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A couple of days down with something you think is flu will let you insight into movies seen long ago. If you see them again, you will get brainwaves the likes of which will sweep away lesser mortals. Skycaptain and the World of Tomorrow is what I will comment on first.

For once, I was stumped. How can a movie’s technical folk be so innovative and the creative folk be so uncreative? I admit with much shame that my intuition deceived me on this. Usually, my first impressions are correct about any movie whose trailor I have been exposed to.

There is a comic book touch to all the scenes. The villain is an unseen (and supposedly insane) scientist. He sends forth giant robots and flying machines (which BTW, are aerodynamic impossibilities) to rob the world’s major cities of their power generators. There is the hero who takes to the skies in one of those mythic WW2 type planes. No ordinary plane either. Refer to your old gadget ridden comic book collection for the details. There is the proverbial daring (dolt!) reporter by the name of Polly Perkins. The genius gadget-maker who has made everything makeable. Gasp! I am revealing too much of the story. Suffer for yourself.

Now for the innovative ‘old time’ look that I was talking about. It is much easier to appreciate the presentation if I block out the content. Everything from the scene transition to the impossibly comic bookish looking giant robots are made perfect to the period. There is even the inexplicable air of old school swashbuckling skyward bound adventure to the presentation. The plot had little to do with it though.

Perhaps I am being too harsh on it. Maybe they wanted to make a dumb looking movie. Well, they did.

Posted on Friday, February 10th, 2006 at 12:33 pm and filed under movies, reviews.

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