Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004)

When some eminent scientists start to go missing, journalist “Polly” (Gwyneth Paltrow) finds herself embroiled in a plot that seems to involve some enormous great robots and, of course, the end of the world as we know it. She becomes even more convinced when “Dr. Jennings” (Trevor Baxter) gives her what snippets he knows about the scheme - and that may well centre around the long-absent and enigmatic “Totenkopf”. Pretty much out of her depth, she seeks the help of her ex “Joe” (aka “Sky Captain” - Jude Law) and with the help of his right hand man “Dex” (Giovanni Ribisi) tries to find the source of these increasingly audacious robots - both the walking and the flying kind, and hopefully thwart a master plan about they (and we) know little about. When “Dex” is kidnapped, they have to elicit the help of “Franky” (Angelina Jolie) and her amazing, Union Jack-sporting, airborne warship and soon find themselves deep amidst the snowy Himalayas where they think “Totenkopf” has his lair. Now I did like the look of this film. It reminded me a little of the old “Flash Gordon” escapade-driven serials from the 1930s, filmed in a slightly tinted monochrome with plenty of action and hammy performances augmented stylishly by quite an exciting range of versatile gadgets and whole scale destruction that ensues before denouement delivers it’s admittedly fairly predictable conclusion. It is a bit long and perhaps the less said about some of the dialgue the better, but it’s my kind of boy’s own adventure and I did quite enjoy it.