Review of Iron Sky (2012) by Scott M — 04 Jun 2012

For the unaware, here's the jist: in the twilight of WW2, the tattered remnants of the Nazi party escaped to the dark side of the moon, where they've been building spacecraft and plotting their revenge ever since.

It's obviously intended as a blunt parody, but lord is it ham-fisted and dim-witted. Loaded with bland, easy puns and flat punchlines, it's satire in the same vein as Meet the Spartans. The film is set in the year 2018, so naturally the president is played by a porn-grade Sarah Palin impersonator.

After reaching office on the back of a "Yes She Can" campaign, her big re-election effort involves sending a new mission to the moon, with a black captain, which is publicized as "Black to the Moon!" These are the big-laugh moments.

Amidst such broad strokes, a few good bits do manage to slip in (there's something about a space zeppelin that's oddly hilarious), but they're like tiny dots of light lost amidst the hustle of a smeared canvas.

I may have cracked a smile once or twice, but I groaned more times than I could count, and when it was all over I felt like apologizing to myself. There's a place for this brand of comedy in the world, I guess, but it's not with me.