Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.

Hey folks. I am guessing you are no worse for wear with being subjected to Samurai Cop 2: Deadly Vengeance...mostly because you did not have to sit through that stinkburger. With that in mind I will bring you a film that gets overlooked as being pretty decent. No I am not subjecting you to some obscure 80s slasher movie that you may have passed in a now defunct concept like a video store but rather a blockbuster film that occurred in 2004 with a budget of no less than 70 million in the hopes it would rocket to the stars with the opening weekend. An ambitious flick that showcased enough talent, actors and decent writing some folks are still either embrace it for what it is or just outright sneer at it. This is Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.

Yes I am that pretty, world. Get over it.

Directoral debut Kerry Conran (Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, The World of Tomorrow and Gumdrop) we open with an alternative timeline of 1939 in which the zeppelin dubbed Hindenburg II arrives at the Empire State building carrying Dr. Jorge Vargas (Julian Curry of Rumpole of the Bailey, Rasputin, Mysteries of Egypt, Uncle Adolf and The Queen's Sister) delivering two vials to for a Dr. Walter Jennings (Trevor Baxter of Cold Comfort Farm. The Politician's Wife. The Hunchback, Parting Shots, Doctors and My Family), when moments later Dr. Vargas disappears.

Polly Perkins (Gwyneth Paltrow of Jefferson in Paris, Se7en, Great Expectations, Shakespeare in Love, Iron Man, Glee, Iron Man 2 and The Avengers) is a hustle and bustle newspaper reporter on the story of Varga and five other world renowned scientists are missing. After meeting Dr, Jennings at a showing of the Wizard of Oz he tells her that Dr. Totenkopf is coming for him. Taking that in, the air raid sirens go off immense giant robots start attacking the city. The police feeling overwhelmed summon Sky Captain (Jude Law of Gattaca, Final Cut, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Cold Mountain, The Aviator, All the King's Men, Sherlock Holmes, Repo Men and Side Effects) and his Flying Legion, a private air force based in New York and... no one seems to question that. Must be that Commisoner Gordon/Batman relationship I guess. With one of the robots dismantled, Sky Captain Joe Sullivan takes the monstrosity to their tech guy Dex (Giovanni Ribsi of Saving Private Ryan, Gone in Sixty Seconds, Avatar and Ted) to figure who made it and what makes it tick. 

Tony Stark mad with power, strikes again!

 Dex tracks the signal of this massive automaton to Tibet and our heroes head for that direction only to run into Commander Franky Cook commanding a FLYING AIRCRAFT CARRIER!!! YUP! A friggin' Helicarrier pre-S.H.I.E.L.D. Commanded by Angelia Jolie in all her fiestiness. FYI, both ladies are Sky Captain's exes so "Awkward," is an understatement. With figuring out what Dr. Totenkopf is up to and why there seems to be such an uproar from a scientist is paramount...(not New Line Cinema.)

Folks I really have no problem with this film. It is kind of a throwback to Doc Savage with the amazing inventions and some of the older comic strips like Terry and the Pirates. Good action scenes, decent character development and enough digital artists, modelers and animators busting their butts I don't understand why folks crap all over it.

It has its flaws as does any movie and admittedly there are a few plotholes but overall I was impressed with it and would recommend it for a sit-in with the family as GIANT FRICKIN' ROBOTS get used! Feels a bit similar to the Max Fleischer Studios Superman and a bit of the Buster Crabbe Flash Gordon serials. I had fun watching this.

My fedora senses danger!!