Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow is a film released on September 17, 2004 in the US. It was written and directed by Kerry Conran, in his directorial debut. The film stars Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, Michael Gambon, Giovanni Ribisi, Angelina Jolie and Sir Laurence Olivier. It is set in New York City in an alternative 1939 and is a pulp adventure style science fiction adventure film.
Cast
Polly Perkins
(Gwyneth Paltrow) and Sky Captain (Jude Law)Jude Law stars as H. Joseph "Joe"
Sullivan a.k.a Sky Captain of the Flying Legion: He commands a private air force
known as the Flying Legion, his own personal aircraft is a Curtiss P-40. In 2002,
producer Jon Avnet showed Law the teaser trailer and the actor was very impressed
by what he saw. He remembers, "All I got at that early stage was that he'd
used pretty advanced and unused technology to create a very retrospective look."Avnet
gave him the script to read and some preliminary artwork to look at.
Law: "What
was clear was also that at the center was a really great cinematic relationship,
which you could put into any genre and it would work. You know, the kind of bickering
. I always like to call it The African Queen meets Buck Rogers." Avnet wanted
to work with Law because he knew that the actor had "worked both period,
who worked both having theatrical experience, who worked on blue screen, who hadn't
hit yet as a major action star."[2] The actor had just finished filming Cold
Mountain (2003) and was intrigued at going from filming on real locations to working
on a movie done completely on a soundstage (Sky Captain would be one of three
Jude Law films released by Paramount Pictures in 2004, along with the 2004 remake
of Alfie and Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. It also was one
of six overall Jude Law films released that year.).
Gwyneth Paltrow as Polly
Perkins, reporter for the New York Chronicle. Law believed so much in Conran's
movie that he also became one of the producers and used his clout to get Paltrow
involved. Once her name came up, Law did not remember "any other name coming
up. It just seems that she was perfect. She was as enthusiastic about the script
and about the visual references that were sort of put to her, and jumped on board."
Paltrow said in an interview, "I thought that this is the time to do a movie
like this where it's kind of breaking into new territory and it's not your basic
formulaic action-adventure movie."
Angelina Jolie as Commander Francesca
"Franky" Cook: She commands a Royal Navy flying aircraft carrier. Jolie
had just arrived from the set of Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003) and agreed
to work on the movie for three days. Despite her small role, she had conducted
hours of interviews with fighter pilots in order to absorb their jargon and get
a feel for the role.
Giovanni Ribisi as Dexter “Dex” Dearborn, ace
mechanic of the Flying Legion. Ribisi met with Avnet and, initially, was not sure
that he wanted to do the movie but after seeing the teaser trailer, he signed
on without hesitation.
Michael Gambon as Morris Paley, editor of the New York
Chronicle
Omid Djalili as Kaji, former comrade-in-arm from the Flying Legion
Bai Ling as The Mysterious Woman, Totenkopf's henchwomen
Julian Curry
as Dr. Jorge Vargas, a missing scientist
Trevor Baxter as Dr. Walter Jennings,
a missing scientist
Peter Law as Dr. Aler Kessler, a missing scientist
Laurence
Olivier as Dr. Totenkopf, the mysterious scientific genius and supervillain
It is notable as being one of the first major films (along with Able Edwards, Casshern and Immortal) to be shot entirely on a "digital backlot", blending live actors with computer generated surroundings.
The film takes place in an "alternate" late 1930s where there is no sign of Germany preparing for war or that America is in the grip of an economic depression. The fantastic technology, a mixture of super-advanced science and early 20th century points to an alternate history. Despite this, references are made to historical events and persons; World War I is said to have been fought at the beginning of the movie (although the actual outcome of the war is not made clear), Second Sino-Japanese War is noted to be being fought and Hideki Tojo is mentioned.
The film opens with the arrival of the zeppelin Hindenburg III in New York City, mooring at the Empire State Building. Before he vanishes, a frightened scientist named Dr. Jorge Vargas (Julian Curry) makes arrangements for a package to be delivered to a Dr. Walter Jennings (Trevor Baxter).
Polly Perkins (Gwyneth Paltrow), a newspaper reporter for The Chronicle, is looking into the mysterious disappearances of Vargas and five other renowned scientists. She receives a cryptic message, telling her to go to the Radio City Music Hall movie theater that night. She ignores the warning of her editor, Mr. Paley (Michael Gambon), not to go, and meets a terrified Dr. Jennings. He tells her that Dr. Totenkopf (German: literally "death's head" or "skull") is coming for him.
Just then, air raid sirens go off, heralding the arrival of numerous massive robots that prove all but unstoppable. In desperation, the police call for H. Joseph "Joe" Sullivan (Jude Law), who is known as "Sky Captain" and commands a private air force, the Flying Legion. Sullivan knocks out one of the robots and the rest leave. He helps save Polly, who was photographing the robots.
The wreckage of the robot is taken back to the Legion's airstrip so that an expert, Dex (Giovanni Ribisi), can examine it. Polly follows, hoping to get information for her story. She and Joe are ex-lovers, who broke up three years earlier in China where Polly was reporting the events and Joe serving with the "American volunteers". Joe constantly accuses Polly of sabotaging his airplane while at China, while Polly accuses Joe of fooling around with another woman. Since Polly has some useful information, Joe agrees to let her in on the investigation.
This takes them to the ransacked laboratory of Dr. Jennings, with the scientist himself near death. The killer, a mysterious woman (Bai Ling), escapes, but the mortally wounded Jennings gives Polly two vials, which he says are crucial to Dr. Totenkopf's plans. Polly withholds this information from Joe. They return to the Legion's base which comes under attack from squadrons of ornithopter drones. In the ensuing battle, Dex manages to track the origin of the robot control signal but is captured. However, he leaves behind a part of a map marking the location of Totenkopf's base.
Joe
and Polly find it and head to Nepal. Venturing into the Himalayas, they find a
long abandoned mining outpost. They are nearly killed by two of Totenkopf's goons,
but Polly gives up the two vials in a vain attempt to secure their freedom. Joe
and Polly escape but are knocked unconscious by the explosion in the mine. They
wake up together in the mythical Shangri-La. The monks who live there tell of
Totenkopf's enslavement of their people, forcing them to work in the uranium mines.
Most of them were killed by the radiation; Totenkopf experimented on the survivors.
The final survivor is horribly disfigured, but provides another clue to where
Totenkopf is hiding.
This new clue leads them to rendezvous with Joe's other ex-flame, Commander Francesca "Franky" Cook (Angelina Jolie), who commands a Royal Navy flying aircraft carrier. Frankie helps them get to Totenkopf's hidden island. Getting in requires an extended trip underwater, making use of amphibious aircraft.
Joe and Polly find themselves inside the mountainous island,
which contains numerous strange creatures, many of which appear to be variations
of dinosaurs. They travel to the mountain at the very center of the island and
penetrate a secret facility located within. There, they discover that it has been
hollowed out into a massive silo where robots are seen loading animals, as well
as the contents of the mysterious vials (the material for Totenkopf's genetically
engineered humans) onto a massive "Noah's Ark" rocket.
Joe and Polly are detected and nearly killed, but Dex, piloting a floating barge, arrives in the nick of time with three of the missing scientists. Escaping together, Dex explains that Totenkopf has given up on humanity and seeks to end the world to begin a new one: the "World of Tomorrow". When the rocket reaches an altitude of 100km, it will incinerate the Earth. The group goes to Totenkopf's lair only to discover that he has, in fact, been dead for two decades; his machines have carried on his work.
The only way to sabotage the rocket is from the inside, but there is no time to escape from it before it explodes. Polly tries to tag along, but Joe knocks her out with a punch. He then goes to sacrifice himself while the others escape. Polly recovers and follows after Joe, arriving just in time to save him from the mysterious woman who turns out to be a robot. The two then board the rocket just before it launches. Before it reaches an altitude of 100km, they manage to release the animals in escape pods and then use another pod to save themselves after successfully sabotaging the rocket, causing it to explode.
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