Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

A lot of blinking, lively dialogues, and one big toy that I can't play with. Jude Law is forever a character actor for me, who has nothing in common with a smiling action hero, and the cold Angelina is pure agony this time. The only significant advantage is that something is constantly moving, breaking, or flying on the screen, but in terms of how much was said about the film during its creation and how the creators boasted about it being a historic milestone, it quickly deservedly fell into oblivion. (11/09/2007)

Although The World of Tomorrow is playful and its patina of old movies is charming, the flimsy and predictable story cannot be hidden by the most compelling visuals. There were moments when I was actually bored. Even so, Conran's film reminded me a bit of some of Karel Zeman's films with its visual innovation and retro mood. I'm definitely curious about Conran's next project. (19/01/2005)

A deliberate essence of stupidity. I can’t understand why anyone would want to make something like this and why anyone would want to watch it. As an attempt at naive retro sci-fi it’s successful, as a film for the 21st century viewer is an epic fail. Listening to most of the dialogues felt like slow, painful death; if the film was half an hour longer, I wouldn’t have been able to write this review. (04/08/2010)

A generously produced fan’s homage to film adventures. It has so many quotes and visual ideas that a day later I’ve already forgotten what it is supposed to be about. I didn’t get bored, for sure, and I admired the boldness of the creators that, notwithstanding the poor quality of the special effects, send the heroes into a relentless series of huge set-pieces, but by the end I was missing a more solid director power and I could no longer bear Gwyneth Paltrow, who has forgotten how to act and whose annoying character destroys the godly Angelina in five minutes. That said, it’s likeable bullshit with a filmmaking soul. 70% (24/01/2019)

The stylized visuals are complemented by excellent sound and a great orchestral soundtrack. However, the story lags a long way behind the quality of the technical aspects. Although it is completely obvious that this is intentionally naive as a dime novel, but perhaps they go too far. It’s nice that it was basically made by one person in his garage, but that is no excuse for all of the shortcomings. Another disappointment is Jude Law: he simply isn’t the heroic adventurer type. Conversely, the lately rather back-seated Paltrow seems to really enjoy her role as the journalist. Another plus point is the goading humor between the central duo which, luckily, works, saving a lot. (01/11/2004)