SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW

'''SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW. Kerry Conran, dir., script.''' USA [UK, Italy]: Brooklyn Films, Natural Nylon Entertainment (prod.) / Paramount Pictures (US dist.), 2004. See IMDb for full list of production companies. Aurelio De Laurentiis, Raffaella De Laurentiis, exec. prods. Jude Law (prod. also), Gwyneth Paltrow, Giovanni Ribisi, Ling Bai, Angelina Jolie, featured players. 107 min.

SF with some fantasy, alternative 1939. SKY CAPTAIN features, among other high-tech/alternative-tech things, "A squadron of robotic aircraft" and "an army of towering […] war robots" attacking New York City in a past alternative to ours but very much in the traditions of Art Deco and "Flash Gordon Tech," inspired by the artwork of Alex Raymond. The film is notable for its near-total use of CGI for mise-en-scene and its militant intertextuality, with allusions not only to the classic tradition of SF/SF-related comics and pulps, but also to real-world future visions of weaponry in popular magazines, and to films ranging from THE WIZARD OF OZ (a portion of which is seen in SKY CAPTAIN), to WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE (1951), THE IRON GIANT (film), and THE BLACK HOLE (film), to the STAR WARS saga and James Bond series. Discussed by Jeffrey Bond in "Days of Futures Past," Cinefantastique 36.3 (June/July 2004): 34 f., whom we quote, and our source, with the IMDb, for parts of this entry. See our various entries for Flash Gordon, and the citation for The World of Tomorrow (a documentary under Background). Contrast actual stage sets of THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK, and its very different variations on a po-mo esthetic. See also CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER.

5. DRAMA, RDE, 13/V/04, 18/IX/04; RDE, Title, 25Aug19