Perhaps I'm getting old. I fail to understand some of the marks for this film. 8? 9? 10?
To my jaded eyes, I've rarely left a movie theatre feeling such disappointment.
Like many people anticipating this movie, I saw the trailer and thought it would be an instant classic. Perhaps not among lovers of the mainstream but certainly one of those films you learn to love and love being among a select number of people who've seen it. I thought it might be this year's 'Tucker and Dale vs Evil'.
It wasn't. It wasn't even close to matching that peerless film.
I'll be brief: Iron Sky is a fantastic looking film, wonderfully shot, but bogged down by one of the most woeful scripts I've witnessed in an age. I fail to comprehend how movie makers continue to pump moving into the fabric of a film whilst ignoring the fundamentals of the script. The problem is highlighted by the credits at the end. Two writers of the screenplay, five people in the scriptwriting 'team', an additional credit for the 'dramaturgist, polishing' and two more credits for additional material. The result is a film that lacks a compelling narrative arc. It's very much the sum of its mismatched parts. Some scenes are excellent but others barely hang together and often left me squirming in my seat at the sheer banality of the writing. I felt sorry for the actors who struggled with the material, especially Julia Dietze who was excellent as the nominal heroine, and Götz Otto as the villain. I might make special mention of the soundtrack which was relentless throughout and overwhelmed many of the scenes.
Yet what's most disappointing is that the film sets itself up as a satire on American politics. The choice of making the President a future version of Sarah Palin might have been inspired but it was largely wasted and instead of the film ending as it might have hoped with a statement akin to the close of Strangelove (a film it self-consciously references on a few occasions) the result is closer to those terrible over the top farces of the 1960s where chaos is let loose on the screen leaving the audience bewildered and ultimately bored.
I really hate writing a review like this but I can't recollect the last time I've so been disappointed with a film. I've not seen a film that looks so good with such possibility in such a long time. It's a shame that so much good work is lost because of the lack of a half decent script.
To my jaded eyes, I've rarely left a movie theatre feeling such disappointment.
Like many people anticipating this movie, I saw the trailer and thought it would be an instant classic. Perhaps not among lovers of the mainstream but certainly one of those films you learn to love and love being among a select number of people who've seen it. I thought it might be this year's 'Tucker and Dale vs Evil'.
It wasn't. It wasn't even close to matching that peerless film.
I'll be brief: Iron Sky is a fantastic looking film, wonderfully shot, but bogged down by one of the most woeful scripts I've witnessed in an age. I fail to comprehend how movie makers continue to pump moving into the fabric of a film whilst ignoring the fundamentals of the script. The problem is highlighted by the credits at the end. Two writers of the screenplay, five people in the scriptwriting 'team', an additional credit for the 'dramaturgist, polishing' and two more credits for additional material. The result is a film that lacks a compelling narrative arc. It's very much the sum of its mismatched parts. Some scenes are excellent but others barely hang together and often left me squirming in my seat at the sheer banality of the writing. I felt sorry for the actors who struggled with the material, especially Julia Dietze who was excellent as the nominal heroine, and Götz Otto as the villain. I might make special mention of the soundtrack which was relentless throughout and overwhelmed many of the scenes.
Yet what's most disappointing is that the film sets itself up as a satire on American politics. The choice of making the President a future version of Sarah Palin might have been inspired but it was largely wasted and instead of the film ending as it might have hoped with a statement akin to the close of Strangelove (a film it self-consciously references on a few occasions) the result is closer to those terrible over the top farces of the 1960s where chaos is let loose on the screen leaving the audience bewildered and ultimately bored.
I really hate writing a review like this but I can't recollect the last time I've so been disappointed with a film. I've not seen a film that looks so good with such possibility in such a long time. It's a shame that so much good work is lost because of the lack of a half decent script.