MovieChat Forums > Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004) Discussion > The first 15 minutes are SO solid, and t...

The first 15 minutes are SO solid, and the credits are too. But...

posted 14 years ago by District9
3 replies | jump to latest

This movie is SO solid for the first 15 minutes. Everything is in black and white, there seems to be a mystery unfolding, the absolutely stunning scene with "The Wizard of Oz" where we get to see color, the retro robots flying overhead, THAT is how this movie was marketed, and it really works.

But...

What the hell happens over the next hour and twenty minutes?!!? It seems like the writers pitched this movie based on the first 15 minutes of excellent ideas/set up. But then, when the project was surprisingly green-lighted, they were forced to actually finish the movie. And that's where things get ugly.

95% green screen, multi-colored animals bouncing all over the place, painfully awkward love scenes (even for a throwback romantic movie), a talking floating head, giant robots who can be pushed over, an old dead guy who was basically building an apocalypse machine, which is rigged to be like an atomic arc, and a lightsaber wielding cyborg girl who defends it...

C'mon now. Don't try to tell me that this movie is good all the way through. Don't even try to tell me that. I'm really NOT a hater of this movie. I just am really let down by how good it started out, and how badly it devolved as the movie went along. How the hell do you start out a movie that strongly, then end it so poorly?

And then they have the audacity during the end credits to play a Wizard of Oz song, and show the credits using that 1930's spotlight font. NO!! The filmmakers gave up the right to use that technique because they spent the last hour and a half desecrating all things sacred from the 30's!

If a movie were to just be bad from start to finish, that's one thing. But why do you think this movie derailed so badly?

My favorite analogy is this... It's like a good director/writer duo did the first 20 minutes, then they got fired, and a new crew took over and had to make stuff up on the fly to finish the movie.

I will come back for you. 3 years, I promise.
DISTRICT 10, 2012

[–] theyellowsign 14 years ago

I'm sorry you didn't like it, but I disagree with you assessment 100 percent. I thought the whole movie was a fantastic homage to the films of that era, from Lost Horizon to Captain Midnight, from King Kong to Buck Rogers.

My only complaint is the casting of Gwenneth Paltrow, who's performance (as usual) detracts from the whole.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sgOJTA8ndI

[–] hbenthow 14 years ago

I find that it is well-done from beginning to end. The whole movie is reminiscent of classic movies and serials.

This movie is SO solid for the first 15 minutes. Everything is in black and white, there seems to be a mystery unfolding

There is a mystery unfolding throughout the entire movie.

The filmmakers gave up the right to use that technique because they spent the last hour and a half desecrating all things sacred from the 30's!

I don't see that at all. Kerry Conran has a great love of all things of the 1930s, and it shows.

[–] funkyfry 14 years ago

well I'm one of the biggest long-time defenders of the film here on this board, been posting here since the movie came out. But I do agree with a lot of what you're saying. I do think that a lot of the movie is a let-down after the first couple "reels" if you'll indulge me. I think they were trying hard to balance the demands of the nostalgia aspects of the film and the needs of the modern audience and they stumbled in a couple scenes. The whole "Skull Island" homage should have either been removed or extended. I do like all the stuff with the huge flying fortress. I do like the ending, although the battles with the lightsaber chick went on too long, became cliched.

Did I not love him, Cooch? MY OWN FLESH I DIDN'T LOVE BETTER!!! But he had to say 'Nooooooooo'