"Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow"

Title: "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow"
Director: Kerry Conran
Producers: J. Avnet, S. Frost, J. Law, and M. Oglesby
Editing: Sabrina Plisco
Composer: Edward Shearmur
Starring:
- Jude Law as Harry Joseph "Joe" Sullivan or Sky Captain of the Flying Legion
- Gwyneth Paltrow as Polly Perkins
- Angelina Jolie as Commander Francesca "Franky" Cook
- Giovanni Ribisi as Dexter "Dex" Dearborn

Plot and Critical Review: The film opens in 1939. A frightened scientist named Dr. Jorge Vargas arrives in New York City and makes arrangements for a package containing two vials to be delivered to Dr. Walter Jennings. Polly Perkins, a newspaper reporter for The Chronicle, is looking into the mysterious disappearances of Vargas and five other scientists. She receives a message telling her to go to Radio City Music Hall that night. She goes and meets Dr. Jennings during a showing of "The Wizard of Oz". He tells her that Dr. Totenkopf is coming for him.

Air raid sirens are head in the distance, heralding the arrival of numerous towering robots that prove unstoppable. In desperation, the police call for "Sky Captain" Joe Sullivan, who commands a private air force; the Flying Legion. While Polly photographs the action from the street, Sullivan knocks out one of the robots and the rest leave. The wreckage of the robot is taken back to the Legion's air base so that Dex Dearborn (Joe's mechanic) can examine it. Polly follows, hoping to get information for her story. Joe and Polly are ex-lovers, having been separated for three years. Since Polly has some useful information, Joe agrees to let her in on the investigation.
Her information takes them to the laboratory of Dr. Jennings, where they find the scientist near death. The killer, a mysterious woman, escapes just as they arrive. Jennings gives Polly two vials, which he says are crucial to Dr. Totenkopf's plans. Polly withholds this information from Joe. They return to Joe's base which is attacked by squadrons of ornithopter drones. In the ensuing battle, Dex manages to track the signal that is controlling the robots, but is captured. However, he leaves behind a map marking the location of Totenkopf's base. Joe and Polly find it and head to Nepal.

Venturing into the Himalayas, they discover an abandoned mining outpost. Two of their guides turn out to be working for Totenkopf, forcing Polly to turn over the vials before locking Joe and Polly in a room full of explosives. Joe and Polly escape but are knocked unconscious by the explosion. They wake up 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 the slaves were killed by the radiation, but the final survivor provides another clue to where Totenkopf is hiding. This leads them to rendezvous with another one of Joe's ex-lovers, Commander "Franky Cook", who commands a flying aircraft carrier with amphibious submarine aircraft. "Franky" helps get Joe and Polly to the island where Totenkopf is hiding.

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 large silo where robots are seen loading animals and the contents of the mysterious vials onto a large "Noah's Ark" rocket.

Joe and Polly are nearly killed, but Dex 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". The vials are revealed to be genetic material for a new Adam and Eve. The group makes its way to Totenkopf's booby-trapped lair, where a holographic image of Totenkopf appears and speaks to them. After Dex disables the defense systems, the group enters the lair only to discover that Totenkopf has been dead for two decades; his machines have carried on his work.

The only way to sabotage the rocket is from the inside. Polly tries to tag along, but Joe knocks her out. 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 board the rocket just before it launches. Before it reaches an altitude of 100 km, Polly pushes an emergency release button that ejects all the animals in escape pods. Joe tries to disable the rocket only to be interrupted by the revived female robot. He jolts her with her own electric weapon and then uses it on the controls, disabling the rocket before its boosters ignite and incinerate the Earth's atmosphere. Joe and Polly use an escape pod to save themselves after successfully sabotaging the rocket, causing it to explode. They land in the ocean below and watch as hundreds of pods carrying animals float down and land around them. Polly uses the last shot on her camera to take a picture of Joe. Joe is touched, but sadly tells her that the lens cap was still on the camera.

"Sky Captain..." received generally favorable reviews from critics, even though it failed to make enough money to cover its $70 million budget. In the end it cleared $57 million at the box office, making up another $3-$4.5 in DVD sales. While it didn't reach the financial success many were hoping for, this film stands as an important milestone in the development of cinematic digital technology. "Sky Captain..." was one of the first films to be filmed against bluescreen. Only one brief scene was shot on a physical set due to time constraints. Thus, the only physical objects on screen at any one time are the actors and the props they interacted with. Otherwise, everything seen by the viewer is generated by computer graphic artists. Even though it's become common for directors that make use of extensive bluescreen shooting, few films can attest to as many bluescreen shots as "Sky Captain..." (2,000) or to a filming schedule as rapid as what Conran was able to achieve (29 days for all principal photography). While it didn't perform as well as expected, "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" has climbed into cult status and will remain a key piece of the "pulp-adventure" genre.

My Rating: 6.5/10

Content to Caution:
V-3 - Multiple instances of comic-like action and violence, including dog fights, fist fights, robot warfare, and robotic combat.
L-2 - Mild cursing.
DU-1 - No comment.
RT-0 - No comment.
H/S-1 - No comment.
CH-1 - No comment.
S/N-0 - No comment.

The "Reel Revelation": "Braving The New Frontier"

Have you ever studied the lives of the men and women who pioneered the western and northwestern territories of the United States in the late 18th century? To know even a base amount of information about these people is to know about an extraordinary group of Americans who took on the incredible task of exploring, charting, and settling a wild and unknown part of the continent. Their bravery has not been forgotten. Plaques, statues, and monuments can still be seen at noteworthy sites all over this country. Here's a stanza from "Landing of the Pioneers", a poem commemorating the arrival of the pioneers at the mouth of the Muskingum River in Ohio in April of 1788:

"But like a band of brothers then
Our worthy Fathers stood,
And met with firm and cheerful front
The dangers of the wood;
E’en woman’s heart grew bold and strong
Amid the toil and fear,
And with unshrinking heart and hand
Gave comfort, aid, and cheer.
Sweet were the social joys of life-
Few others did they know-
When first they came as Pioneers,
Just sixty years ago!" (Frances Dana Gage - circa 1848)

What a magnificent insight into the lives these folks must have lived! I find a special joy in learning about the earliest days of pioneering and westward expansion as our world seems to be all but explored. Few are the places in the world that the race of men haven't visited, colonized, photographed, filmed, or industrialized.

Even in our own lives we are "pioneering" a sort of country that is yet undiscovered, for we do not know what is ahead of us, not even what will happen in the next moment. That should give us all the more reason to go forward with God, and to go forward with God for the sake of those who don't know how to explore the wide and treacherous territories of humanity. Will you venture into this new frontier and be a pioneer for Christ?

Have you ever heard someone (or yourself) say, "I just feel lost!" Sometimes that expression is more literal than we notice; sometimes people do actually get truly lost in their thoughts, feelings, and surroundings, both physical and interpersonal. To be a pioneer for Christ is to trust that God will lead us through (not necessarily around) this uncharted territory, and help us to help those who feel "lost". To pioneer well the vast territories laid before us, let us call on God and ask Him to grant us courage; the sort of courage our ancestors had as they crossed the wildernesses of the North American continent. Read again the words of the poem I posted above. Notice how it describes the courage of the pioneers:

"But like a band of brothers then
Our worthy Fathers stood,
And met with firm and cheerful front
The dangers of the wood;
E’en woman’s heart grew bold and strong
Amid the toil and fear,
And with unshrinking heart and hand
Gave comfort, aid, and cheer."

But pioneering isn't just a matter of exploring, charting, and discovering. Those are important elements of the task, but pioneers are also charged with carrying messages into unknown lands. Here's what Thomas Jefferson wrote to Meriwether Lewis concerning his conduct when encountering natives during his exploration of the Northwest Territory:

"In all your intercourse with the natives, treat them in the most friendly & conciliatory manner which their own conduct will admit; allay all jealousies as to the object of your journey, satisfy them of it's innocence, make them acquainted with the position, extent character, peaceable & commercial dispositions of the US. of our wish to be neighborly, friendly, & useful to them, & of our dispositions to a commercial intercourse with them; confer with them on the points most convenient as mutual emporiums, and the articles of most desireable interchange for them & us." (Transcript: Jefferson's Instructions to Meriwether Lewis - June 20th, 1803)

Not only did Lewis & Clark carry the great responsibility of exploring the unknown Northwest Territory, they were also directed to a certain manner of conduct in the event of an encounter with Native Americans, should they meet any along the way. We, too, are made responsible for the way we interact with the "natives" we encounter in the "unknown territory" of life. And because we are sent into the world by God, He expects us to represent Himself as we meet and walk alongside those who are also venturing. If God is our guide, do we show it in the way we walk and talk and live and make our living?

"The Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
He leads me beside quiet waters,
He restores my soul;
He guides me in the paths of righteousness
For His name's sake." (Psalm 23: 1-3)

The country of the human experience is unknown to us, but there is One who has charted it. Jesus, our shepherd, has gone before us and taken the whole of the human experience upon Himself. He has endured the hardships of the flesh and of a confused and frightened society. But through His perfect love He has conquered the fear that would keep us lost in this worldly wilderness. Through His perfect love He has shown us the way, and even though we also might get a little lost ourselves, He has promises to stand beside us as we go and guide us in every moment. That's good news, and good news is always worth sharing, especially with those who need to hear it! Let that be the message we carry into the wilderness; that God is alive and with us, even in the most difficult challenges we face as pioneers of this mortal life.

See you tomorrow - E.T.