Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

After finishing up my first paper of this weekend, I took a couple of hours and went to see Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow at the Dollar Theater. I'm glad I did. It passed two hours quickly and engagingly.

First thing that strikes a viewer of this movie is the novel lense effects. Everything is surrounded by a blur and ethyreal glow. This is done for two reasons, that I can tell. One, it adds a fantastic feel to the movie. This fits in well with its antique comic book style. Second, it helps to combine the live action characters and their computer generated settings. The thing is, the whole movie is filmed in front of green screens and then filled in with computer generated robots, people, and scenery. All the acting - there are only maybe thirty people acting in the entire movie - is filmed, which is good since computers cannot communicate in the same way that people do.

Along the lines of live actors, the director made an interesting choice: he had quite close shots on the faces of the people in the movie. This was nice, as it helps you connect with the character. This isn't as extreme as in the Good the Bad and the Ugly, but that wouldn't have fit in this movie.

The actors portrayed did a tolerable job. Jude Law was good, and Gwenyth Paltrow was, too, and their interaction got better as the movie went along. Actually, the whole movie seemed to get better as it moved along. The intentionally thrown-back style wasn't enough to sustain my interest, but the plot did, from probably about a quarter of the way into the movie. From the point when Jude Law and Gwenyth Paltrow are drawn together in the action, there was enough action to keep me entertained. Their relationship was pretty funny, too, as neither is trustworthy.

The premise is this: It's some time around the 1940s, and Gwenyth Paltrow is a reporter on the trail of a mysterious case in which scientists are disappearing slowly. As she makes a break, monstrous robots march into New York and wreak havoc. Enter Sky Captain, a pilot who runs a mercenary organization that benevolently aids the free countries of the world. Slowly they unravel the mystery of the missing scientists and robots, finding a sinister plot involving a doomsday device and the end of the world.

I liked it, and the romantic tension between Jude Law and Gwenyth Paltrow is quite humorous. I think it would be a pretty good date movie. I can't remember any cussing, and the violence wasn't at all gory. A clean, fun, movie... good for the whole family.