• Mood: tired

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

The other day, whilst recuperating from the flu, I finally got around to watching one of those DVDs that you buy on impulse then forget about for months at a time. Shortly thereafter, I joined cinematoast, a place where members can rec favourite movies, or slate those they absolutely do not like. Here's what I wrote about this particular film in that community:

MOVIE TITLE: Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
STARRING: Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Giovanni Ribisi, Angelina Jolie
LOVED IT? HATED IT?: quite liked it, actually



** NON-SPOILERY REVIEW **

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow is a stylish recreation of the kind of adventure film of the 1930s, in which an intrepid female reporter (Paltrow) teams up with former boyfriend and ace flyer (Law) to solve the mystery of the sudden disappearance of several scientists, while the world (or New York at least) is invaded by giant robots. Their quest leads them halfway round the world and into many dangers, but our heroes remain undaunted and ultimately manage to save the world from destruction.

Plotwise, the film doesn't have too much to offer in the way of surprises; but visually, the film is a triumph of CGI, which is used to create a totally articificial world, conjuring up rain forests and snow-covered wastes, as well as 1930s looking architecture and flying robots. The story is highly entertaining, slightly reminiscent of such films as Indiana Jones and/or the afore-mentioned sci-fi adventures of the Depression era, and despite several glaring goofs in continuity (e.g. when they are told that their clothes have been burned, yet in the next scenes, they're wearing them again), well worth watching on one of those rainy afternoons when there's nothing much else to do but stay indoors and pop a DVD in.



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