Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
Just saw "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" (which I'm only able to say in the "Welcome to the World of Tomorrow" voice from Futurama).
I have to say I was pretty impressed. I think many people will hate it, because it's a *very* specific pastiche of a particular film genre. I also think there are a lot of criticisms that could be levelled at it as a piece of modern cinema, such as the dated visual style, the cheesy script, the thin characterisation, or the dumb science. However, anyone who dismissed the film on that basis would be Completely Missing The Point, and Quite Clearly Wrong.
The reason that this film works is the same reason that Raiders of the Lost Ark works, which is that it's an unabashed love-letter to an old-fashioned style of adventure serial. However, even more than Raiders, this film is a totally-saturated in the source material, with its eye far less focused on modernising the genre for a new audience. That's not to say that it doesn't use modern tricks and conventions, but they do feel swamped by the homage. In that sense it's both more successful than Raiders, and less successful. More, because it utterly captures the nostalgic sensibility of black & white Saturday matinee serials. Less, because it isn't as satisfying or complex a movie. Like Hellboy, it will play extremely well to a particular geek mindset, and pass a lot of the mainstream audience by.
The principal thing I loved about the film is the 'look'. From the black and white opening credits through to the gorgeous soft-focus snow falling through the streets of a Metropolis-style New York, to the magnificent Zeppelin, to the rapid fades between shots, to the expressionistic lighting, to the.... you get the idea. And that's just the first five minutes. This film doesn't actually look the way those old movies and serials looked - it looks like you *think* they looked in your imagination, with all the perfection that modern technology can bring to them.
The level of green-screen work in this movie makes the Star Wars prequels look like they were filmed on the streets of New York by Martin Scorsese. However, unlike Star Wars the slightly unreal quality of the lighting and the cinematography blends perfectly with the CGI environments to actually complement the mood of the film. This is a film about beautiful design and matte paintings, not about photo-realism. Even in the film's least convincing moments, it recalls those old serials all the more strongly. In its best moments, it's as breathtakingly beautiful in its own way as 'Hero'.
Jude Law is fine as the eponymous hero, Gwyneth Paltrow is note-perfect as the sassy reporter who can't do as she's told or keep out of trouble (i.e. she's note-perfect at being annoying :-)), and the supporting cast largely seem to have been transported through time from the 1930s. The characterisation is of the minimal variety, and applied with a very broad brush, but it's none the worse for that. It improves as the film goes on. Again, the level of homage in the material largely smooths over the cracks because the source material was itself so cheesy and one-dimensional. In that sense, the film can have it all ways.
On the downside I thought the plot went a little off the rails towards the end, and there were periods that dragged. Plus the sky-base appeared to have been nicked wholesale from Captain Scarlet. :-) In no way was this a deep or character-led drama. There's almost no post-modern awareness about it at all, so that it never takes the opportunity to comment on the genre. Instead it plays it completely straight as a pulp adventure serial. Unless you count nostalgia, this is a film that has no more levels than the serials it pastiches.
However the nostalgia is so rich and all-encompassing that I loved it. Just look at those scenes in the Himalayas: those mountains never looked like that in real life - only in old movies, in matte paintings and on sound stages. Every precarious ice bridge and looming crevasse, dwarfing our tiny, stuggling heroes, brought a huge grin onto my face. Look at that King Kong style forest. Those robots. Those Zeppelins. The planes that flap their mechanical wings. Epic, beautiful, geek-heaven. That's why this film works.
I don't know if it'll stand the test of time in the same way that Raiders of the Lost Ark has - in some ways it's more reminiscent of Temple of Doom, with that film's mixed strengths and weaknesses - but I really enjoyed it.
I have to say I was pretty impressed. I think many people will hate it, because it's a *very* specific pastiche of a particular film genre. I also think there are a lot of criticisms that could be levelled at it as a piece of modern cinema, such as the dated visual style, the cheesy script, the thin characterisation, or the dumb science. However, anyone who dismissed the film on that basis would be Completely Missing The Point, and Quite Clearly Wrong.
The reason that this film works is the same reason that Raiders of the Lost Ark works, which is that it's an unabashed love-letter to an old-fashioned style of adventure serial. However, even more than Raiders, this film is a totally-saturated in the source material, with its eye far less focused on modernising the genre for a new audience. That's not to say that it doesn't use modern tricks and conventions, but they do feel swamped by the homage. In that sense it's both more successful than Raiders, and less successful. More, because it utterly captures the nostalgic sensibility of black & white Saturday matinee serials. Less, because it isn't as satisfying or complex a movie. Like Hellboy, it will play extremely well to a particular geek mindset, and pass a lot of the mainstream audience by.
The principal thing I loved about the film is the 'look'. From the black and white opening credits through to the gorgeous soft-focus snow falling through the streets of a Metropolis-style New York, to the magnificent Zeppelin, to the rapid fades between shots, to the expressionistic lighting, to the.... you get the idea. And that's just the first five minutes. This film doesn't actually look the way those old movies and serials looked - it looks like you *think* they looked in your imagination, with all the perfection that modern technology can bring to them.
The level of green-screen work in this movie makes the Star Wars prequels look like they were filmed on the streets of New York by Martin Scorsese. However, unlike Star Wars the slightly unreal quality of the lighting and the cinematography blends perfectly with the CGI environments to actually complement the mood of the film. This is a film about beautiful design and matte paintings, not about photo-realism. Even in the film's least convincing moments, it recalls those old serials all the more strongly. In its best moments, it's as breathtakingly beautiful in its own way as 'Hero'.
Jude Law is fine as the eponymous hero, Gwyneth Paltrow is note-perfect as the sassy reporter who can't do as she's told or keep out of trouble (i.e. she's note-perfect at being annoying :-)), and the supporting cast largely seem to have been transported through time from the 1930s. The characterisation is of the minimal variety, and applied with a very broad brush, but it's none the worse for that. It improves as the film goes on. Again, the level of homage in the material largely smooths over the cracks because the source material was itself so cheesy and one-dimensional. In that sense, the film can have it all ways.
On the downside I thought the plot went a little off the rails towards the end, and there were periods that dragged. Plus the sky-base appeared to have been nicked wholesale from Captain Scarlet. :-) In no way was this a deep or character-led drama. There's almost no post-modern awareness about it at all, so that it never takes the opportunity to comment on the genre. Instead it plays it completely straight as a pulp adventure serial. Unless you count nostalgia, this is a film that has no more levels than the serials it pastiches.
However the nostalgia is so rich and all-encompassing that I loved it. Just look at those scenes in the Himalayas: those mountains never looked like that in real life - only in old movies, in matte paintings and on sound stages. Every precarious ice bridge and looming crevasse, dwarfing our tiny, stuggling heroes, brought a huge grin onto my face. Look at that King Kong style forest. Those robots. Those Zeppelins. The planes that flap their mechanical wings. Epic, beautiful, geek-heaven. That's why this film works.
I don't know if it'll stand the test of time in the same way that Raiders of the Lost Ark has - in some ways it's more reminiscent of Temple of Doom, with that film's mixed strengths and weaknesses - but I really enjoyed it.