Scenery in 'Sky Captain' makes up for tired plot

The monochromatic look makes this an arty serial.
By JOE BALTAKE
SACRAMENTO BEE
The awesomely gorgeous "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" is a matter of style over substance -- but what style! Filmed by debuting director Kerry Conran with the eye of a perfectionist scenic designer, this movie eschews the sense of realism that has overtaken the modern action/adventure genre of late ("Spider-Man 2," for example) to wallow in pure fantasy.
With his first movie, Conran is already something of a Hollywood legend because of the risky, unorthodox manner in which he made "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow." Just about everything on-screen here, except for the actors, isn't real but rather computer-generated, like the Pixar animations. Not only were the effects added in post-production, but also most of the sets and props.
Conran has appropriated ideas from the old Buck Rogers/Commando Cody/Flash Gordon serials and movie classics, giving his comic-book tale a decidedly noir-ish spin. Much of this is accomplished by all those spliced-in and superimposed effects, sets and props that emerge here as a sepia-tinted afterthought. With its dazzling monochromatic look -- brown and white, with only a hint of color -- "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" is an extended serial that's arty in a way that no other serial has ever been.
And if you have any doubts that this is strictly a class act, the A-list cast here -- Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie, Giovanni Ribisi, Michael Gambon and, yes, even the late Laurence Olivier -- should eradicate such misgivings. These performers aren't slumming, but are perfectly in sync with their film's arty pretentions.
Characters
Paltrow plays Polly Perkins, the kind of intrepid female reporter who tended to pop up in serials such as this one -- a homage to Lois Lane of "Superman" fame. Polly is busy working on a story about the disappearance of some of the world's most important scientists, much to the concern of her caring editor at the New York Chronicle (Gambon). She's on the job, doing footwork on Manhattan's teeming streets when the place is overtaken by an army of huge, marauding robotic monsters made of metal and steel. That doesn't stop our Polly, however, from dodging the beasts' heavy, stomping feet, while taking notes and snapping as many pictures as she can.
These early New York scenes have the same grandeur of certain sequences from Fritz Lang's seminal 1927 classic, "Metropolis," which Conran quotes freely.
In pursuit of the gargantuan robots is heroic aviator Joe Sullivan (Law, looking like a young Cary Grant) -- aka Sky Captain -- who also happens to be Polly's ex-beau.
Somehow, those metal behemoths bent on destroying New York are tied into the fate of the lost scientists -- which leads Joe and Polly to the Nepal headquarters of a certain Dr. Totenkopt -- played by Olivier.
'Wizard of Oz'
Well, Olivier doesn't actually play the character, but he's in the film. He's seen in old photographs and, in one novel scene, his talking image flickers on a big screen -- kind of like the iconic Wizard image that Frank Morgan hid behind in "The Wizard of Oz."
Not coincidentally, Conran's story is set in 1939, largely so that the filmmaker can allude to one of that year's biggest movies -- yes, "The Wizard of Oz" -- and include clips from it.
Jolie, wearing an eye patch and sporting a British accent -- again -- figures into the action as Captain Franky Cook, another pilot (and another one of Joe's exes). Ribisi is just puppy-dog enough as Joe's faithful sidekick, Dex, and Bai Ling plays Totenkopt's henchperson.
There's no doubt that Conran's film is an authentic state-of-the-art achievement, but what holds it back from the perfection for which it strives is a certain monotony -- not so much from its familiar storytelling but from those dazzling visuals. Hard to believe, I know, but they're a lot like beautiful scenery, which you can admire for only so long before getting, well, a little bored.
Luckily, Conran and editor Sabrina Plisco keep "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" in constant motion, so that boredom never truly sets in.