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Stars:
Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie, Giovanni Ribisi, Michael Gambon, and
Bai Ling
Writer:
Kerry Conran
Director:
Kerry Conran
Feature
length: 106 minutes
Extras:
Feature Length Audio Commentary With Producer Jon Avnet, Feature Length Audio
Commentary With Writer and Director Kerry Conran, Production Designer Kevin
Conran, Animation Director/Digital Effects Supervisor Steve Yamamoto, and Visual
Effects Supervisor Darin Hellings, Brave New World – Chapter 1 and Chapter
Documentaries, The Art Of World Of Tomorrow, The Original Six Minute Short,
Deleted Scenes, Gag Reel, Previews
Languages:
English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and French Language Dolby Surround
Sound
Subtitles:
English Captions and Closed Captions and Spanish Language Subtitles
Packaging:
Keep Case
Chapter
Stops: 17
Sound:
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and Dolby Surround Sound
Year
of Theatrical Release: 2004/DVD Release: 2005
Theatrical
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Home
Video Distributor: Paramount Home Entertainment
MPAA
Rating: PG
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
Writer
and Director Kerry Conran developed the six-minute short “Sky Captain And The
Flying Legion And The World Of Tomorrow” by literally shooting video in a
makeshift studio and then spending four long years creating the short on his
Apple Macintosh computer. His imagination and commitment were so strong that
after only completing the first part of what was to be a feature length serial,
he figured that he would just continue investing years on this project
independently in order to preserve his vision. Fortunately for Mr. Conran,
Producer Jon Avnet saw the short and after discussing it with Conran for a few
days, commissioned Conran to write a feature length screenplay that Conran would
direct and Avnet would finance independently. Once the screenplay was developed
and ready to shop around, Avnet got Jude Law to commit to playing the title role
in the film and Law’s involvement not only helped to gain the interest of
other talent like Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie, but Law stepped onboard as
a Producer too. With the film packaged and financed with the assistance of
Aurelio De Laurentis, Conran lived his dream of directing this ambitious homage
to the 1930s serials without compromising his vision while Avnet ensured that
not only would Conran ultimately get his final cut, but upon arranging for a
special preview screening of completed segments from the film, Paramount
Pictures outbid other interested studios and within four years to the date when
Avnet first became involved with the project “Sky Captain And The World Of
Tomorrow” came to fruition as a completed feature film.
While
the film is obviously inspired by the same source materials that helped George
Lucas realize his “Star Wars Saga” and with Steven Spielberg create the
“Adventures Of Indiana Jones,” “Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow”
really is on it’s own merits one of the most pivotal chapters in the history
of digital feature film productions. For special effects alone as well as
dedication, I think everyone involved in this film should receive some kind of
award because this is clearly a labor of love from all involved. The film
features excellent visual effects, lots of sci-fi action, and a nice sense of
humor without ever becoming too campy. I wish I saw it on the big screen because
in my opinion “Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow” is one of the best
genre feature films of 2004. I had a lot of fun watching this film on DVD and as
far as demo discs go, the direct HD to DVD transfer definitely makes “Sky
Captain And The World Of Tomorrow: Special Collector’s Edition” among the
best titles to impress your buddies with. The picture quality is every bit as
sharp as the direct HD transfer performed by Lucasfilm and Twentieth Century Fox
Home Entertainment for “Star Wars: Episode II: Attack Of The Clones” in
2002. In fact were it not for the greater range of resources Lucas has
rightfully earned to complete his “Star Wars Saga” on his own terms, I think
“Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow” would have blown movie viewers away
if it hit screens before “Attack Of The Clones.”
Storywise,
the film could have been fleshed out a bit more, but all things considered, this
movie delivers on the promise that the trailers made more than a year before the
film opened and lets face it, how many pictures actually live up to the trailers
made to promote them, let alone surpass them? As important as “Terminator 2:
Judgment Day” and “Jurassic Park” were in pioneering the use of photo
realistic computer generated effects in the 1990s, “Sky Captain And The World
Of Tomorrow” is at least as important as “Star Wars: Episode II: Attack Of
The Clones” was in demonstrating what can be created and seamlessly fit
together in the virtual studio to create a digital presentation more compelling
than film and practical effects alone could ever hope to achieve. The English
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack is quite aggressive with lots of bass for
the subwoofer to create an exciting home theater experience. A French Language
Dolby Surround Soundtrack as well as English Captions and Closed Captions for
the hearing impaired and Spanish Language Subtitles are encoded onto the dual
layered DVD as options.
Much
of what I detailed in the opening paragraph I learned from listening to Producer
Jon Avnet’s excellent feature length audio commentary track where he goes into
great detail about how the film was made without ever getting dull.
Comparatively I found the second feature length audio commentary with Writer and
Director Kerry Conran, Production Designer Kevin Conran, Animation
Director/Digital Effects Supervisor Steve Yamamoto, and Visual Effects
Supervisor Darin Hellings to be less compelling. Perhaps it is just a matter of
personal taste or a reason why Avnet is a successful Producer, but I just think
in general, Avnet is able to give a detailed account about the making of “Sky
Captain And The World Of Tomorrow” in a more direct or conversational way so
it feels like one is listening to a story more than an dissertation.
The
commentary tracks are supported by the two-part documentary “Brave New
World,” which has respective running times of (28:11) and (23:24) with four
chapters each. The combined documentary segments take the viewer through the
behind-the-scenes production process. A featurette focusing on the production
and costume design of the film entitled “The Art Of World Of Tomorrow”
(8:20) as well as the original short (6:04), two deleted scenes (5:09) that can
be viewed individually or collectively, and a gag reel (2:32) wrap up the extra
value materials directly related the film. Sadly the teaser and theatrical
trailers for “Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow” are not included on
this DVD. Instead there is a reel of previews (8:55) that includes “Alfie,”
“Spongebob Squarepants: The Movie,” “Lemony Snicket’s A Series Of
Unfortunate Events,” and “Without A Paddle.”
The
interactive menus are well rendered and easy to navigate. If you are a genre
film fan you will likely be able to spot at least a few nods to all sorts of
sci-fi films and whatnot that neither Avnet or the others involved will directly
reveal where they are all located, but I can tell you that I spotted a few the
first time I watched the film so here is a listing of some of the Easter eggs
hidden within the film itself.
1) When the montage of various newspaper printings from around the world appears, look at the Japanese newspaper and notice a shape in the picture that looks curiously like “Godzilla.”
2) The sounds of the laser blasts that the giant walking robots emit is the same sound effect used for the Martian deathray in the George Pal’s feature film production of “H.G. Wells’ War Of The Worlds.” (Distributed on DVD through Paramount.)
3) The exterior of the rocket ship ark seen in the film’s climactic sequences looks like the space ark used to save humanity in George Pal’s “When Worlds Collide.” (Also distributed on DVD from Paramount.)
4) The familiar “1138” inside joke to pay homage to George Lucas’ feature film debut is seen on one of the doors the characters open as they investigate the mystery behind the robot attacks.
5) The creatures found on the island that were created by Stan Winston seem to resemble the kind of stop motion beasts that Ray Harryhausen and his mentor Willis O’Brien created for their early films when paleontologists theories of dinosaurs and their appearances were less sophisticated than the ones posed today.
6) The wreckage of the Titanic is among the obstacles our protagonists must get around in order to reach the secret island in the film’s final act.
7) The dialogue “Is it safe?” is a nod to the classic 1970s thriller “Marathon Man.” In the film Sir Laurence Olivier played a Nazi war criminal that tortures another character played by Dustin Hoffman with dentistry tools while in-between drilling holes in his teeth without any form of anesthetic, Olivier asks Hoffman “Is it safe?” The likeliness of Olivier appears as a character in the film despite the fact the great stage and screen actor passed away more than a decade ago. This is an important element in the film’s plot too.
8) Genre Online reader Jordan Lund has contributed five new Easter eggs he discovered while watching the film in the theater. In addition to the Titanic, he says the boat from King Kong can be seen among the objects the heroes pass in the film.
9) Jordan also mentioned that the fight with the robots is from the 1940s Superman cartoon "The Mechanical Monsters."
10) The intercom used in the newspaper building is the same intercom from the Fleischer Superman cartoons of the 40s. They actually duplicated quite a few shots from these cartoons.
11) The editor of the paper is "Mr. Paley", probably a reference to Perry White, editor of the Daily Planet.
12) The "Calling Sky Captain... come in Sky Captain" radio tower is an homage to the old RKO pictures logo - http://www.rko.com.
13) Frankie Cook and her flying aircraft carrier is a lot of Nick Fury and the SHIELD Helicarrier from the Marvel comics. Or is it just coincidence that they both have an eyepatch and fly around on giant propeller bladed aircraft carriers?
14) I confirmed the ship from King Kong, it's named "The Venture" in the movie. Same ship.
Jordan has also done some excellent screen comparisons between select sequences from "Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow" and the Superman cartoons that were done by the Fleischer Brothers studio between 1940 and 1942. All were originally shown theatrically. Click here to see the comparisons!
There’s a lot more in there so try and find them all and if you do, send them over and if verified I’ll add them to the list of Easter eggs hidden within the film. Just write Sky Captain in the subject line and send your submissions to genre_online@hotmail.com.
“Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow: Special Collector’s Edition” is a lot of fun and well worth checking out now that it is available on DVD-Video at retailers on and offline courtesy of Paramount Home Entertainment.
©
Copyright 2005 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
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