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It’s also pretty silly in places. I mean, Polly meets the scientist Dr. Walter Jennings, who explains that he’s the last one that Totenkopf is after. Instead of seeking protection, or going into hiding, he just goes home, where he can easily be found and killed. It’s like a dumb necessity to help move the story forward. It also makes no sense that the whole world is in danger and for some suicidal reason it seems more convenient to just send in one pilot and a reporter. Maybe everyone else has better things to do? Also, at the end of the film it appears that Franky and her men have just been waiting outside the island. Having helped him get there in the first place, couldn’t they have supported Joe instead of just dillydallying around outside? I guess it’s all about keeping with the tone of those classic serials.

While I think it’s a nice touch that we only discover as much about Dr. Totenkopf the same time as the characters do, leaving his intentions and appearance largely absent till the very end of the film makes for an incredibly hollow villain. The surprise of course being that once he is revealed, it just so happens to be the late Laurence Olivier. A lot of emphasis is also placed on two vials that Dr. Totenkopf is after. It’s like half a MacGuffin, for only at the end do we find out that they contain genetically created humans. After that, they’re totally insignificant.

There are two differing reports regarding the production budget. One has the film costing as much as $70 million, which seems unrealistically high for a blue screen production (a digital backlot should have kept costs down). A few reports list a budget at around $40 million, which seems more appropriate. The film opened on September 17th 2004 and managed to win the #1 spot with a low take of $15.5 million. It accumulated $37.76 million at the US box office. An additional $21.19 million overseas helped the film earn $57.9 overall. Reviews were generally good. The critics loved it, maybe because some of them were old enough to remember such TV serials (Roger Ebert awarded the film four stars).

There was talk of turning Sky Captain into a franchise, (supposedly the film was the middle part of a planned trilogy) but the low box office takings meant that it wasn’t to be. For a first time writer/director it was a hell of a way to make your mark. Having shot most of his film before Paramount’s involvement also meant that Conran didn’t suffer any studio interference.

Since its release, Conran has dropped off the radar. He was at one point attached to direct John Carter of Mars, but dropped out. The guy definitely has talent, so it’ll be interesting to see what he does next, if anything at all. As for Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, it’s practically a 1930s movie offering outdated thrills. Given the love for TV serials, it might have worked better as TV series, rather than a compact film.

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