Netflix Movie Review: Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

5/20/2011

This week’s Netflix Movie Friday is brought to you by Sky Captain and the World of tomorrow. Following this week’s theme of 1940s era, this movie takes place in an futuristic 1940s era where flying machines and giant robots are more likely rather then implausible. The unique selling point of this film is it’s combination of art style as well as overall presentation.

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow follows a plucky young news reporter by the name of Polly Perkins, played by Gwyneth Paltrow, trying to follow a lead on some missing scientists. Soon after she dives in too deep the city is attacked by what could only be described as future giant robot machines. Luckily for Polly the plucky hero dubbed, Sky Captain, played by Jude Law, swoops in to save the day with his heroic and astounding piloting skills of an aircraft. Soon after they end up meeting they discover that the missing scientist all have connection which could lead to the end of the world. Being the hero, the Sky Captain must once again jump to save the day and Polly, being the relentless reporter, must go out and get the big scoop.

One thing is abundantly clear the first time you see this movie. The visual style is absolutely stunning. For a film that is more or less filmed on a green screen, the end result is fantastic. The seamless blend between the actors and digital sequences are very well choreographed. Of course there are a few hiccups here and there. When there are explosions, sometimes the actors don’t react the way you would expect. Another thing to take note is that since the film is all CG based, some of the models don’t look quite so sharp as you would expect. The cars are kind of dull and the monsters move kind of slow. But overall it’s a very neat effect and is very fresh compared to what is out there on the film market.

The acting of the film is fantastic. All the actors play out their roles as if they really were in a futuristic 1940s era. Some of the best parts is the constant bickering between the Sky Captain and Polly as they try to work out their past history while at the same time conveniently moving the plot forward. Jude Law turns in a fantastic performance and is totally suited towards this type of movie. His role as an over thinker in plans is great and oddly enough is his best role to play (see Watson in Sherlock Holmes). Gwyneth Paltrow also plays a great reporter of the time by trading in just the right amount of sexy to cunning reporter skills.

As a closing note, it is also important to point out that someone along the way pretty much followed the video game line of thought. This film would make a absolutely fantastic video game from the way it sets up it’s characters, to locations. Not only that, since the majority of the movie is made on a computer already, the assets exist somewhere on a hard drive already.
What you get in the end is a fantastic film that looks and feels completely new, even to this day. The fantastic use of setting followed by great performances by all the actors involved, makes a completely unique movie experience, one that should not be missed.

Netflix Predicted Rating: 2.8/5
My Rating: 4/5

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