Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
Sep. 17th, 2004 03:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
caraigJust came back from watching this movie, so I thought I'd impose my opinion upon y'all!
Well, Sky Captain is a movie that promises a lot and tries desultorily to deliver. It's not a bad filmm, but there's nothign that will make it great. What stands in its way is that there's so much that it could have done but fell just a bit short. There was just a bit too little character development, just a bit too little exposition, just a bit too little whizz-bang setpiece tech. The movie felt like it could have easilly been another half-hour longer. There's one point where I was thinking, "Stop with the talking, make with the showing! Why didn't we see before what this guy is talking about?" There was one glaring error: at some point someone mentions the 'first world war.' Yet someone else later metions that the year is 1940 and there was not another war anytime son, not with the opening scene.
Now, I think the movie had a good feel for the 1930's movie serials like Flash gordon or Buck Rodgers. It might not be a great comparison to them, but it is a spiritual inheritor of sorts, so to me that was a plus. The costuming seemed pretty good to me and the sets were also good and period, if spartan and a bit empty. (Then again, I like the 1930's, art deco, Radio City Music Hall, Marlene Deitrich, Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart, Bettie Page look.) There were some places where it was painfully obvious it was CGI and bluescreen work, and the city scenes were a bit too clean and devoid of debris; it looks like someone did a lovingly clean but quick CGI scene of the city streets.
There was also a problem early in the movie of odd cinematography, which disappeared halfway through the film. By "odd cinematography" I mean somewhat stylized effects, overlays, effects.... it''s hard to explain. Watch some of thhe old '30's serias annd you'll get a very good idea. I can't recall if Sky Captain was indeed a movie serial way back when, but it certainly feels like it in the visuals.
I thought the mechanicals were pretty well-done, all in all. Fans of Crimson Skies will quite like many parts of this movie. Though again, there's not nearly enough to really appreciate, since the movie jsut doesn't have enough of anything.
So, if the movie is lacking in so much, what does it have? ... I'm not really sure. The interaction between the two main characters is interesting and fun to watch but I can't even say it's a "love-hate" relationship. It's a relationship that shouldn't be revived, and fortunately isn't but that's the failing of characterization again since it doesn't really go anywhere.
Anyway, that's where we're left with. I'd say to go see it in a matinee if you have nothing better to do, but you can probably wait for it to be on cable or for rental. The movie just doesn't deliver enough of everything. That's my review, and I'm sticking to it. Pax.
Well, Sky Captain is a movie that promises a lot and tries desultorily to deliver. It's not a bad filmm, but there's nothign that will make it great. What stands in its way is that there's so much that it could have done but fell just a bit short. There was just a bit too little character development, just a bit too little exposition, just a bit too little whizz-bang setpiece tech. The movie felt like it could have easilly been another half-hour longer. There's one point where I was thinking, "Stop with the talking, make with the showing! Why didn't we see before what this guy is talking about?" There was one glaring error: at some point someone mentions the 'first world war.' Yet someone else later metions that the year is 1940 and there was not another war anytime son, not with the opening scene.
Now, I think the movie had a good feel for the 1930's movie serials like Flash gordon or Buck Rodgers. It might not be a great comparison to them, but it is a spiritual inheritor of sorts, so to me that was a plus. The costuming seemed pretty good to me and the sets were also good and period, if spartan and a bit empty. (Then again, I like the 1930's, art deco, Radio City Music Hall, Marlene Deitrich, Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart, Bettie Page look.) There were some places where it was painfully obvious it was CGI and bluescreen work, and the city scenes were a bit too clean and devoid of debris; it looks like someone did a lovingly clean but quick CGI scene of the city streets.
There was also a problem early in the movie of odd cinematography, which disappeared halfway through the film. By "odd cinematography" I mean somewhat stylized effects, overlays, effects.... it''s hard to explain. Watch some of thhe old '30's serias annd you'll get a very good idea. I can't recall if Sky Captain was indeed a movie serial way back when, but it certainly feels like it in the visuals.
I thought the mechanicals were pretty well-done, all in all. Fans of Crimson Skies will quite like many parts of this movie. Though again, there's not nearly enough to really appreciate, since the movie jsut doesn't have enough of anything.
So, if the movie is lacking in so much, what does it have? ... I'm not really sure. The interaction between the two main characters is interesting and fun to watch but I can't even say it's a "love-hate" relationship. It's a relationship that shouldn't be revived, and fortunately isn't but that's the failing of characterization again since it doesn't really go anywhere.
Anyway, that's where we're left with. I'd say to go see it in a matinee if you have nothing better to do, but you can probably wait for it to be on cable or for rental. The movie just doesn't deliver enough of everything. That's my review, and I'm sticking to it. Pax.
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no subject
Date: 2004-09-17 04:11 pm (UTC)Apparently _everything_ was done in blue-screen, even the small inside set shots ... if true, I'm curious why they bothered.
Brett
no subject
Date: 2004-09-17 11:02 pm (UTC)My review of the movie is here:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/ruggels/251247.html#cutid1
Scott
no subject
Date: 2004-09-18 05:20 am (UTC)Brett