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 1 of 4

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow Our rating: Your rating: 1 2 3 4 Your Comments: see all MPAA rating: PG (for sequences of stylized sci-fi violence and brief mild language) Theater release: September 17, 2004 by Paramount Pictures Directed by: Kerry Conran Runtime: 1 hour 47 minutes Cast: Jude Law (Joe "Sky Captain" Sullivan), Gwyneth Paltrow (Polly Perkins), Angelina Jolie (Capt. Francesca "Franky" Cook), Giovanni Ribisi (Dex Dearborn), Michael Gambon (Editor Morris Paley) Related: Talk About It/Family Corner

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Giant robots are marching down New York City's streets. Plucky newspaper reporter Polly Perkins (Gwyneth Paltrow) is trapped in their path. But she doesn't panic. Instead, even though the robots are terribly close, she calmly pauses—and takes a moment to reach down and slightly rip her long skirt so she can run better. Then, she goes into action.

From trailers and word-of-mouth, everyone knows Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow is modeled on 1930 adventure serials—not only by capturing a stark Technicolor look but also by approaching sci-fi the way a writer in the early 1900s would have viewed the future: with bulky trash-can robots, a tough-as-nails hero, and stainless-steel rockets. However, first-time writer and director Kerry Conran hasn't just mimicked his favorite serials and comic books. Instead, by spending ten years on the most minute details—like showing and not telling his heroine's pluckiness—he's written a love letter to the full scope of 1930s and '40s films by basically making one. In everything from the opening credits to scene transitions to matte-painting backgrounds, movie viewers in 50 years may not recognize that Sky Captain was made in an era any different than 1929's Metropolis.

Gwyneth Paltrow and Jude Law, in search of answers

Of course, there is one big difference. Metropolis had no computers, and Conran used computer graphics to create everything in his film—except the actors. It's the first-ever movie with an all-CGI background and live actors, who were filmed entirely against a blue screen; everything else was added later with computers.

The CG here is impressive, but isn't perfect. Like in the Star Wars prequels and I, Robot, objects can lack real weight or feel cartoony. But since Conran's goal was to make a movie that looks like an era of films that had very limited special effects, his technique mostly works. Some stop-motion model work could have made the robots seem more tangible and striking. But in most instances, Conran knew what he was doing. If certain backgrounds look like big matte paintings, it's because backgrounds back then were matte paintings.

Most of the movie was made in front of a blue screen

This is not the only way in which Conran seems deliberate in making his film look as 1930s and '40s as possible. His direction is squarely rooted in the styles of the time—and not just geeky serials. In fact, the lighting, camera angles, and story devices often recall the trendsetters of early film history like Citizen Kane (1941). And the storytelling isn't only influenced by sci-fi but by King Kong, Tarzan-type adventures and, most noticeably, the era's popular film-noir style and Humphrey Bogart attitude. Most surprisingly, the movie is not held together as much by fights and adventure as it is by a "rosebud-like" mystery centering on the question, "Who is Totenkopf?" Yes, Sky Captain is surely indebted to Buck Rogers, Superman and Flash Gordon serials but surprisingly plays more like Maltese Falcon (1941) meets Metropolis.

Of course, this sort of movie is not everyone's cup of tea. For sci-fi fans, film junkies and adventure geeks like me (full disclosure: I've had Sky Captain wallpaper on my computer for about seven months), it's a blast. But it might not be for moviegoers who wouldn't rent a movie made earlier than 1960 or who don't buy a world with ray guns.

Polly looks out of Sky Captain's window

But because it is done well, most audiences will appreciate Sky Captain as a unique, imaginative, and family-friendly adventure story. It all begins with Polly Perkins' take-no-prisoners investigation of six missing scientists. Soon, she gets a big lead: A scientist who says he will be the next to disappear drops the name "Totenkopf" and a blueprint for what looks like a giant robot. When these same menacing machines attack, there's only one hero who can help: a man's man who downs Milk of Magnesia in a shot glass, Joe "Sky Captain" Sullivan (Jude Law). A bickering pair of ex-lovers, Joe and Polly begrudgingly join forces to solve the mystery that takes them across the world and back.

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