Director: Kerry Conran, 2004
Stars: Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow is an old-fashioned, rip-roaring adventure, following the exploits of the eponymous aerial hero (Law) and journalist Polly Perkins (Paltrow) as they seek to save the world from the machinations of an evil scientist, Dr Totenkopf. Along the way, they fight giant robots, visit lost Himalayan temples and run into Sky Captain’s old flame Frankie (Angelina Jolie), who commands the RAF’s flying aircraft carriers.
As critics sneered on its cinematic release, it’s all very silly; but it does look great, drawing on classic sci-fi such as the Flash Gordon serials and the old Jules Verne film adaptations, as well as the pulpier comic books of the past.
The first-time director Conran and his production designer brother Kevin have created an Art Deco version of the future that’s grounded firmly in the 1930s and 1940s. But for all this nostalgia, the technique was thoroughly modern and groundbreaking. The actors were filmed entirely against a blue screen (visible in one of the deleted scenes), with all the backgrounds and effects filled in afterwards using CGI. The result is, as Kevin Conran admits, “not photorealism”.
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Instead, Sky Captain exists in a world that’s fantastic in every sense of the word.
DVD extras Six-minute short, deleted scenes, “making of” feature.
Robert Burrow