Rate Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

[TheAuldGrump]

Well, what do you expect if you're gonna hang around B-movies...

Although I really enjoyed both Red Planet and Mission to Mars -- they were like the kind of old-fashioned hard science fiction I used to read a lot of as a kid.

No, no they weren't hard SF. They were soft SF with the trappings of hard SF, but the science was just plain bad...

Contact was hard SF. Moontrap was hard SF (though absolutely horrible...), 2001 and 2010 were both hard SF, they all made an attempt to base themselves on solid science.

The Auld Grump

 

[Desdichado]

No, no they weren't hard SF. They were soft SF with the trappings of hard SF, but the science was just plain bad...

Contact was hard SF. Moontrap was hard SF (though absolutely horrible...), 2001 and 2010 were both hard SF, they all made an attempt to base themselves on solid science.

The science was no worse in the two Mars movies than it was in those other movies that you say are hard SF.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

You want me to start going over the physics and bio with you? Trust me, yes, they were better, even in the case of Moontrap which was otherwise a really bad movie.

Biochem - which direction is the energy flow between converting carbon and oxygen to CO versus the opposite? (Or in other words changing CO2 into oxygen and carbon requires energy, creating CO2 from carbon and oxygen releases (not creates) energy. It is easier to burn than to 'unburn'.)

Noise in space.

The names given the little green hoppy things was not even in the right family.

Where did the mass come from?

This is alll highschool science...

Did you bother watching any of these with an eye to science, or did you just like them all about the same?

The Auld Grump, who wants to be rather snippy about this, but will stop here...

*EDIT* I should mention that it is lack of notice that folks in general have toward basic physics that has me snippy, not any person in particular.

In the movie Contact (and the book as well) there was a distinct ambivelance as to whether what she perceived was what happened. In both Moontrap and the 2001 movies there was no sound in space and in Moontrap the hero used a submachine gun as a reaction drive to push himself back to the ship. (In Mission to Mars the nit wit could have saved himself by throwing something away from the ship pushing him back towards it.)

 

[hero4hire]

I gave it an 8.

The look of the movie was great and they captured the feel of the genre wonderfully.

I was disappointented however by the wooden performances from Law and Paltrow and thier lack of chemistry. (Which suprised me because I consider them fine actors)

 

[Desdichado]

Did you bother watching any of these with an eye to science, or did you just like them all about the same?

I didn't really, no, and it's been a long time since I've seen them. However, some things (noise in space? c'mon) are simply genre conventions that I don't even notice. Moontrap, I haven't seen in like 15 years.

Or in other words changing CO2 into oxygen and carbon requires energy, creating CO2 from carbon and oxygen releases (not creates) energy.

I guess they didn't teach fission in your high school physics then? And no, there is no creation of energy in either case; that's shorthand for releasing energy. I thought that was self-explanatory.

The names given the little green hoppy things was not even in the right family.

What names? What little hoppy green things?

Where did the mass come from?

What mass? Ironically, that's a good question for 2010, which you call a good science hard SF. You do realize that in order to ignite nuclear fusion, a stellar mass needs to be 80 times the mass of Jupiter? I mean, sure, there were all those replicating monoliths, but like you said, where did the mass come from?

In the movie Contact (and the book as well) there was a distinct ambivelance as to whether what she perceived was what happened. In both Moontrap and the 2001 movies there was no sound in space and in Moontrap the hero used a submachine gun as a reaction drive to push himself back to the ship. (In Mission to Mars the nit wit could have saved himself by throwing something away from the ship pushing him back towards it.)

So Contact is good hard SF because it purposefully avoids the science by making you unsure what actually happened? I haven't see the movie, but that's not hard SF. And I'm no firearms engineer, but some basic high school chemistry would tell you that in order to ignite the gunpowder in the shells, you need to be in an environment that features some oxygen. Pretty sure a "hard SF" guy would catch the unrealisticness of firing a submachinegun in a vacuum.

 

[Piratecat]

Kwitcher hijacking of the thread, guys. Thanks.

 

[diaglo]

this movie was sooo baddddd. my wife gave me a get out of free D&D the Movie purgatory.

even she said it was worse than the D&D Movie.

bad ... they should come up with a new word for this movie...

awful

lbadawfulrotten

 

[Wombat]

Okay, I'll give some perspective before I announce my rating.

I have seen, and enjoyed, the old Flash Gordon serials -- very date, very cheesy, but fun.

I truly love old radio serials -- The Shadow, I Love A Mystery, Mercury Theatre of the Air, The Green Hornet, Sherlock Holmes, etc. In many ways, I like my pulps best in radio format.

I enjoyed the remake of The Phantom with Billy Zane -- it was whopping great fun, looked right, but brought slightly modern sensibilities and timing to the genre. There were weak points, I readily admit, but it was fun. On top of this, everyone really got into their characters as written, not trying to make them anything other than they were meant to be.

I couldn't stand The Shadow with Alex Baldwin -- while a lot of the look was right, I felt like everyone had their tongue firmly planted in their cheek and that even by the "logic" of the genre there were loopy bits (such as hiding the building). In the end, I felt the movie made fun of the pulp genre, rather than a tribute to it.

So, with this as background, onto Sky Captain...

The movie looks lovely. I mean gorgeous. I am glad I saw it on a big screen because so many of the effects look best there. The costumes were spectacular, the computer generated images magnificent, and all the rest.

OTOH, I found myself unengaged by the plot. The acting felt as flat as the screen (with the exception of Angelina Jolie, who swaggered magnificently). And while the build-up of the plot was pretty good, the ending fell like a bad souffle.

In the end, I give it a 5, though I edged towards a 6 for the visual.

To reverse the Broadway song, "Looks 10, Dance 3, that ain't it kid, that ain't it kid."

 

[orbitalfreak]

Gave it a 6 myself. A pleasent way to spend $7.50, but not something I'm going to bother renting or purchasing.

The visual effects were superb. They really captured the look they were going for, with the muted colours, the "light band across the eyes" shots, and such. I've not seen much of the old pulp sci-fi, but I am a big fan of the black/white Superman show; constantly reminded of that style of film. I do think the lighting was a bit too dark overall, though. Even though it was period-authentic like, I think they could have brightened it up a bit so that we could see a little bit more.

The acting was a bit flatter than it should have been. It was almost as if the actors were trying to act flat, instead of it just happening. Angelina Jolie was spectacular, definitely my favorite character.

The plot seemed a bit rushed at the end. The vials were what?

Spoiler

Adam and Eve, I heard, but what does that mean in the context of the film? A two sentence sound bite would have sufficed, especially chock-full of technobabble and false science

Did anyone else catch the blatant Star Wars reference? Dr. Jenning's lab was number 1138.

 

[teitan]

I claim ignorance.

I don't know who Flash Gordon is. Buck Rogers I only vaguely remember.

You have got to be pulling our legs! Flash Gordon is an icon of sci-fi adventure and a mainstay of the comic pages for 50+ years. How can you remember Buck Rogers and not Flash Gordon, even with that deliciously hoeky and intentionally bad (I'd like to think so) Topol/Sam Jones/Max Von Sydow movie from 1980 with the Queen soundtrack. I command, no DEMAND, that you go out and ask your local comic shop to gt you some non-DC Flash Gordon comics. Awesome stuff.

Sky Captain was the most fun I had at a movie in a long time. It met and exceeded my expectations and was well worth the 4 bucks admission (and not a matinee). Definite must see.

Jason