Review of Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004) by Maxime L — 27 May 2012

This unusual science fiction film written and directed by Kerry Conran is his directorial debut... and it is something to remember! Set in an alternative 1939 this fantastic feature is following the adventures of Polly Perkins (Gwyneth Paltrow), a newspaper reporter, and Harry Joseph "Joe" Sullivan (Jude Law), alias "Sky Captain," as they track down the mysterious Dr. Totenkopf, who is rebuilding the World or creating "World of Tomorrow".

I always say that if you believe in something you could do anything... and that is what Conran did with his believe in this project - he spent four years making a black and white teaser trailer with a bluescreen set up in his living room and using a Macintosh IIci personal computer! Had a chance to show it to producer Jon Avnet, who was so impressed that he spent two years working with the aspiring filmmaker on his screenplay. No major studio was interested in financing such an unusual film with a first-time director but at the end Avnet convinced Aurelio De Laurentiis to finance Sky Captain without a distribution deal. And that way they become a part of the film history - almost 100 digital artists, modelers, animators and compositors created the multi-layered 2D and 3D backgrounds for the live-action footage while the entire movie was sketched out via hand-drawn storyboards and then re-created as computer-generated 3D animatics. Paying attention to the details was so important that ten months before Conran made the movie with his cast, he shot it entirely with stand-ins in Los Angeles and then created it in animatics so the actors had an idea of what the film would look like. This is of the first major films to be shot entirely on a "digital backlot", blending live actors with computer generated surroundings.

Next to the two stars, Gwyneth Paltrow and Jude Law, Angelina Jolie as Commander Francesca "Franky" Cook had a minor role - in the movie she was a Royal Navy flying aircraft carrier. Before accepting this job, Jolie had just arrived from the set of Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003) and agreed to work on the movie for three days. Despite her small role, she reportedly had conducted hours of interviews with fighter pilots in order to absorb their jargon and get a feel for the role - and it was a pleasure seeing her using that jargon!

If you are into old comics, fantasy, adventure and stunning visuals, there is a movie which will satisfy your taste... just bite into it!