New York, circa 1938: The city is repeatedly attacked by giant robots while someone is killing off leading scientists who were involved with a top secret German research program at the end of World War I headed by a mysterious Doctor Totenkopf. And while Sky Captain Joe (Jude Law) - who has a private island complete with landing strips, hangars and a gang of pilots at his disposal - is the only one able to defend the city against the robot attacks, journalist Polly Perkins (Gwyneth Paltrow) is the only one who has at least some clues leading to Totenkopf. And when Joe's inventor friend Dex (Giovanni Ribisi) is abducted by Totenkopf's men, the two of them just have to team up to save him - and probably save the world in the process. Thing is, Joe and Polly are ex-lovers, and now they can't agree on anything much and are bickering pretty much all of the time ...

Eventually, their search takes Joe and Polly to Tibet, where they are almost blown to pieces in an uranium mine, then to a secret island in the middle of the pacific - a trip they are almost unable to finish due to lack of fuel, wasn't it for commander Franky (Angela Jolie in a surprisingly unglamorous role) and her flying platform, who ultimately escorts Joe and Polly to Totenkopf's secret island and saves their lives when they have to fight a robot guard underwater (naturally, Sky Captain's as well as Franky's planes are also submarines).

Once on the island, freeing Dex is not the problem - actually, he turns up quite freed and it's never explained why -, but saving the world is: It seems Totenkopf has built himself an ark to, pretty much like Noah, fly two specimens of every kind of animal to some other planet while blowing up the world as we know it ... and the countdown for the ark is already on. The only man who can save the world now is Totenkopf himself, thing is, he died 20 years ago and since his robots have taken over operations. Now the only way to save the world is from inside of the rocket - which is supposed to take off in a minute and is guarded by a mysteriuos woman robot (Bai Ling) ... and for whoever gets into the rocket to sabotage it, there is no way back - but still, united, Joe and Polly overcome the woman robot, get inside the rocket just in time, jettison all the animals, blow up the rocket and find an escape pod just in time ...

And in the end, not only is the world saved but also Joe and Polly have fallen in love all over again ...

By the way, Totenkopf, who has died 20 years ago, is played in the few snippets in which we see him by Laurence Olivier, an actor who has also been dead for 15 years when this film was made.

If you are a sucker for vintage science fiction and aerial serials from the 1930's and 40's (e.g. King Kong, Ace Drummond, The Adventures of Smilin' Jack, to randomly pick a few) like I am, you will probably like this film for its retro-futuristic looks, its often old-fashioned direction, its over-simplistic story and its attention for detail.

That said, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow is also far from great, first and foremost its once again the over-reliance on CGI-effects that are not really up to the task of bringing the story of the film to life and quite often look so terribly artificial that one can't help but wondering why they didn't use much cheaper miniature effects. Can someone tell these effects-men that the technology, while quite impressive is not up to the task to carry a movie yet, please ? Then there's the overkill of references to above mentioned films and serials of old that pretty much kills off any new idea the film might ahve transported. In my view, hommages are ok, but leave at least some room for originality. And last but not least there's the orchestral score by Ed Shearmur, that not only lacks any new ideas, it also is so underwhelming that it robs many an action scene of its dramatic impact.

All in all, like me you might love the film for its visuals ... but don't expect too much else, ok ?

review � by Mike Haberfelner

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In times of uncertainty of a possible zombie outbreak, a woman has to decide between two men - only one of them's one of the undead.

There's No Such Thing as Zombies
starring
Luana Ribeira, Rudy Barrow and Rami Hilmi
special appearances by
Debra Lamb and Lynn Lowry

directed by
Eddie Bammeke

written by
Michael Haberfelner

produced by
Michael Haberfelner, Luana Ribeira and Eddie Bammeke

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Your Bones to
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