Wow. I read a good deal before going to see Sky Captain and what I read was uncharacteristically unanimous: hell of a spectacle, no plot to speak of. I think the critics were unanimously wrong. What Kerry Conran did here was make a 1930s film using 2004 technology. Go, look at some old Flash Gordon serials or any Errol Flynn film and you’ll see the same throwaway lines, the same stilted delivery, the same lack of modern snarky, cynical, garbage spewing dialogue.
Sky Captain is a film out of time, a computerized carbon copy from the age when “Gee Whiz!” was a strong oath.