To The Air!
Main Cast: Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie, Giovanni Ribisi
Director: Kerry Conran
Cast in the heady faux-era between the wars, this blend of noir and sci-fi packs a powerful punch that successfully brings home the gold.
The movie begins with the Hindenburg 3 docking in New York City. A scientist, clearly frightened and wary of strangers, passes on a suitcase to be delivered to a friend. Later newspaper accounts tell of his death, and that suitcase is the starting off point for an action-packed thrill ride complete with aerial battles between planes and robots, genetic research and the quest for the perfect world, cliff-hanging fights over yawning chasms, nick-of-time saves from explosions, and the introduction of two beautiful but completely different women for the hero.
Our hero is the Sky Captain himself, Joe Sullivan (Law). A strong, intelligent, firm-jawed and clear-eyed fighter, he is accompanied by Polly Perkins (Paltrow), a newspaper reporter who was the first to piece together the scientists and the suitcase and draws our hero in. Naturally they have a past and things to work out. And during the adventure, when the chips are down, Sullivan’s old pal Frankie (Jolie) comes through, a fighter pilot herself who is tough and commanding and, perhaps, Sullivan’s equal.
I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. Exciting and fun, it knew the genre of the sci-fi comics and stories of the 1940s and stuck with it. Soft focus, costumes, equipment. the whole feel was dead on and perfect for the simple yet engaging story. This is a definite must-see and I think, and hope, you’ll get as much of a kick out of it as I did.
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