Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004)

I tend to always find something interesting in dieselpunk and steampunk movies. There are not too many genre movies which makes every movie special. Every time genre movie is box office bomb next genre movie has harder time to get funding. Genre need a big hit. Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow could have been the hit revitalizing the genre. Instead it was box office bomb.

Making movies is collaborative effort. I don't want to blame failure of a movie for one person but in this case one person was in wrong place. Jude Law was wrong choice for Sky Captain. Sky Captain should have been more like Han Solo and Star-Lord. Jude Law makes Sky Captain too serious and not fun. He appears as jerk each time there is a joke. Jude Law is best when he plays serious or robotic character like in Sherlock Holmes movies or in A.I. His serious style doesn't fit to Sky Captain's role.

Everything works when movie follows Gwyneth Paltrow's Polly. I thought I didn't remember how good the movie was for first half hour. After that Sky Captain becomes male lead and movie turns too serious and action scenes lose all excitement since nothing can hit Sky Captain. More I think what doesn't work in this movie more it seems reason is Jude Law as Sky Captain. Role was not written that serious. Jude Law is one of the producers. Which could be one reason why he was allowed to act the role so seriously.

I liked the style. Style could be one thing carrying the movie for first half hour. After that you might want something else. During first half hour Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow was detective story. Then it changes more into adventure movie with dieselpunk gadgets and it becomes more like action scene after action scene. First action scene told nothing can touch Sky Captain and he appears as jerk in humorous scenes. This makes you wonder why you keep on watching and how far movie can go from good beginning.

Story is nonsensical. It would have been enough with the style if leads had any chemistry between them and male lead didn't felt like total jerk. Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow was written and directed by Kerry Conrad. This is only long movie in his CV which is great shame. Movie had potential. It is style over substance but the style was something I liked. Only great flaw was one casting choice and it has prevented us from seeing more movies from Kerry Conrad. I have nothing against Jude Law. He just was in wrong role in this movie.