I saw a movie last night that has everything I love in an action, adventure, sci-fi movie; fighter planes, zeppelins, giant robots, spaceships, fantastical machines, an evil German genius, aerial and undersea battles, and two beautiful women. From beginning to end it had amazing visuals and great cinematic style harkening back to the visionary film Metropolis by Fritz Lang, and to the sci-fi and adventure serials Buck Rogers, The Phantom Empire and The Undersea Kingdom. However, stunning and exciting visuals and cinematic style alone do not make for a great film. In this case they don’t even make a good or a fair film. Jenne always says that effects can break a film if they don't help the story and just because filmmakers can make fantastic effects they really need to stop and ask if they should and do the effects help or hinder. So what is this cripple turkey of a film I speak of?
I am speaking about Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, a film that I really wanted to love, that by all indications I should have loved, but I have to admit that I will never watch it again, and it goes without saying that I can not recommend this movie to anyone… with the possible exception of crack addicts who will love the visuals and not care that there is no story. While the filmmakers excelled at making a delicious and filling visual feast for the eyes, they forgot to cook up anything worthy to feed the minds and hearts of the audience. My brain was not only starving for something resembling a plausible story and interesting characters that I could care about, but it was also in pain. In other words it "looks great, less filling." I am very good at suspending my level of disbelief, but this film pushed me beyond my very liberal limits. Sky Captain was just too focused on paying visual homage to the past. Had I not watched it with Jeff, Becky, Da-veed and Apryl the evening would have been a total loss, but we treated the film like an episode of Mystery Science Fiction Theatre 3000 and that made it palatable. Man oh man, I am ever so sorry that I bought this flying turkey on DVD last night. Yes, I bought the DVD never having seen the movie in theatres and I meant too. Yes, Jenne I bought another one :-( I have bought many DVDs sight unseen based on reviews and recommendations and not been burned (maybe one other time), but this time I went down in flames and seriously crashed and burned. I bought Sky Captain because of the long list of things I love, the excitement of the trailer and the many positive reviews from critics and Sci-Fi and aviation fans alike. After reading the overwhelming number of positive reviews and then having seen the movie on DVD I am forced into making the following assumptions…
1. The film on DVD is completely different from the theatrical release.
2. The reviewers and fans who loved this movie are huge slobbering fan boys of 1930’s style cinema and looked at the film through the rose tinted glasses of nostalgia.
3. Theatres were putting LSD on the popcorn and in the sodas.
4. There were mind control pods under the theatre seats like there were for James Cameron’s Titanic.
Now I have to take the DVD back to the store and weasel my way into exchanging it for another film or at the very least getting a store credit. The time I spend to do this will be well worth it. Sky Captain needs to be sent to the Airplane Graveyard-Bone Yard at Davis Monthan Airforce Base and have its wings clipped... actually chopped off.
Yuck! My son said the same thing about the Village! Will they give you another DVD? I didn't think they would do that!
Posted by: Joe on February 2, 2005 03:16 PMJoe, I have my ways. Whatever the outcome I will let everyone know.
Posted by: Will Burnham on February 2, 2005 03:20 PMSky Captain = Gorgeous crap. The plot would have been weak in a video game, and was almost criminal in a movie with such expensive production values. It struck me that the movie was written by a focus group where greasy post-teens sat around over pizza and too much beer saying things like "wouldn't it be cool if Sky Captain had a plane that turns into sub?" and "we need dinosaurs-everybody likes dinosaurs, look how well Jurassic Park did!"
Posted by: Jeff on February 2, 2005 03:38 PMDeb and I felt the same way when we went to see it at the theater. It seemed like it would have everything I've ever liked in movies - indeed, it seemed like it was going to be RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK with fighter planes and giant robots! How could they lose?
But lose they did, and royally. No hint of a plot or decent story line. I've heard that this was in homage to the great serials of yesteryear, but that's just hogwash.
All in all, this movie was just about as enjoyable as watching CAVE DWELLERS without Joel and the 'bots.
Posted by: Steve-o on February 2, 2005 04:55 PMThis movie should be called Sky Craptain and the POOP of Tomorrow! It was a giant steaming Old English Mastiff POOP of a film. They even made Angelina Jolie look like a long slender black POOP. There is only one thing this "movie" is good for and that is FOR ME TO POOP ON!!
I keed, I keed... butt not this time.
Posted by: Triumph the Insult Comic Dog on February 2, 2005 05:04 PMPoop with wings...yep, that about sums it up.
Posted by: Becky on February 2, 2005 07:38 PMHere's the pooper scooper on what I call OPERATION BIG DUMP Phase One(AKA returning the opened DVD to Target ). I walked into Target and went right to the Customer Service counter. Using my high level fast talk and bluff skills I explained that I wanted to exchange the opened DVD for another one because this one wouldn't play in any DVD player I tried it in. The girl at the counter accepted my short story, asked for my receipt, scanned everything and issued me a gift card for the amount I paid. Handing the card to me she said I could use it to get another copy of the film. I asked her if the gift card could be used for anything in the store. She said YES! Anything I wanted. I like that exchange policy. I used the gift card towards the purchase of the HBO mini-series Band of Brothers (a superior buy). As a result of this Phase Two of the operation is not necessary.
What was Phase Two? Phase Two was to return the shrink wrapped copy to the Target near my home for a full refund. No need to do phase two. Sky Captain has been returned and all is well.
You know, I just took one look at Gwenyth Paltrow's hair in the trailer and thought "No way" and never did see it! How's that for intuition?!
Posted by: Lynn on February 2, 2005 09:59 PMI had been considering renting this but now I think I'll pass.
Posted by: Clark on February 3, 2005 10:28 AMWell, I'm neither a crack addict or a qualified film critic but - I dug it.
For once, I didn't want to have to think about why Neo can still see, and The Architect, and that Jar-Jar cast the deciding vote in the Senate, and....
Why do you think they ripped all those old serials on MST3K? 'Cause they stunk! If Sky Captain pays homage to them, of course it's gonna look spectacular and have no plot.
My observations:
1. No, the theatrical and DVD release are the same.
2. Why is everything pink?
3. I didn't get popcorn or soda and I've never taken LSD (to the best of my knowledge)
4. I saw Titanic @ The Senator and Sky Captain @ Hunt Valley. So unless they moved the seats from one theater to another, and the mind control didn't work on me during Titanic, I'd say *robot voice* "I-DON'T-THINK-THERE-IS-A-MIND-CON-TROL-POD-UND-ER-MY-SEAT. SKY-CAP-TAIN-RULZ."
:p
Keep an eye out for this spectacular looking, serial movie clone: http://www.apple.com/trailers/miramax/sin_city.html
Posted by: SteveK on February 3, 2005 04:53 PM