic sci-fi comics like "Buck Rogers" and "Flash Gordan." The characters are essentially live-action people walking in front of green screen images, but it does all mesh together nicely, if not too nicely.The year is 1939, and several famous German scientists have wound up missing.
When plucky New York reporter Polly Perkins (Gwyneth Paltrow) is contacted by a scientist who fears that he's next, she discovers a diabolical plot by a mad scientist named Dr. Totenkopf (Laurence Olivier, thanks to some digital trickery).Totenkopf has unleashed an army of massive robots on the world, and the call soon goes out to Joe "Sky Captain" Sullivan (Jude Law), a well-known hero-for-hire fighter pilot, to come to the rescue.
Committed to the task of stopping the scientist and rescuing his friend, Sullivan goes after Totenkopf with Perkins in tow, smelling a story exclusive that's too big to pass up."Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" is a nice throwback to the old adventure serials of the 1940s, and the look and feel is certainly inspired by the Max Fleischer "Superman" cartoons of that era, particularly the 1941 short "Mechanical Monsters" whose title robots bear a striking resemblance to the ones in this film.First time director Kevin Conran, also the screenwriter, clearly has respect for the source material of the era, and the movie certainly has a unique atmosphere to it.
However, the problem is the visuals and production design command so much attention that the characters come off as ancillary at best.As the "Sky Captain," Law gives a laid-back performance, not really in keeping with a world famous adventurer.
"Sky Captain" may be considered an homage to comic books, pulp adventures and movie serials but it contains little of the magic of some of the best from those genres.
"The Last Samurai" was as predictable as the days of the week and I am no fan of Tom Cruise but it had everything that "Captain" didn't most notably it drew the viewer into its world and made us accept its rules and way of being in a way that "Sky Captain" most definitely did not.I'd like to see a similar approach taken for films about comic book heroes of the 30's and 40's.
I love the way they pick the crap out of a movie, saying, Oh they should have done this or that, or the acting was....., using words you need a dictionary to understand, Yes everybody thinks they're really clever.Sky Captain would have to be one of the most fun works of art I have ever seen, so damned clever in it's execution.
I believe (correct me if I'm wrong), that it was the first of it's kind (to completely use green screens), going places and doing things that that hadn't been done before, so it was largely experimental.Sky Captain is a triumph, a hell of a lot of fun, brimming with innovative and clever ideas, something to help forget the world for a couple of hours, good clean family viewing.It has one of the all time best endings.Do yourself a favor, don't analyze, just watch and enjoy.Oh, and one more thing, to the clever critics, instead of criticizing other people's work, get out there and show everyone how it's done.
It pays homage to the black and white Flash Gordon type serials that used to be repeated on TV when I was a kid.The film is in a steampunk style combining art deco, pulp fiction, film noir and serial film styles of the between the war years.The story is straightforward, New York is being attacked by giant robots, famous scientists are disappearing and the protagonists race around the world in search of Dr Totenkopf played by Laurence Olivier via the use of archive footage.Although the script and pacing could be better, the visuals are glorious and the actors are top notch getting in to the spirit of adventure.
This is nothing more or less than a love letter to "Flying Disc Man From Mars" & "Flash Gordon." When you look at the story you have to understand that it is built around the model of films like "Radar Men From the Moon" and others of the genre, it is simple (for kids there for their Saturday morning adventure fix.
Famous scientists around the world have mysteriously disappeared and Chronicle reporter Polly Perkins (Gwyneth Paltrow) along with ace aviator Sky Captain (Jude Law) are on the investigation.
The film begins in New York City when is attacked by giant robots and a gorgeous journalist (Gwyneth Paltrow) and an adventurer pilot, the Sky Captain, set off in pursuit the enormous aircrafts are destroying the megalopolis.
Meanwhile , they will face off a mysterious enemy(Bai Ling) and an amazing array of technical bizarre robots , being helped by a flying aircraft carrier General (one-eyed Angelina Jolie).The picture mingles great lots of action packed , rip-roaring , shootouts,derring-do adventures,spectacular scenes and is pretty entertaining .
Yet throughout the movie there are brilliant shots of thing that will not roam this planet for years.Set in the 1930s, it is the story of The Sky Captain (Jude Law) who is to save the world of an evil genius.
It has all the ingredients of an IMDb Top 250 movie, great special effects, catchy storyline (maybe a bit too shot), some humor here and there, a mystery for you to solve, and actors (Jude Law, and Gwyneth Paltrow) doing a great job in playing there classic like characters.Though something is missing to actually make it a Top 250 movie, it really is a surprisingly good movie that you should just go and see sitting in the dark on a rainy Monday evening..
Films like Sky Captain show how a technological oriented "artist" may not always understand the concept of movie-making, characters and most importantly, story telling.
It all looked real, not cartoonish like Spider-Man did, not even like CGI.Unlike some recent special-effects serials that look great but are basically dumb, this had a sharp, funny script, excellent action from a great cast, and truly good, fast-paced direction.The movie clearly went over the head of a lot of theatergoers, especially younger ones who didn't understand the look or style of the film.
Jude Law was a perfect choice for Sky Captain all the casting was excellent.If you enjoy watching old 1940's sci-fi classics then "Sky Captain and the world of Tomorrow" will breath new life into your imagination..
I saw this accidentally not knowing what to expect from the title and was in for a treat.I personally found it enjoyable all the way through and even happier when I saw Tibet shown on the map, separate from China (as it's three regions of Amdo, Kham & U-Tsang are currently an occupied country since the 1950 Communist Invasions & subsequent genocidal regime killing 1.2+ million).At the time of the movie placement which is set in an alternative 1939 Tibet was fully independent country, as declared by the 13th Dalai Lama on 13th February 1913.There was some Tibetan script on the map & monastery pillars, all looked fairly well researched; but would need to check details sometime.Omid Djalili did a great job speaking some Tibetan also & commend him for that (he told me on twitter he had a good teacher).I'd put this film up with 'Iron Sky' as one of my all time favourite movies to date.I will watch again in a few years, which rarely do with films as it was so good fun!
It's your normal "stop this person from destroying the world" type movie.I liked the acting by Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, and Giovanni Ribisi.
Soon after, giant mechanical robots attack New York City, only to be pushed away by the fearless Sky Captain, played by Jude Law.The movie follows these two character trying to find out the answers to whats behind it all, save the missing scientists, and stop the numerous attacks..
To me , Sky Captain is a pompous mug always trapping in silly situations - it must be a parody on the old-time movie heroes, at least i feel it is, and Polly is way too smart as well , so the only sane person there is Dex and if i were Polly, i'd prefer him at the end (but, certainly , would cling to Joe while the plot is going on , so is the nature of women:)) Great!
the feel this movie has is of the old b- movie sci fi's of the 50's and some of the comics from the 20s and 30s, and the way the characters are all painted, or seem to be, and the special use of shadowed lighting are reminiscent of those types of filmsthe kind of people that wont enjoy this film are people who don't generally like that kind of film, and while I admit some of those "B-Movie" movies that i've seen were terrible, i think Kerry......Kerry Conran that is not the candidate, was on the right track when trying to bring that style into this movie.
Conran gets extra points for giving the film a sense of humor, narrative flash, and (most importantly) a good heart.After several of the world's most renowned scientists start disappearing, it is up to daring pilot, Joe 'Sky Captain' Sullivan (Jude Law), and tenacious reporter, Polly Perkins (Gwyneth Paltrow) to solve the mystery.
And the trailers made Angelina Jolie look like more of a headliner than she actually is, when she really appears very little in the film.But if you're a fan of Sci-Fi cinema, you should definitely check this movie out!.
Like a 50's radio program come to life this movie does deliver a fun story, a few plot holes and the beautiful Angelina Jolie (so this is a must for her fans).
And above all, "Sky Captain" is film-literate in a consistently amusing and intelligent fashion - with nods to every sci-fi movie from "Things to Come" to "Thunderbirds".Surprisingly, this is also one of the great visual homages to "Citizen Kane".
I do hope somebody tries to make more films in this way.Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie were born to make these type of movies!Well done Kerry Conran.
Now, saying that, the visuals are the ONLY thing good in Sky Captain.After ten minutes, I knew I was watching one of the worse movies of all time.