Review of Iron Sky (2012) by Jesse O — 20 Jul 2013

This movie isn't really as clever as it thinks it is. Certainly not bad by any stretch, but considering its absolutely insane idea, it should've been infinitely more entertaining than it ended up being.

Space Nazis coming back to earth to take over? This movie ends up being a gigantic missed opportunity. And the entire movie just ends up feeling so forced. It's clear they went out of their way to make a campy and goofy movie, and in being so self-aware the movie ends up becoming a parody of itself.

To make a truly campy movie, the director has to be completely oblivious to it. He/she has to believe that they're making wonderful art for the masses. When you're so self-aware that that's what you wanna do, it ends up feeling lifeless and transparent.

You can easily see through it and that's this film's biggest problem. On top of that, there's this third-rate feel the movie has. Almost like you'd be embarrassed to be caught watching it.

I don't mean to shit on the cast, but they weren't exactly setting my world on fire. But they did their best under these circumstances. Also the political message of the film is not lost on me with the president being an exact copy of Sarah Palin.

This political stuff in the movie is also very transparent. Anyone with any knowledge of American politics will figure this out. The movie does it have its moments, like most any other film, but these are simply not enough to save a movie that was pretty much doomed right from the very start thanks to its self-awareness.

Also for a movie that's supposed to be silly and campy, the ending was probably too serious for its own good. This is a perfectly watchable movie, but one that misses an opportunity to tell a massively entertaining, but campy, movie about Nazis in space.

It really does miss the mark entirely.