Starring Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie, Giovanni Ribisi, Michael Gambon, Bai Ling, Omid Djalili
Written By: Kerry Conran
Directed By: Kerry Conran
Studio: Paramount
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Imagine 1939 New York City and a Zeppelin is unloading it’s passengers on the top of the Empire State Building. Yeah, real safe right? Turns out a wiery old man is distraught and passes a note on to one of the guards, and within a flash he is gone. This man, one of the world’s best scientists, could be dead. Besides this mystery of all the best scientists in the world gone missing, you hear this thud thud noise coming from the sky. Looking up you see these giant robots flying through the sky. Think how terrified New Yorker’s must have been back then to witness something like that. Hell, they would probably shit a brick if that happened today. One by one the robots land in the streets and start marching to take over the entire city. Not to fear, Sky Captain is on the way to save the day. In the middle of this invasion is Polly Perkins (Gwyneth Paltrow,) a newspaper reporter out to get the story of the lifetime, and try not to get herself killed in the process. The only one to take pictures of the robots and to meet with the last scientist who may have the reason for their disappearances, she becomes very valuable to Sky Captain. What a load Sky Captain has, to try and save the world from robot domination and to have this nagging, pain in the arse reporter tagging along for the big scoop. Rounding out the cast is Giovanni Ribisi, who plays technology wizard Dex and Sky Captain’s right hand man. Also, Angelie Jolie plays Capt. Franky Cook. Capt Cook is in charge of a top secret British vessel… in the sky. Very cool place to work. Just can’t land the ship on a normal platform I suppose. Did I mention Capt Franky Cook wears an eye patch? Oh Yeah, she is pretty sexy, even for one eye. Um yeah, back to the story. So Sky Captain and Polly must venture across the world to find this beacon which controls the robots, and could lead them to the world’s scientists. With the help of Capt Cook and a few others, Sky Captain and Polly race to stop the robots and the evil Dr Totenkopf.

Watching the movie, you definitely get the impression of the old popcorn, Saturday matinee movies which makes it fun to watch. What also is quite extraodinary is that the film was entirely shot with blue screens. The actors do a great job pretending what they are seeing out in this “World.” Then with mastery, a depression-era backdrop is added to the film to make the film dark and grey. Pretty much the film is in black and white with a few colors thrown in and definitely something I have never seen before. A Labor of love for Kerry Conran, this project spanned over six years in production with Conran first creating a six minute short to show to producers and studios. While all the special and visual effects were great, the story and dialogue could have been a little stronger. Still, a very fun film.

Features:
Commentary by producer Jon Avnet and writer and director Kerry Conran and the VFX crew
Brave New World – Chapter 1
-Brave New World – Chapter 2
The art of World of Tomorrow
The original six minute short
Deleted Scenes
Gag Reel

Audio:
ENGLISH: Dolby Digital 5.1 CC
FRENCH: Dolby Digital Stereo

Video:
Widescreen 1.85:1 Color

Subtitles:

Favorite Scenes: Invasion of New York, Aboard the British Vessel, Underwater investigation
Rating: PG
Running Time: 106 minutes
Extras Rating:
Overall Rating: