Eye candy

Last night I went to the budget cinema and finally caught up with a film that has long been on my list, the science fiction epic Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. I'm glad I didn't wait for the DVD. The movie is gorgeous, and its computer-generated imagery looked great on the big screen (even at the budget cinema, where someone seems to have thrown food at the big screen).

Set in 1939, Sky Captain is about scary, giant robots that attack New York and other cities around the world. No one can vanquish the robots except Joe "Sky Captain" Sullivan (Jude Law), a mercenary gadget freak who goes everywhere in a beautiful Flying Tiger plane. Sullivan and his old flame, journalist Polly Perkins (Gwyneth Paltrow), fly all over creation looking for whoever is running the machines.

It's a pretty thin plot. Some critics have complained about that, and also about the silly dialogue, but I was so delighted by the sheer spectacle that I hardly noticed.

Writer and director Kerry Conran must, like me, be a transportation buff, because his characters get around in all kinds of interesting ways. The movie opens with the sight of an airship docking at the top of the Empire State Building, and there also is a giant airborne aircraft carrier suspended on propellers (it's commanded by Angelina Jolie, who wears a jaunty eyepatch), as well as planes that fly underwater, not to mention that Flying Tiger.

I love the malevolent robots, which fly like planes (and sometimes like birds) until they land and start killin' people and smashin' stuff. Fabulous.