Take a look at the promotional information for \Sky Captain."" Go ahead, look at any information. There will be numerous tidbits and factoids about the special effects, how it's the first movie to be shot completely in front of blue screen, how the director, Kerry Conran, spent a decade working on the special effects, or how the stars signed onto the movie without having read a single page of script - they signed on after being wowed by a special effects sampler. Much information will be found about the special effects, and little about the plot. In whatever you read, ""Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow"" will pitch its special effects above its story. Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow is the definition of a special effects movie: cool on effects, light on plot.
The movie starts out with an awe-inspiring scene where a band of robots attack New York City, circa 1940. Reporter Polly Perkins (Gwyneth Paltrow) is a reporter trying to link together the attack, the recent disappearance of numerous scientists, and what it has to do with a stereotypical bad guy named Dr. Totenkopf. With the help of her former lover, Joe ""Sky Captain"" Sullivan (Jude Law), she hopes to piece everything together, rescue the scientists and write a story about the whole ordeal.
Many special effect-based movies can be broken down into three, maybe four, intense action scenes. Sky Captain tries to stay in that mold, but fails at it. Its three attempts at action include have one amazing action scene, and two more mediocre action pieces that end before they have a chance to start up. However, the aforementioned opening where the robots are attacking New York City is a spectacle to behold. Not only do the special effects look fantastic in this part, but the action is intense as Sky Captain dogfights multiple robots in a very tightly edited sequence.
But what ""Sky Captain"" really has going for it is a tremendous sense of style. Clearly, a major inspiration to Conran were the sci-fi pulp serial comic books from the 1930s and '40's, some scenes actually do feel like a comic book brought to life. The dark hues employed in the early stages of the film give ""Sky Captain"" a very gritty feel that hasn't been seen on screen in quite some time. With Jude Law fitting in perfectly as the stereotypical square chinned hero, it's almost like his character was lifted straight out of a cartoon and put on screen.
The only real downside of ""Sky Captain"" is its absence plot. After the initial sequence, it seems like Conran didn't know what to do in order to fill the space before the next action sequence. So, like many movies before it, Conran had the main characters fall in love. But the way Conran approaches the love story is too different from the rest of the movie. Whereas the action scenes are intense and gloomy, the romantic scenes are light and fluffy. A little too fluffy, they would have felt more at home in a Howard Hawks comedy than an intense action movie.
Don't see ""Sky Captain"" because it's an okay movie, don't see it for its adequate plot or because it' has pretty good special effects. See it because its style is simply amazing to see up on the big screen.
