Hi, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab...
If you thought the opinions were split on THE LIFE AQUATIC, wait till you get a load of how divergent these reactions are.
I deleted the first review that was here because I believe it was fake. The guy did his best to sandbag the film, and I can tell you right now that audiences will be divided on SKY CAPTAIN, just like they will be on LIFE AQUATIC, and just like they will be on any highly stylized personal piece of filmmaking. It’s inevitable. How can you expect everyone to have the same reaction to something that so obviously is the dream of one person? The giveaway that the review was fake was that he mentioned chapter title cards. I saw the film in the same theater this guy claimed to, and even though they used chapter titles in the script, they didn't have them in the film I saw. As I understand it, that device has been abandoned by the filmmaker, so I wonder... is Paramount testing two different cuts? Or is the guy trying to pull a fast one? Word from inside the production today seems to be that this guy saw an early cut on DVD that was unfinished, and it makes me wonder... why would you go out of your way to write a venemous rant about a film if you haven't actually seen the version that exists right now? Here’s a review to show you how divergent you can expect reactions to be:
Sky Captain, even in this early cut, is pretty damned good fun. I laughed a couple of times on the way home over 'Lens cap, Polly.'
Where to start? Probably with the bad, so I can get it out of the way: I think I've been trained by years of bad films to expect more exposition. Who and what is the Sky Captain? What corps does he serve? Why is he called upon when New York is in trouble? I waited for a little back fill until about the trip to Nepal before I just gave up and went with the film. I felt a little like I was coming into the middle of a movie in progress. That's it though. Probably not knowing made everything else that comes after the first third more fun - I found myself making up my story about why Joe would be flying with Frankie in the British Air Force (presumably) and why America would embrace him as her own following the war. Hopefully this movie makes piles of money and we get to see that story play out on screen.
The good? Jeez. Everything else. Sky Captain's world is BIG. I mean humungous. Everything is supersized. Blimps, dinosaurs, chasms, robots, the action, all HUGE. Jude Law and Gwenyth Paltrow have a great Bogart and Hepburn style chemistry. And even though Polly is supposed to be a cute little klutz, she's brave without seeming stupid about it. She takes risks, but doesn't seem like the kind of dame that would fret a broken nail. Sky Captain, as I said before, was something of an enigma, but a charming one. The kind of friend who never talks about himself but everytime you're around him some story you'll be talking about over beers with your other buddies for years to come just happens. Makes you wonder what else goes on when you don't see him.
Dex rocked. I was a little disappointed that we didn't get to see much of him after his kidnapping. I was hoping for some cut ins with him at Totenkopf's lair where we see the villain's plan exposed.
Finding the villian dead was an interesting choice. The Wizard of Oz parallel was notable. I'm still not sure what I think of that. I've really got to see this movie again.
Since I'm tired and have to be up and on the 101 by 5am, I'll wrap it up with this: the visuals were more than stunning. I think this is the first time I've seen cgi used for more than bigger booms or impossible monsters. That's all there too, but the digital environments, kick ass planes, giant robots, and sweeping vistas are only the obvious story. The call to Sky Captain that comes early on, where the camera sweeps up a radio tower that somehow impossibly dominates the northern hemisphere, or seeing a sea chart compass stretch for a mile or more under a vast sea is more in line with what makes the use of cgi in this film so interesting a departure. It evokes an era, a spirit, a whole world. Lucas has been trying to capture fantasy worlds with cgi in the latest Star Wars flicks, and he succeeds in realizing them, but Sky Captain and it's little flourishes made me feel a world that never was more than anything I have seen try to with cgi.
I've got to get into another screening. I really need to digest this film more. The subtle references (Wizard of Oz, King Kong, the 1138 address, the Lost World, and probably a few thousand more I didn't get) alone are worth trying to pick out.
Look, I could keep going on and on, but I feel privileged to have seen the flick and cannot wait to see it again. If you plan to post your thoughts, I can read them on the site, if not, I'd love to hear what you thought.
See what I mean? Here’s a guy who was obviously entranced by what he saw, who probably won’t stop thinking about it all week. Neither will the first reviewer, come to think of it, but it’ll be for entirely different reasons. Here’s one of our regular reviewers, the seemingly omnipresent Ford Fairlane (who I actually met at THE LIFE AQUATIC for a brief moment), with his take on things:
Ford here.
Saw a screening tonight at Paramount of SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW.
Had heard a ton of dirt on this movie as I'm sure you all have. All shot on blue screen. Blah blah blah. Delayed because the special effects were so intense, that they need longer to work on them, blah blah blah, once you watch this movie, you can speak to Jesus, or something like that.
Obviously, this caused a good deal of apprehension with me. I always get hesitant when a movie is postponed, regardless the reason given. So I headed in with my friend Captain Jayhawk to see what the big deal was.
So the film opens, and it's kind of like the same feel you got when you watched Streets of Fire for the first time. It kind of looks like an older time, but kind of looks futuristic type thing. You've all seen the trailer, and if not, go check it out. The really bleached out look, with the very rich, dark textured colors makes the story have that ultra comic book feel to it. It's really cool, and definitely is something that I hope other filmmakers play with in the future. Unfortunately, Sky Captain is a building block for this look. In many scenes, everything looks fantastic, but in several scenes, everything looked very fake. Let me point out, to be fair, that this was a "work in progress" as the suits tell us before every screening, but even the finished scenes had some problems.
And I wish I could say that the only problems were the look of the film, but it just ain't so. We start with Gwyneth Paltrow, looking her yummiest. She's a reporter trying to find out the secret behind all of these scientists that have been disappearing. Now her performance is great here, because I actually bought the idea that Gwyneth is smart, and detective-like. So she gets some clues from some scientist that don't mean a whole lot to us, except for some blueprints of some robots. Before we get a chance to take it in, these giant robots start invading New York City. Gwyneth then has this scene which is basically the AT-AT Walker scene from Empire Strikes Back, where she runs in between the legs of the robots, in the same direction they are coming from, as their feet all stomp around her, always almost crushing her. It really makes no sense, but it's exciting, so you go with it. Plus, like I said, it's GWYNETH PALTROW, and you can kind of picture her in a remake of Towering Inferno, seeing the flames, yelling "There's a fire", and then jumping right into the inferno. Let's move on.
So, they call in Sky Captain, who apparently just flies around in his plane until someone needs him. He zooms in, and flies right into the street where Gwyneth is playing dodge ball with the robots. He has a bunch of Batman gizmos that he shoots at the robots, that holds them back from killing Gwyneth. The robots steal some generator stuff, and take off. Pheww. Thank God we called in Sky Captain.
Jude Law is pretty good as Sky Captain. He carries it off for the most part. So he hooks up with Gwyneth, and then the movie briefly ducks into some kind of crime noir, putting Sky Captain in a trench coat and fedora, as he and Gwyneth go looking for clues. Of course, he doesn't know that Gwyneth has some clues that she is holding out on him. So anyway, they go gathering clues, and they find some, and blah blah blah. Don't get me wrong, there is some story here, but nothing really interesting. There are some cartridges, and the robots are getting generators, and apparently have been attacking for years, but it's kept a secret. Whatever. Anyway, while searching for Blue's Clues, Sky Captain runs into this chick, who is basically a female version of Darth Maul, including the costume, and shot set-ups, and fighting stances, that wears Bono's sunglasses, and kicks Sky Captain across the room. We know that before the movie is over, Sky Captain will get his revenge, and beat this woman senseless. A nice throwback to a time in film when men could do that, right?
So, uh oh, Sky Captain's headquarters gets attacked, and this is the best part of the movie. There are these crazy dogfights, and it's great fun. Very loud, very fast paced. Lots of "what're they gonna do" stuff going on.
Nice. And at the same time, Giovanni Ribisi, the smart sidekick of Sky Captain named Dax is trying to figure out where the signal is coming from that is controlling the robots, or in this case, killer birdbots, that at first appearance look like birds, but are actually killer robots that pull off a total Pearl Harbor on Sky Captain's hut. This scene works great because it's the whole "Can Ribisi get the signal figured out before the robots and Bono Sunglass Chick get him, and on top of that, can he do it before the Killer Bird robots shoot down Sky Captain?" thing, and it's a lot of fun. And of course, during all of the dogfighting, Gwyneth rides shotgun with Sky Captain. His suped up kick ass plane, is of course built to seat two just in case he goes trolling for babes. Dax gets kidnapped by some cool looking robot dudes, and by Darth Maul-Bono Sunglasses babe, but he leaves behind a clue for Sky Captain to find the hidden fortress, pun intended.
Now, Sky Captain turns into Indiana Jones, and has to go on a safari to find, guess what, more clues. I can't even really remember, nor could Captain Jayhawk, what exactly these clues were, or for what purpose, but what I can tell you is that all it did was give Sky Captain two different Indiana Jones scenes to duplicate. First of all, the scene when the pirate helps him, and Marion or Gwyneth, take your pick, gives him the "I don't trust him" speech. Second, two big Asian dudes rough up Sky Captain and Gwyneth, and lock them in a room that is set to blow full of dynamite.
Now the most important question I had, and you should too, is "Where the hell is Angelina Jolie? Isn't she in this movie?". Yes, and it's an hour into it, and no, she still hasn't shown up yet. When you hire those lips to appear in a movie, they need screen time, and they need to show up QUICK. I think the men agree with me. Right? Righty-oh. Onward.
So Sky Captain loses these two cylinder things that Gwyneth had to Darth Maul-Bono sunglasses chick, and they have to track them down, because apparently these two cartridges can be used to destroy the world, and that's bad. So Sky Captain makes a map, and figures out where the bad guys are, and realizes he doesn't have enough fuel, but a mysterious "Frankie" can help him refuel. On the way, they do some really cool stuff as they fly, where the ground becomes a virtual map. Anyway, around the 70 minute mark, Sky Captain lands his plane on this pretty cool flying landstrip, and TA DA, Angelina Jolie shows up, with an eyepatch. It's like some fan boy said "What if Snake Plissken was a hot chick?" WHA-LA!!! She helps Sky Captain with the plans, and, well, I hate to give away a whole movie, so I'm going to stop right here. If it sounds interesting check it out.
I will mention some problems though. One, why did there have to be dinosaurs. I didn't understand that at all. It was like they were throwing everything AND the kitchen sink in. Two, I was sold in the beginning on the killer robots, and after the first 10 minutes, they never return. Three, I was sold on the killer birds, and then they never return either. At least not in the killer form.
My main problem is that for every setpiece of great action, and there are a few of these, there are incredible lulls in the story. It just drags a bit, and as the movie goes on, the action pieces get lamer and lamer. It blows its load way too early. Sky Captain's final fight with Bono Sunglasses chick was incredibly weak, and when he finally gets to the bad guys, and you're ready for the big prison break of the scientists, Dax shows up, and has already saved the day. I know I just ruined another big part of the film, but why don't we get to see that scene. I don't mind Dax saving the day, but let me see the big prison break. Not some lame, "Hey, thanks for showing up, but we already broke out, and we have a 10 minute window to escape" bit. Too contrived for my tastes. And the Jayhawk agreed. It just makes it way to easy for your protagonist.
If they had taken a little more time on this film to work on the story, to match the incredible look of the film, it might have worked better. Some of the scenes look incredibly bad, and it almost makes you wonder if this is supposed to look like the 30's and 40's serials where the sets looked totally fake. If that's the case, congrats. But too much of the film rings out as someone taking a bunch of action scenes from other movies, and threw them together. Once again, even the final fight with Darth Bono Sunglasses Chick is set up like the final fight in Phantom Menace. And I heard several people leaving the theater discussing that in particular.
And this movie is science fiction for Christ's sake, so since both chicks are jonesing for Sky Captain, wouldn't you pay 12 bucks to go see a flick where right before the final battle, Sky Captain pulls Jolie and Gwyneth to the side and says "Hey ladies. Any one of us might die in there, and 20 minutes isn't going to change the course of this movie, so how about a crazy threesome right up there in my plane?" I would pay money for that. Who's with me? I know you're out there. Just to hear the line "Now Gwyneth, don't just take that spanking. You give her a spanking right back." is worth a ticket at the Arclight. (and if I'm ever a producer dammit, that's the way movies will be)
Roughly 246 corpses, a guess. Zero breasts. One Eye Patch. Gratuitous Jolie lips. Kung Fu. Bono Sunglasses Fu. Robot Laser Eye Fu. Laser Gun to the Chest. Rock N Roll Detective Nominations for Angelina Jolie as Frankie for saying....anything she wants, DAMN SHE'S HOT. Bulletproof robots. Attacking killer robot birds. Killer robots with really long arms. Eye laser fu. Rock N Roll Detective Nominations for Giovanni Ribisi for saying "Thirty seconds, Cap." Gratuitous Radio City Music Hall. Trench Coat Fu. Dynamite Explosion. Gratuitous naked Jude Law and Gwyneth in bed with a big hairy naked guy. (This really happens) Sunglasses Fu. Dinosaur Fu. Gratuitous German Scientists.
This was a early cut, so this film could get better. The biggest problem though is that in order to get better, some more stuff needs to go into it. Let's just say, it's got its work cut out for it.
Out.
One thing that’s interesting about the test screenings tonight is that this was actually supposed to be the week before release. The fact that the film now has until September to fine-tune could be a great thing, especially now that Kerry Conran has seen his movie in front of an audience. Here’s another mixed-bag of a review, chock full of specific reactions to choices the filmmakers have made:
Hi Harry,
Gizmo The Gremlin here with a test screening review of...
SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW
I saw a test screening of this film tonight at Paramount. The NRG rep said that we were the first audience to see it (don't they always?), but for a "first screening," I was surprised how much it looked complete. I'd been bracing myself for an hour and a half of animatics, blue screen and incomplete effects, but for the most part, it was finished. Even the wall-to-wall music score sounded final.
The set up of the story, as you can discern from the trailer, is about fighter ace "Sky Captain" Joe Sullivan (Jude Law) fighting giant robots who attack New York City. But this is really only the first twenty minutes or so of the movie. I'll give you my pros and cons as spoiler free as possible here:
THE GOOD
The story is cool and fairly unpredictable. Essentially, you have the set up described above and then the story goes off to places not even hinted at in the trailer. It keeps moving and actually gets better as it goes along. The trailer definitely indicates inspiration from the old serials... FLASH GORDON... BUCK ROGERS... but the movie itself also includes other elements and genres (which I wont spoil until below).
The CGI effects are, for the most part, solid. There's a very unique style to this film which hasn't been done before (at least, not in modern films) and the film often feels like a live-action version of a Max Fleischer cartoon. These robots and machines aren't supposed to be "real" in the same way that other modern sci-fi action films are. And to that end, the CG works. There's a factory sequence later in the film that gives ATTACK OF THE CLONES a run for its money.
The acting also was surprisingly good. The characters are a bit underdeveloped but Law and Paltrow share good chemistry (what, Matt Damon couldn't join in to complete the RIPLEY trifecta?). As the film is intentionally pulpy, the characters are appropriately broad... and the actors are having a blast.
Angelina Jolie steals the show for the ten minutes or so of screen time she has. One would hope she gets more time in the sequel. Her "ejection" scene is one of the real gems of the film... and I'll say no more.
My biggest fear was that this was going to be a case of wooden, stilted Lucas-esque "Hey look at me, I'm standing in front of a blue screen" acting. The horrible acting in the trailer didn't help. But the acting in the film actually isn't bad. But the blue screen, on the other hand...
THE BAD
This new CG-era trend of using phony sets really disturbs me. For example, I have a difficult time connecting with the new STAR WARS films because the settings are no longer physical. You can feel the difference and it pulls you out of the film. I love that Peter Jackson went to New Zealand and shot Middle Earth on location. I saw SPIDER-MAN 2 last weekend and love the way that Raimi uses the very real city. But this movie is all CG sets. While I understand why a giant cave or spaceship was CG'd, some of the worst compositing in SKY CAPTAIN were for the mundane locations... an office, laboratory... stuff that could have easily been built or even shot on location.
Because of the blue screen, I was often reminded of the Sci-Fi's channel DUNE, because the stagy feel of that piece also cut down on its epic scope. There's surprising little epic scope here... largely because it all looks like a video game. I felt no sense of awe. I also felt little sense of a world. When Gwyneth is running down the streets of New York to get away from the giant robots, I didn't feel the weight of a city under attack as I might have felt in a Roland Emmerich film.
As I mentioned above, the characters are a bit broad, but it's really only problematic when it comes to Sky Captain himself. No doubt, Paramount is hoping for a franchise here... and they very well might have one... but we have no idea who this guy is. We get nuggets throughout the movie, but there's no time to get to know him, as Indiana Jones and Bond films provide. He's called upon for help when the city is attacked, he has his own base and his own gadgets, courtesy of Giovanni Ribisi. But WHO is he? WHAT is he? An air force pilot? Self-employed hero? Member of a larger group? The film never satisfactorily answers that question.
The film takes about twenty minutes to really get going. It opens with a sequence of a zeppelin docking at the Empire State Building and almost immediately goes into the robot attack. There's a little bit of Gwyneth Paltrow's reporter character Polly investigating here as well, but the problem with the whole opening bit is that it's shot and edited like a montage. I wonder if it's edited that way because the shots didn't cut together correctly (the repeated use of dissolves certainly indicates as much), but it makes it very difficult to connect with the characters as anything but images on a screen.
Once Sky Captain and Polly get together and start bickering, the film gets a lot better because the chemistry brings a much needed burst of energy and humor. There's a wonderful running gag about how the story-hungry reporter Polly only has two shots left in her camera and keeps passing up incredible sights in hopes that something better will come along.
Lastly, the film does have one too many Wizard of Oz references. I hope Paramount decides to nix the "Over the Rainbow" rendition in the end credits. Seriously, folks... I'm not making it up.
THE LOW DOWN
You haven't seen a movie like this before. As someone with a keen interest in exploring period sci-fi in a project of my own, I was very interested in how director Kerry Conran did it. It's leagues beyond other attempts such as THE SHADOW, THE PHANTOM, and THE ROCKETEER (which I found charming but lacking).
It's fun to watch but the over-reliance on CG left me feeling pretty cold. Even as I write this, a mere three hours after the movie ended, I'm left with the look, but the story and characters do not resonate.
Hopefully the few months before release will provide the filmmakers with the opportunity to tighten up some of the parts that dragged and better define the characters. This could be a good movie. But, no matter what happens, it will be memorable, if only for its unique look and style.
--Gizmo The Gremlin
Thanks, man. I’ll say this... everyone seems to have felt compelled to sit down and write about this one as soon as they’ve seen it, and I’m no exception. I’ll have my review up just as soon as I can, hopefully in time for the weekend.
"Moriarty" out.
