The Critics Speak

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

Critic: Steph Lewis
On a scale of 0 to Awesome, I rate this: Fun
Released: September 17, 2004
Director: Kerry Conran
MPAA RATING: PG, sequences of stylized sci-fi violence and brief mild language

This is Kerry Conran's first film & he wrote/directed it. That being said, it's actually quite impressive. The stylistic qualities are the most impressive part. It has imaginative costume design, crazy robot & creature design, and innovative set design. The plot, however, trods along slowly with shallow characters. The show is well-cast and the actors do a pretty decent job given the shallowness in the script. There are no huge plot holes or anything and the movie moves along pretty decently...so I hope to see what bigger, better things Conran can pull off after this one. If this was a film done later in a director's career I'd be very harsh with it...but being a beginning stepping stone I'd say this is a satisfying place to start!

Jude Law plays the Sky Captain, Joe Sullivan, and joins forces with reporter (and former flame) Polly Perkins (Gwyneth Paltrow). Together they investigate some missing scientists and crazy robotic things that keep attacking stuff, only to find that some creepy German dude is trying to control the fate of the world. (Damn those Germans...always trying to take over the world). Add in Dex Dearborn (Giovanni Ribisi), the real hero of the movie, and Franky Cook (Angelina Jolie), to support the mission and you're in for a back-to-the 30's cinematic event.

Polly Perkins is supposed to be this smart (sometimes clutzy) reporter. However, I just saw her as a representative of whatever the audience must be thinking. She always asks stupid questions about how things are going to work or how they're going to get out of a situation or whatever. Thus, the entire movie is strung together by stupid questions by a stupid blonde reporter. And she's not even endearing like Reese Witherspoon or anything like that. Not that I have anything against Paltrow, she was great in The Anniversary Party and Seven and Duets. This character was just shallowly written so I don't know what any actress would really be able to pull out of this part. And, knowing how character-centered I am, one shallow character can kill a movie for me pretty quick.