I remember watching *SKY CAPTAIN* as a kid. And I love everything in it. The dieselpunk aesthetic, homage to 1930s films and especially the *P-40 Warhawk* ( with its gadgets and underwater flight capabilities ) which pretty much kick-started my fascination with World War II.
Sky Captain was ALWAYS an awesome film... The only problem is that it was made by nerds like me for nerds like me. That first act attack on New York is one of the greatest sequences in all of film. But so few people are as INTO movies from the Golden Age of Hollywood to catch how much Sky Captain is EXACTLY the kind of movie they would have made back then if they had CGI, right down to the acting. It had too narrow an appeal.
I think another problem is that Jude Law, as good as he is in the movie, wasn't the best choice. Brendan Fraser would have knocked it out of the park. The other problem the movie had was that the initial budget was quite low...so Jon Avnet put Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Angelina Jolie, arguably the most in-demand actors at that time in it. Took what was, to my knowledge, more like a $30 million movie and turned it into a $70 million movie.
Then there was Rocketeer, that was a tiny bit more mainstream and the most mainstream version would be the first Captain America movie, directed by the same guy. I wish, something like Sky Captain would be made with the look and budget of Captain America.
I remember seeing this as a kid with my dad. Every time he said the name of the movie, he would do it with the bravado of a radio announcer of the 1930s. This movie was just fun. Not groundbreaking, but a good ride. Like Rocketeer.
Saw this in theaters with my dad. I adored it then and i still do. Such a beautiful love letter to old time Hollywood. I remember seeing the trailers and was DETERMINED to see it. My dad didn't want to go, but i dragged him anyways. What a blast.
I was working at one of the very best video store in the SF bay area when this was released on DVD. It is still one of my favorite films of all time. It's a love affair. I would love have seen more because this movie could have easily spawned a dozen sequels with just a little luck. Excellent review sir!
I was working at the IMAX theatre when this came out. I must’ve watched it a dozen times in theatres. Loved the style and wish we had more Sky Captain sequels and spin-offs of Polly Perkins and Commodore Franky Cook
It pains me, the way the public ignored this (to me) almost perfect film. Like “The Rocketeer”, I was transported to another time, experiencing the wonder & the magic of glorious Hollywood filmmaking. I’ve always adored “Sky Captain” and even shared it with others who missed it in its original showing. Should’ve been considered a classic...at least to this moviegoer. Thanks for your informative video!
I saw this in the theater for my 14th birthday and it blew me away. I had not seen a single trailer. Came in blind and left in a daze. It was the perfect movie for 14-year-old, the way The Phantom Menace was a perfect movie for an 8-year-old. I credit Sky Captain with getting me into making my own movies, and I work with VFX today, 16 years later.
Everyone has those movies you watched as a kid with your family that have a special place in your heart. Sky captain was one of those, my dad was a fan of the film so we watched fit often. I don’t remember much about the film nowadays but I remember it just being a plain fun movie. Sad that the movie flopped so hard
Thanks for the lovely review. I am behind you 100% I own a blueray of this movie and the making-of docus reveal how much blood, sweat and tears went into this. It doesn't take much reading between the lines to realize how difficult it was to go from dream to feature. It was almost a cautionary tale for would-be movie moguls. Bless all their hearts. Yes. let these guys have another shot at independent perfection.
This is one of my all time favorite films. I cannot fathom why this is not a more appreciated movie. I think one reason is the trailer, which was written by marketing idiots, not artists. Sky Captain is awesome.
Only movie my dad took me to, with my sister, we never spent time as a family, EVER. She's dead now and my relationship with him is not great.. but this movie makes my heart feel a little softer, and hurt a little less. I really can't tell you how much I appreciate you being kind to it.
_Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow_ is a fantastic film, truly. That it wasn't a huge success at the box office is evidence of something wrong with the external context, not the movie itself. Conran should be superbly proud of his achievement.
Wait people hate this movie? I mean I can understand being forgotten but hated? This movie changed my perspective on cinema, it made me want to create stories and be as passionate about movies as a critic with high art. It's a deeply important film to me
This review is a stark example of what's wrong with TH-cam. This is insightful, informative, well-produced and well hosted... and has an important message about the significant contributions to film-making made by this movie. Yet it has only 2,388 views 8 months after being posted. Pinkfong's "Baby Shark Dance" has 7.5 Billion views. Civilization is doomed.
it's the "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" of youtube channels, I'm so glad I found it recently! I bet he'll gain some traction soon though for the very reasons you mentioned, these reviews are incredibly enjoyable!
For me, Sky Captain and Beowulf have been forgotten or even dismiss, but came out at a real exciting time when it seemed like everyone was experimenting with how new tech could be used to make new movies based on old-style stories. Also, check out the game Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge which has the same pulpy adventurous vibe.
My eyes opened wide when I saw Flying Tiger planes in the trailers. It was in my eyes like a war movie set in a Metropolis from another dimension. It was a mixed metaphor wish list of the way things could be on screen for certain imaginative "nerds" that feel trapped in our own dimension. Another person wrote "nerds" here before me and I get their point. I understood what the different elements in the film were alluding to. It came out of left field and for that reason I highly respected it. True creativity rarely has mass appeal and it does not have to be "complex". Too bad. I loved the movie. That said I don't agree with some of your "film studies" analysis. I don't think you should apologize for it either. Some of the reasons I enjoyed the movie is because I read a lot about WW II when I was in Elementary. This movie has a fun "intellectual" appeal to people who know why the director added certain elements and put them together. It makes sense if you know what to look at and focus your imagination on, so you may almost enter the Sky Captain universe. It's the most intellectual anti-intellectual thing I've ever seen. I never knew it was groundbreaking in terms of technology etc. I'm glad I know it now. Thanks for the video.
One of my top favorite movies. I'm a sucker for pulp adventure and sci-fi and Sky Captain delivered it to me in spades. Just so fun, innocent, imaginative, and adventurous. Its worldbuilding is absolutely amazing and so gorgeous, and it has made me want to make a movie set in that kind of world and style as well. I love the behind the scenes making of it as well, covering the fun and craziness of it all and I really related to Kerry Conran because of it. I hope he gets to make another movie soon (I would have loved to see his version of John Carter of Mars as well!)
I am of an age that I can remember watching the "Buck Rogers" serials on TV. They were produced staring Buster Crabbe in 1939 and were produced on a real shoestring budget. Watching them in the early 1950' s I was aware that the seemed more like kids playing than movies made by adults. (Sparklers stuck to the tails of the rocket model was a special effect.) They had a pipe organ musical score that was super creepy. It was years before I realized how the score was performed. "Sky Captain" shares some of the same artistic DNA.
You mentioned the pipe organ playing, and this connected me to a memory. I was living in Los Angeles in the 90s, and my parents came out for a visit. One of the touristy things we did was to see a movie in Hollywood, “Pocahontas” at the grand, then-newly restored El Capitan Theatre. Being an old theatre built in the 20s, they set the mood by playing organ music between showings. My parents walked in, the stage aglow, the historic movie palace enveloping us, and organ music filling our ears... My mom began to cry. She was seemingly transported back to her childhood. It was magic for her, and I felt privileged to be a part of her experience.
Sky Captain is one of my favorite films. I know it's not perfect, but for me it means a lot. It was pivotal to how I tell stories, and how I look at imagination. You were spot on when you explore the idea that the film just exudes joy, because it was never intended to be anything else. It was intended to be an escape from reality, and a look deep into our imaginations. It deserved better than it got. I agree with you as well that it never should have been shot in sepia tones. It was built for black and white, and a film grain (while not something I'd ever thought of before) would have done wonders for this film. Thank you for your take on this underappreciated gem.
I honestly love this forgotten Badass movie! No idea why people would so often dismiss a movie just because it was made for pure entertainment value and didn't made them cry, or think about the meaning of life a single time in its runtime. It's still a ton of fun for any age. I don't remember starting to hate fun just because I've grown older.
Saw this in the when it came out. Went to a matinee at a mall multiplex on a weekday. I was THE only one in the theater. Still enjoyed it that day! Found and watched this video after watching the film again twenty years later. Thanks for defending this film. It deserves it, and it deserves another view.
Sky Captain is the ultimate "Dieselpunk" movie. A lesson in retrofuturism that should be tought in film schools. But I disagree with the statement, that it should have been done in black & white. The true art of this movie is to make it see the viewer through the eyes of a person from the '30s, looking at a visualization of the future. B & w would have left the viewer a today's person, looking at a nostalgic idea of the future. And now here's an idea to get Mr. Conran back on the screen: I'd like to team him up with Kenneth Branagh. Combining the strengths of these two could make amazing visions come true.
I watched Sky Captain as an intenet stream on my computer. I now must see it on the large screen in the living room. The look of this film is incredible.
SCATWOT is a GREAT movie ! I love it. There's just two statements that are wrong ; one - the first film to use multiple FX companies is "Honey I shrunk the kids", two - the trend of virtual set films was already at hand but granted SC uses it the most. I would have love to see Kerry Conran's A Princess of Mars (though I love Andrew Stanton's version). Great vid. It's great to finally make justice to this masterpiece (hey I can say that since it's the only feature film he made).
I remebered watching this movie as a kid with my dad. Absolutely fasinated me by how the filming was done as a kid I didnt know about 'green screen'. As I got older, I saw this movie and rewatched and was taken back into my childhood days. Although certain aspects such as Paltrow's reactions stood out more, I found the effects and storytelling to be as captivating as I had remembered. The simple storyline made it easy to follow. I was heartbroken to have found that the movie flopped but was glad to know that there are communities out there that cherish the movie as a cult classic.
IT TOOK ME FOREVER TO REMEMBER THE NAME OF THIS FILM FOR THE LONGEST TIME!!! I remembered watching it as a kid and I was addicted to it, and I remembered specific parts of it, but the name faded from my memory as I got older. Definitely hasn’t aged well, but I love some of the ideas in the film! Great video!
I happen to think that it aged perfectly. It doesn't need perfect CGI, on the contrary - what it achieved, visually, was exactly what it was meant to achieve, imbuing the film with a dreamlike and timeless quality.
I fell in love with this movie from the get go. It took me back to my childhood when Brazilian local TV channels showed old 30s and 40s movie serials to fill the afternoons. I have a dvd copy that has worse quality than a file I downloaded years before. As I was watching this review, I had an idea: what if I watched it in black & white instead? I love the performances of Jude Law, Angelina Jolie and I have to point out that Gwineth Paltron's performance is spot on as an intrepid New York reporter of the 30s and 40s movies. Gotta watch it again. Thanks for this review.
I love Sky Captain, it was a fun watch for my father and I, who are into classic movies and science fiction. The film is so damn charming, and inspired me to get into CG artistry.
A great take on a lovely movie. I'm a very forgiving person when it comes to movies. I always like to take some kind of joy from whatever is on offer. Being someone who loves Art Deco, Sky Captain immersed me into the genre and your comment regarding the colour rendering although is quite valid, the sepia print look sets me solidly in Art Deco land. For those of us who watched Fred Astaire dance across the screen it was people like me who loved the Art Deco sets in the background. Keep up the good work.
black and white Sky Captain looks awesome, would love to see the whole movie like that! I just saw the movie for the first time. Lately I've also been watching lots of movies around that time, mainly Film Noir. I love these high contrast film aesthetics and noticed that Sky Captain really succeeded in creating this lighting style! I also love future from the past movies and wished there were more of them. unfortunately, it seems like big budgets tend to be necessary to achieve and making a good and successful movie in that type seems quite difficult ...
Remember seeing this in theaters in the early 2000s. I distinctly remember the audience reaction to the ending “Lens Cap” line and young me having to have the joke explained to me
fantastic review. These films do not deserve to be forgotten and are always packed with entertainment. At the end of the day it is not the harsh critics that decide what a good film is. It is what you make of it. I also agree, give Conran another chance!
I love this movie! it's such a loveletter to old movies~ I love how the aesthetic of the robots gets smoother and smoother every time we see a new form of them! All culminating in that PERFECT rocket ship! *chef's kiss* It's just fantastic!
Thank you so much for this!! You are spot on! Kerry does deserve a crack at a major feature. All of us in the industry today owe him and his brother a debt of gratitude ♥♥♥
You had me at Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow was a good movie (was this in dispute?). Also it's my belief that black and white is the best way to watch it. Makes the inconsistent lighting due to the green screen more natural looking. Lowering saturation in settings should do the trick on most playback devices.
This is perhaps the best movie review on youtube. Ive never even seen it, wasnt interested in seeing it when it was released, but you just inspired me to buy it. You just gave me a perspective on a movie that nobody watches or talks about, gave a great argument that reminds me that theres a difference between a great film and great filmmaking, and all without an endorsement from Criterion. You have my respect!
It looks so much better in black and white, I really didn't like the excessive bloom in every shot, watching these clips now makes me think of mid-2000's video games with way too much bloom smeared all over the screen (and even when I watched it in theaters as a kid it looked weird to me). In black and white the effect fits perfectly though, it ends up emulating the look of a lot of old black and white films very well. It just doesn't work very well with the sepia tone they went with imo. I probably would have liked it a lot more if they had gone that route. Might rewatch it through VLC media player at some point so I can mess around with the picture and see if I enjoy it more than I did as a kid.
I remember watching it as a kid, and while it is so bizarre in the way it looks, especially today, I do appreciate its creativity and its passion as well as its love of early aviation.
Thank you sir for highlighting a lost piece of VFX history. I am proud to have the Director of Photography for this movie, Eric Adkins, as my first cousin once removed. So you can say I'm forever connected to this movie. Granted, I have also a semi-famous voice actor as my grandfather as well in my bloodline, but it's grand to see the other side of my family getting some love for once.
I fell in love with this film almost immediately. From the opening minutes of this film it is completely clear that it is a valentine to all the old serials you spoke of that we watched for the pure fun of it. I saw it well downstream from its theatrical release unfounded purely by accident while searching for something to watch. I do not entirely understand why it was not the big hit and why it was not an instant classic. As just one example of the kind of thing I love about this film, I always describe the scene the first scene of Sky Captain Landing his airplane back at his base. It looks like a toy airplane being lowered on a stick or wires but lowered slowly so that it resembles a full size aircraft's landing. You have to keep two things in mind at the same time to enjoy that shot fully. You have to remember that those 30s and 40s films looked like that, necause they were using models on sticks and wires, and not just the serials. You also have to consider that, being digital, it could have been made to look however they pleased. They chose, in this magnificent Valentine to those movies, to make ot look exactly like those old effects. They had in mind to send a love letter to those films, and they succeeded brilliantly. Thanks for all the technical details and for u derstanding so well and saying so clearly what Conren accomplished. I'm ready to see it again right now.
This movie was spot on, on every point... The secret to enjoying a movie like this is to immerse yourself into what is happening and become part of it! Sepia Tone was an extra touch One touching scene was seeing a reflection of Sky Captain's plane in the water.. Please don't spoil it for those who have not seen the movie yet...
Nice video! I appreciate your very knowledgeable take, and for being real about the movie's successes and failures. Very interesting. To me Sky Captain is as interesting and entertaining as a movie as is the story of it's production. Much like Citizen Kane, a low budget + true passion and ambition for a project led to coming up with innovative techniques that are still impressive to me. I really love it's simple but totally fun story. It seems like everything they wanted it to be, minus the wide acceptance. Oh well!
I saw this as a kid in theaters with my dad. I came home and pretended to be Skycaptain for the rest of the afternoon. Say whatever you want, it captured my imagination.
I remember seeing trailers and posters for this film in theaters as a kid. I wanted to see it but never did, since that day I never heard anything else about it. No retrospectives, no reviews, nothing. I don’t imagine it being a good film, but it doesn’t deserve to fall into obscurity!
It is, in fact, a good film with a lot of objective qualities going for it, but can be a GREAT film if one happens to be in synth with what it was aiming to achieve. The fact that it failed commercially and subsequently vanished from the general public's awareness means nothing from an artistic perspective. Quality and commercial success aren't always synonymous concepts, unfortunately.
I got this on dvd basted on the cover art. I never even heard of it. Love it everytime I watch it. But tbh nobody I’ve turnd on to it dug it as much as me. I agree, give these guys another shot =] 🌊🏄♂️🛸
I saw it in the theater and remember it well. It's a movie I saw as an adult, but feels remember it as if I saw in the 1980's along with those other childhood films.
I fell in love with this movie from the get go. It transported me back to my childhood when Brazilian local TV channels showed old movie serials to fill the afternoons. I have a dvd that has a worse quality than a file I downloaded years before. As I was watching this review, it occured to me that I should watch it in black and white just before you mentioned it and demonstrated how much better it looks. I love Jude Law's and Angelina Jolie's performances and I have to point out that Gwyneth Paltrow is spot on as an New York's intrepid female reporter of the 30s and 40s movies. I even have a very similar model camera. She has carries an Argus C3 camera (slightly modified in the movie to accomodate a counter). Mine is an Argus C2. Thanks for this review. I'm getting a blu ray disc, definitely!
I wore out the DVD so much as a child that it stopped working. As an adult I still love and enjoy watching this film. Kerry Conrad doesn't deserve the hate he got for this film.
Thank you for this extended look at a movie that was so far ahead of its time in how it made us of so many elements of indie film making. I love this movie, as well. We are reaching a point where non-Hollywood films will give Tinseltown a run for its money, as creative AI and the tools become available to smaller studios. I hate to see a creative resigned to lesser roles, when he obviously still has so much to offer in storytelling...
it's a film people call shit because the plot is nonexistant and the CGI is shitty. you can criticize the plot because it does seem to jump around a bit but it's still followable. i'd reason it as it follows the main plot but with sidequests here and there that add flavor but apparently people didn't like it. but the CGI? WHAT? no that's one of the best parts of the film. it's beautiful with great world building with the grey extensive cities like the old films where color was barely a thing in films to lavish and vibrant wilds. personally the coloring feels perfect for me. it's it's own thing like the rest of the movie. it feels off but strangely fitting.
I genuinely don't understand how something as unique and cool as this movie became so quickly forgotten. Misunderstood by modern audiences and criminally underrated imo. Time for the Internet to give this film a second life!
“The Oppenheimer of the film word and he is treated like he is radioactive”. Great line! (And only made better after the 2023 movie). Your writing is awesome!
I still remember buying this movie on DVD. It was an ex-rental, cost $2.50, and didn't work. Skipped so much that the DVD player would just reject it completely. The rental store just swapped it out with the rental copy they had left and said "No one rents this anyway"
Thank you for the review! I saw the trailer as I was looking for dieselpunk related materials, and was wondering if it is really worth viewing. You convinced me, I feel that this movie won't be dissapointing for me : )
I remember watching *SKY CAPTAIN* as a kid. And I love everything in it. The dieselpunk aesthetic, homage to 1930s films and especially the *P-40 Warhawk* ( with its gadgets and underwater flight capabilities ) which pretty much kick-started my fascination with World War II.
Sky Captain was ALWAYS an awesome film... The only problem is that it was made by nerds like me for nerds like me. That first act attack on New York is one of the greatest sequences in all of film. But so few people are as INTO movies from the Golden Age of Hollywood to catch how much Sky Captain is EXACTLY the kind of movie they would have made back then if they had CGI, right down to the acting. It had too narrow an appeal.
I think another problem is that Jude Law, as good as he is in the movie, wasn't the best choice. Brendan Fraser would have knocked it out of the park. The other problem the movie had was that the initial budget was quite low...so Jon Avnet put Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Angelina Jolie, arguably the most in-demand actors at that time in it. Took what was, to my knowledge, more like a $30 million movie and turned it into a $70 million movie.
Then there was Rocketeer, that was a tiny bit more mainstream and the most mainstream version would be the first Captain America movie, directed by the same guy. I wish, something like Sky Captain would be made with the look and budget of Captain America.
“Unknown actors are transportative.” LOVE that quote. Great video as always.
This is simply one of the most underrated films in history. I hope this will become a cult classic.
I remember seeing this as a kid with my dad. Every time he said the name of the movie, he would do it with the bravado of a radio announcer of the 1930s. This movie was just fun. Not groundbreaking, but a good ride. Like Rocketeer.
Saw this in theaters with my dad. I adored it then and i still do. Such a beautiful love letter to old time Hollywood. I remember seeing the trailers and was DETERMINED to see it. My dad didn't want to go, but i dragged him anyways. What a blast.
Did your dad enjoy it?
I was working at one of the very best video store in the SF bay area when this was released on DVD. It is still one of my favorite films of all time. It's a love affair. I would love have seen more because this movie could have easily spawned a dozen sequels with just a little luck. Excellent review sir!
I was working at the IMAX theatre when this came out. I must’ve watched it a dozen times in theatres. Loved the style and wish we had more Sky Captain sequels and spin-offs of Polly Perkins and Commodore Franky Cook
Was it the one in the inner sunset? I loved that place. I might have even bought my copy there. Lols
I got this at a Goodwill sale for $1.29. I’m gonna check it out soon. I’ve never seen it before.
It pains me, the way the public ignored this (to me) almost perfect film. Like “The Rocketeer”, I was transported to another time, experiencing the wonder & the magic of glorious Hollywood filmmaking. I’ve always adored “Sky Captain” and even shared it with others who missed it in its original showing. Should’ve been considered a classic...at least to this moviegoer.
Thanks for your informative video!
You can add The Shadow to that list as well.
I saw this in the theater for my 14th birthday and it blew me away. I had not seen a single trailer. Came in blind and left in a daze. It was the perfect movie for 14-year-old, the way The Phantom Menace was a perfect movie for an 8-year-old. I credit Sky Captain with getting me into making my own movies, and I work with VFX today, 16 years later.
Sky Captain is the movie that made me want to go to film school. It is my favorite film of all time.
Everyone has those movies you watched as a kid with your family that have a special place in your heart. Sky captain was one of those, my dad was a fan of the film so we watched fit often. I don’t remember much about the film nowadays but I remember it just being a plain fun movie. Sad that the movie flopped so hard
I have it on dvd
Thanks for the lovely review. I am behind you 100% I own a blueray of this movie and the making-of docus reveal how much
blood, sweat and tears went into this. It doesn't take much reading between the lines to realize how difficult it was to go from dream to feature. It was almost a cautionary tale for would-be movie moguls. Bless all their hearts. Yes. let these guys have another shot at independent perfection.
This is one of my all time favorite films. I cannot fathom why this is not a more appreciated movie. I think one reason is the trailer, which was written by marketing idiots, not artists.
Sky Captain is awesome.
Only movie my dad took me to, with my sister, we never spent time as a family, EVER. She's dead now and my relationship with him is not great.. but this movie makes my heart feel a little softer, and hurt a little less. I really can't tell you how much I appreciate you being kind to it.
_Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow_ is a fantastic film, truly. That it wasn't a huge success at the box office is evidence of something wrong with the external context, not the movie itself. Conran should be superbly proud of his achievement.
Kerry Conran needs to direct a Superman Movie.
Wait people hate this movie? I mean I can understand being forgotten but hated? This movie changed my perspective on cinema, it made me want to create stories and be as passionate about movies as a critic with high art. It's a deeply important film to me
This review is a stark example of what's wrong with TH-cam. This is insightful, informative, well-produced and well hosted... and has an important message about the significant contributions to film-making made by this movie. Yet it has only 2,388 views 8 months after being posted. Pinkfong's "Baby Shark Dance" has 7.5 Billion views. Civilization is doomed.
I am the spark that will ignite the imagination of the world. The old world will perish and my new world will be born.
it's the "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" of youtube channels, I'm so glad I found it recently! I bet he'll gain some traction soon though for the very reasons you mentioned, these reviews are incredibly enjoyable!
One of favorite movies of all time. I hope he makes another movie.
For me, Sky Captain and Beowulf have been forgotten or even dismiss, but came out at a real exciting time when it seemed like everyone was experimenting with how new tech could be used to make new movies based on old-style stories. Also, check out the game Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge which has the same pulpy adventurous vibe.
Beowul was pretty irritating for the first 15 minutes, when you get used to it, it was pretty cool
I so appreciate the commentary on this film. It was one of the weirdly amazing yet forgotten films of the 2000's.
My eyes opened wide when I saw Flying Tiger planes in the trailers. It was in my eyes like a war movie set in a Metropolis from another dimension. It was a mixed metaphor wish list of the way things could be on screen for certain imaginative "nerds" that feel trapped in our own dimension. Another person wrote "nerds" here before me and I get their point. I understood what the different elements in the film were alluding to. It came out of left field and for that reason I highly respected it. True creativity rarely has mass appeal and it does not have to be "complex". Too bad. I loved the movie. That said I don't agree with some of your "film studies" analysis. I don't think you should apologize for it either. Some of the reasons I enjoyed the movie is because I read a lot about WW II when I was in Elementary. This movie has a fun "intellectual" appeal to people who know why the director added certain elements and put them together. It makes sense if you know what to look at and focus your imagination on, so you may almost enter the Sky Captain universe. It's the most intellectual anti-intellectual thing I've ever seen. I never knew it was groundbreaking in terms of technology etc. I'm glad I know it now. Thanks for the video.
One of my top favorite movies. I'm a sucker for pulp adventure and sci-fi and Sky Captain delivered it to me in spades. Just so fun, innocent, imaginative, and adventurous. Its worldbuilding is absolutely amazing and so gorgeous, and it has made me want to make a movie set in that kind of world and style as well. I love the behind the scenes making of it as well, covering the fun and craziness of it all and I really related to Kerry Conran because of it. I hope he gets to make another movie soon (I would have loved to see his version of John Carter of Mars as well!)
I am of an age that I can remember watching the "Buck Rogers" serials on TV. They were produced staring Buster Crabbe in 1939 and were produced on a real shoestring budget. Watching them in the early 1950' s I was aware that the seemed more like kids playing than movies made by adults. (Sparklers stuck to the tails of the rocket model was a special effect.) They had a pipe organ musical score that was super creepy. It was years before I realized how the score was performed. "Sky Captain" shares some of the same artistic DNA.
You mentioned the pipe organ playing, and this connected me to a memory. I was living in Los Angeles in the 90s, and my parents came out for a visit. One of the touristy things we did was to see a movie in Hollywood, “Pocahontas” at the grand, then-newly restored El Capitan Theatre. Being an old theatre built in the 20s, they set the mood by playing organ music between showings. My parents walked in, the stage aglow, the historic movie palace enveloping us, and organ music filling our ears... My mom began to cry. She was seemingly transported back to her childhood. It was magic for her, and I felt privileged to be a part of her experience.
I love this movie. The opening scene is iconic and it fuels all my childhood fantasies.
Sky Captain is one of my favorite films. I know it's not perfect, but for me it means a lot. It was pivotal to how I tell stories, and how I look at imagination. You were spot on when you explore the idea that the film just exudes joy, because it was never intended to be anything else. It was intended to be an escape from reality, and a look deep into our imaginations. It deserved better than it got. I agree with you as well that it never should have been shot in sepia tones. It was built for black and white, and a film grain (while not something I'd ever thought of before) would have done wonders for this film.
Thank you for your take on this underappreciated gem.
I honestly love this forgotten Badass movie! No idea why people would so often dismiss a movie just because it was made for pure entertainment value and didn't made them cry, or think about the meaning of life a single time in its runtime. It's still a ton of fun for any age. I don't remember starting to hate fun just because I've grown older.
Saw this in the when it came out. Went to a matinee at a mall multiplex on a weekday. I was THE only one in the theater. Still enjoyed it that day! Found and watched this video after watching the film again twenty years later. Thanks for defending this film. It deserves it, and it deserves another view.
Sky Captain is the ultimate "Dieselpunk" movie. A lesson in retrofuturism that should be tought in film schools. But I disagree with the statement, that it should have been done in black & white. The true art of this movie is to make it see the viewer through the eyes of a person from the '30s, looking at a visualization of the future. B & w would have left the viewer a today's person, looking at a nostalgic idea of the future.
And now here's an idea to get Mr. Conran back on the screen: I'd like to team him up with Kenneth Branagh. Combining the strengths of these two could make amazing visions come true.
I watched Sky Captain as an intenet stream on my computer. I now must see it on the large screen in the living room. The look of this film is incredible.
SCATWOT is a GREAT movie ! I love it. There's just two statements that are wrong ; one - the first film to use multiple FX companies is "Honey I shrunk the kids", two - the trend of virtual set films was already at hand but granted SC uses it the most. I would have love to see Kerry Conran's A Princess of Mars (though I love Andrew Stanton's version). Great vid. It's great to finally make justice to this masterpiece (hey I can say that since it's the only feature film he made).
I remebered watching this movie as a kid with my dad. Absolutely fasinated me by how the filming was done as a kid I didnt know about 'green screen'. As I got older, I saw this movie and rewatched and was taken back into my childhood days. Although certain aspects such as Paltrow's reactions stood out more, I found the effects and storytelling to be as captivating as I had remembered. The simple storyline made it easy to follow. I was heartbroken to have found that the movie flopped but was glad to know that there are communities out there that cherish the movie as a cult classic.
IT TOOK ME FOREVER TO REMEMBER THE NAME OF THIS FILM FOR THE LONGEST TIME!!! I remembered watching it as a kid and I was addicted to it, and I remembered specific parts of it, but the name faded from my memory as I got older. Definitely hasn’t aged well, but I love some of the ideas in the film! Great video!
I happen to think that it aged perfectly. It doesn't need perfect CGI, on the contrary - what it achieved, visually, was exactly what it was meant to achieve, imbuing the film with a dreamlike and timeless quality.
I fell in love with this movie from the get go. It took me back to my childhood when Brazilian local TV channels showed old 30s and 40s movie serials to fill the afternoons. I have a dvd copy that has worse quality than a file I downloaded years before. As I was watching this review, I had an idea: what if I watched it in black & white instead? I love the performances of Jude Law, Angelina Jolie and I have to point out that Gwineth Paltron's performance is spot on as an intrepid New York reporter of the 30s and 40s movies. Gotta watch it again. Thanks for this review.
I love Sky Captain, it was a fun watch for my father and I, who are into classic movies and science fiction. The film is so damn charming, and inspired me to get into CG artistry.
I’ve always loved this films and felt weird that nobody else does. Thank you for putting things in perspective 🤘🏽✨🎬
I must see this one again.
I love it. It's a fixture in my top 24 sci fi DVD's
A great take on a lovely movie. I'm a very forgiving person when it comes to movies. I always like to take some kind of joy from whatever is on offer. Being someone who loves Art Deco, Sky Captain immersed me into the genre and your comment regarding the colour rendering although is quite valid, the sepia print look sets me solidly in Art Deco land. For those of us who watched Fred Astaire dance across the screen it was people like me who loved the Art Deco sets in the background. Keep up the good work.
black and white Sky Captain looks awesome, would love to see the whole movie like that! I just saw the movie for the first time. Lately I've also been watching lots of movies around that time, mainly Film Noir. I love these high contrast film aesthetics and noticed that Sky Captain really succeeded in creating this lighting style! I also love future from the past movies and wished there were more of them. unfortunately, it seems like big budgets tend to be necessary to achieve and making a good and successful movie in that type seems quite difficult ...
I agree, the movie looks truly unique and that genre has never really been repeated in movies since.
Remember seeing this in theaters in the early 2000s. I distinctly remember the audience reaction to the ending “Lens Cap” line and young me having to have the joke explained to me
Great review! My daughters and I loved this on DVD, and watched it innumerable times. Thank you!
fantastic review. These films do not deserve to be forgotten and are always packed with entertainment. At the end of the day it is not the harsh critics that decide what a good film is. It is what you make of it. I also agree, give Conran another chance!
I saw this movie when it came out in the theater. I was a huge fan of the Crimson Skies games and this really reminded me of it. I love this movie
I love this movie! it's such a loveletter to old movies~ I love how the aesthetic of the robots gets smoother and smoother every time we see a new form of them! All culminating in that PERFECT rocket ship! *chef's kiss* It's just fantastic!
Thank you so much for this!!
You are spot on! Kerry does deserve a crack at a major feature.
All of us in the industry today owe him and his brother a debt of gratitude ♥♥♥
You had me at Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow was a good movie (was this in dispute?).
Also it's my belief that black and white is the best way to watch it. Makes the inconsistent lighting due to the green screen more natural looking. Lowering saturation in settings should do the trick on most playback devices.
This is perhaps the best movie review on youtube. Ive never even seen it, wasnt interested in seeing it when it was released, but you just inspired me to buy it. You just gave me a perspective on a movie that nobody watches or talks about, gave a great argument that reminds me that theres a difference between a great film and great filmmaking, and all without an endorsement from Criterion. You have my respect!
great insightful take on a "forgotten" film
It looks so much better in black and white, I really didn't like the excessive bloom in every shot, watching these clips now makes me think of mid-2000's video games with way too much bloom smeared all over the screen (and even when I watched it in theaters as a kid it looked weird to me). In black and white the effect fits perfectly though, it ends up emulating the look of a lot of old black and white films very well. It just doesn't work very well with the sepia tone they went with imo. I probably would have liked it a lot more if they had gone that route. Might rewatch it through VLC media player at some point so I can mess around with the picture and see if I enjoy it more than I did as a kid.
There are not enough movies and series like that.
I remember watching it as a kid, and while it is so bizarre in the way it looks, especially today, I do appreciate its creativity and its passion as well as its love of early aviation.
Thank you sir for highlighting a lost piece of VFX history. I am proud to have the Director of Photography for this movie, Eric Adkins, as my first cousin once removed. So you can say I'm forever connected to this movie. Granted, I have also a semi-famous voice actor as my grandfather as well in my bloodline, but it's grand to see the other side of my family getting some love for once.
Go on, who's the voice actor
I gave this a miss when it came out, due to the lacklustre reviews. Finally got around to watching it last night and *loved* it. Unique and great fun.
I love this movie. Just pre-ordered the art book.
I fell in love with this film almost immediately. From the opening minutes of this film it is completely clear that it is a valentine to all the old serials you spoke of that we watched for the pure fun of it. I saw it well downstream from its theatrical release unfounded purely by accident while searching for something to watch. I do not entirely understand why it was not the big hit and why it was not an instant classic.
As just one example of the kind of thing I love about this film, I always describe the scene the first scene of Sky Captain Landing his airplane back at his base. It looks like a toy airplane being lowered on a stick or wires but lowered slowly so that it resembles a full size aircraft's landing. You have to keep two things in mind at the same time to enjoy that shot fully. You have to remember that those 30s and 40s films looked like that, necause they were using models on sticks and wires, and not just the serials. You also have to consider that, being digital, it could have been made to look however they pleased. They chose, in this magnificent Valentine to those movies, to make ot look exactly like those old effects. They had in mind to send a love letter to those films, and they succeeded brilliantly.
Thanks for all the technical details and for u derstanding so well and saying so clearly what Conren accomplished. I'm ready to see it again right now.
Such a amazing picture 👍☝️
This movie's first scene made my jaw drop. It was like my imagination came to life. Love it. Who cares about the story. Feed your eyes.
This movie was spot on, on every point... The secret to enjoying a movie like this is to immerse yourself into what is happening and become part of it!
Sepia Tone was an extra touch
One touching scene was seeing a reflection of Sky Captain's plane in the water..
Please don't spoil it for those who have not seen the movie yet...
That's nuts, I cant believe this no name director got this much money, freedom, AND top tier actors. Lol. Movie is dope.
Nice video! I appreciate your very knowledgeable take, and for being real about the movie's successes and failures. Very interesting.
To me Sky Captain is as interesting and entertaining as a movie as is the story of it's production. Much like Citizen Kane, a low budget + true passion and ambition for a project led to coming up with innovative techniques that are still impressive to me. I really love it's simple but totally fun story. It seems like everything they wanted it to be, minus the wide acceptance. Oh well!
I saw this as a kid in theaters with my dad. I came home and pretended to be Skycaptain for the rest of the afternoon. Say whatever you want, it captured my imagination.
LOVE this movie in every way.
I wish a sci-fi would emulate this movie in style and tone every 6-12 months.
This movie remains in my top 40 revisits.
I remember seeing trailers and posters for this film in theaters as a kid. I wanted to see it but never did, since that day I never heard anything else about it. No retrospectives, no reviews, nothing. I don’t imagine it being a good film, but it doesn’t deserve to fall into obscurity!
It is, in fact, a good film with a lot of objective qualities going for it, but can be a GREAT film if one happens to be in synth with what it was aiming to achieve. The fact that it failed commercially and subsequently vanished from the general public's awareness means nothing from an artistic perspective. Quality and commercial success aren't always synonymous concepts, unfortunately.
It is actually a really good film, I promise you.
Incredibly well articulated. Definitely going to subscribe and comb through your content.
Happy 20th Anniversary Sky Captain!
I got this on dvd basted on the cover art. I never even heard of it. Love it everytime I watch it. But tbh nobody I’ve turnd on to it dug it as much as me. I agree, give these guys another shot =] 🌊🏄♂️🛸
My daughter took me to this, and I loved it then, and love it now. Kerry Conran needs to make another film.
Great video. I have fond memories of watching this film as a kid. So glad I found your channel
Some films weren't made to earn money they were made to inspire the creation of something else.
I watched it once on TV when I was probably 4 or 5 years old. And hasn't been able to forget it ever since.
I saw it in the theater and remember it well. It's a movie I saw as an adult, but feels remember it as if I saw in the 1980's along with those other childhood films.
I just found my copy of this movie, im debating on when to watch it again, its been a while since I've seen this movie.
Are there any more diesel-punk movies like that one?
I fell in love with this movie from the get go. It transported me back to my childhood when Brazilian local TV channels showed old movie serials to fill the afternoons. I have a dvd that has a worse quality than a file I downloaded years before. As I was watching this review, it occured to me that I should watch it in black and white just before you mentioned it and demonstrated how much better it looks. I love Jude Law's and Angelina Jolie's performances and I have to point out that Gwyneth Paltrow is spot on as an New York's intrepid female reporter of the 30s and 40s movies. I even have a very similar model camera. She has carries an Argus C3 camera (slightly modified in the movie to accomodate a counter). Mine is an Argus C2. Thanks for this review. I'm getting a blu ray disc, definitely!
Loved this movie.
Sky captain is one of my fav movies!
The main source of my disappointment was that there wasn't nearly enough dogfighting for a movie called "Sky Captain".
Sky captain is the closest thing we can get a perfect pulp hero movie like Doc Savage, the shadow, the phantom, captain Midnight. Shame
I wore out the DVD so much as a child that it stopped working. As an adult I still love and enjoy watching this film. Kerry Conrad doesn't deserve the hate he got for this film.
Thank you for this extended look at a movie that was so far ahead of its time in how it made us of so many elements of indie film making. I love this movie, as well. We are reaching a point where non-Hollywood films will give Tinseltown a run for its money, as creative AI and the tools become available to smaller studios. I hate to see a creative resigned to lesser roles, when he obviously still has so much to offer in storytelling...
i'm so glad that I grew up with this movie
One of my favourite movies!
it's a film people call shit because the plot is nonexistant and the CGI is shitty.
you can criticize the plot because it does seem to jump around a bit but it's still followable. i'd reason it as it follows the main plot but with sidequests here and there that add flavor but apparently people didn't like it. but the CGI? WHAT? no that's one of the best parts of the film. it's beautiful with great world building with the grey extensive cities like the old films where color was barely a thing in films to lavish and vibrant wilds. personally the coloring feels perfect for me. it's it's own thing like the rest of the movie. it feels off but strangely fitting.
I genuinely don't understand how something as unique and cool as this movie became so quickly forgotten. Misunderstood by modern audiences and criminally underrated imo. Time for the Internet to give this film a second life!
Thank You ! We need this review!
“The Oppenheimer of the film word and he is treated like he is radioactive”. Great line! (And only made better after the 2023 movie). Your writing is awesome!
This is great research man, keep putting them out I'll keep watching !
I love this movie so much
This is one of the best reviews, on any movie, I've seen.
Thank you for this one, you earned subscription fair and square.
Just a week ago I was this came on while I was with my grandpa and I thought it was amazing.
I just loved the unique style it went for.
I still remember buying this movie on DVD. It was an ex-rental, cost $2.50, and didn't work. Skipped so much that the DVD player would just reject it completely.
The rental store just swapped it out with the rental copy they had left and said "No one rents this anyway"
Like my friend once said...
"Every Citizen Kane needs a Ghostbusters."
Thank you for the review! I saw the trailer as I was looking for dieselpunk related materials, and was wondering if it is really worth viewing. You convinced me, I feel that this movie won't be dissapointing for me : )
I have to say, I completely agree with everything you say here.
I remember watching us when it came out on DVD it was a really great film
I was hoping for more movies like this.
Fantastic analysis!