What was Gwyneth Paltrow's agent thinking? Ditto Jude Law. "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" is a 107-minute bore, a science fiction farce that delivers nothing of value.
Special effects without an intelligent script do not make a movie worthwhile. And those effects, all of which were shot against green screen (there is no real scenery), grow tired after about 10 minutes.
Here's the gist of the plot: When New York City receives a series of attacks from giant flying robots in the 1930s, a reporter (Paltrow) teams up with a pilot (Law) to find their origin. A bunch of scientists disappear, one of whom is played by the deceased Lawrence Olivier (another special effect).
Paltrow and Law utter absurd, painful clichés throughout the movie, and their love-hate relationship is tawdry and tired. Paltrow's eye rolls quickly get annoying, and we really don't care if these two ever hook up.
Angelina Jolie makes a few scattered appearances, seemingly reprising her "Boob (Tomb) Raider" role. What was her role in this movie? Um, not sure. She looked lost and out of place.
If you enjoyed the pod races in "The Phantom Menace," you may find some entertainment value in "Sky Captain." Every five minutes there's either a plane chase scene or a series of explosions.
The real reason why the movie doesn't work is because there's never a feeling of danger. Top-rate adventure flicks like "Indiana Jones" (to which some critics compared "Sky Captain") or "Jewel of the Nile" work because there's an element of fear. The snakes and bad guys may really hurt Harrison Ford or Michael Douglas. In "Sky Captain," Jude and Paltrow battle robots and gangly beasts but it all appears to be in jest. There's no real smell of fear.
This is director Kerry Conran's debut (he also wrote the script), and his unique special-effects work is commendable. But his script is non-existent and the acting is poor. With a $70 million budget, you would expect something that jumps off the screen. Instead, the muddled images steal "The Wizard of Oz" metaphor and die a slow death.
Wait to add this to your NetFlix queue if you're curious. Don't bother seeing this in theaters.
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