Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

written and directed by Kerry Conran
 
starring  Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie, Giovanni Ribisi

         Through a surface amalgam of obvious pulp pop from movie and radio serials to comic book and poster art of the 1930s, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow easily compares to anything thought up by George Lucas. Yet instead of fusing elements into something new, writer-director Kerry Conran’s piecing together only adds up to a sum of its parts. His ambitious film is never as spectacular or entertaining as it hopes to be despite an enjoyable amount of innocent adventure and appreciable homage.
         The idea for Sky Captain developed from one image that popped into Conran’s head: a zeppelin flying near the Empire State Building. Used as the picture’s opening shot, the skyscraper becomes a mooring mast for the Hindenburg III in an undoubtedly beautiful sequence serving only as an establishment of the sensationalism to come. Giant robots, flying fortresses, rocket ships, Shangri-La and dogfights both aerial and aquatic comprise much of the movie’s attractive, albeit somnolently soft, visuals likely concocted before a script was written to unite them.
          Lucas’ Star Wars came out of many similar things but more predominantly influential was the importance of telling a story with great characters and themes. Sky Captain has no characters; it has stand-ins. Ace pilot Joe “Sky Captain” Sullivan (Law), naive reporter Polly Perkins (Paltrow) and sidekick inventor Dex Dearborn (Ribisi) are thin formalities in a plot that never slows down long enough for proper introduction. The trio redolently harks back to Harrison Ford, Kate Capshaw and Jonathan Ke Quan (in the role of ‘Data’ instead of ‘Short Round’?) in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Like that film (and the other two Indiana Jones pics), the male and female leads have little chemistry, but where Indiana’s predilection for romance was superseded by a passion for adventure, Joe’s spirit lacks any substantial driving force. His supposed love for Polly comes off so aloof that it’s easier to fixate on an assumed inclination towards Dex.
       Speaking of Dex, his character is kidnapped by a second type of featured robot (the first being ‘Iron Giants’ that rip through Manhattan) and when he suddenly appears about an hour later (amidist a third type of robot so as to keep the visuals fresh), there is hint of his own adventure being more fun than the one Conran has shown involving the leads. The script might have had more depth were it to cutaway to anything more than its linear confines. To further wish for an expanded villainous presence, however, would just be asking for too much.
          If Sky Captain was about something more than throwaway adventure than Conran’s debut could excite more than technological accolades. The novelty of his computer-generated world pushes the envelope no further than Final Fantasy or Spy Kids. It may as well be Tron for all historical purposes. Even George Melies was narratively more advanced and more spectacular a century ago with the simplest of cinematic parlor tricks.
             It as notable and obvious that George Lucas grew up watching classic serials as it is likely that Kerry Conran grew up watching Lucas’ films. Sky Captain may be the more spot-on imitation of how flat most of those cliffhangers were but at the same time there exists more tribute towards and by way of the Star Wars films than can be ignored. It doesn’t say much, however, that it is more gratifying than Lucas’ recent prequels, they being narcissistic tributes to themselves, or the disreputable remakes of Stephen Sommers. Perhaps Conran could return to Sky Captain in 20 years, as Lucas did with his “Special Editions”, and add some meat to his promising stew.

Expectation Key


there's no possible way we will even see this

we'll eventually see this but we aren't really expecting much

anticipating the release of this one but we're sure to be left unsatisfied

such high expectation of this film only leaves room for disappointment