Iron
Sky
You’ve
seen the poster: “In 1945 the Nazis retreated to the Moon. Now they’re coming back!” You’ve seen the trailers on the
internet featuring jackbooted, space suited Nazis driving motorbikes across the
lunar landscape, 1950s B-movie flying saucers and Albert Speer-inspired moon
bases shaped like swastikas.
You’ve thought: “That looks fun!”
And Iron Sky is fun.
Kinda. Sorta. But not really. At least not as much as you want it to
be.
When
America’s 1st female President (Stephanie Paul), a right-wing, endangered
species killing gun-nut obviously modeled on Sarah Palin, decides to take the
USA back to the Moon she hadn’t reckoned on the planetoid being home to
steampunk Nazis who escaped the Earth at the end of WW2 and have been waiting
for the chance to strike back and invade, establishing a new Reich with
everyone’s favourite boggle-eyed loon Udo Kier as Fuhrer. As Nazi flying saucers level New York and the UN fights back
with a space fleet commanded by ball-busting Aussie spin doctor Peta
Sergeant
(think Malcolm Tucker with nicer breasts), the fate of the world comes to rest
on Christopher Kirby’s model-turned-astronaut (possibly the most annoying ethnic
stereotype since Chris Tucker in The Fifth Element) and Julia Dietze’s sexy ubermädchen.
Iron Sky isn’t
that bad. It’s actually quite good.
In fact, if you only see one film made by a bunch of Finnish sci-fi
geekboys, make it this one. It
looks fantastic. The shoestring
CGI effects are stunning, the moonscapes breathtaking, the climactic space
battle a triumph. The actors are
all obviously having fun and the statuesque Julia Dietze and Peta Sergeant stay
just the right side of OTT though if Christopher Kirby works again as a film
actor I can only assume it’ll be after years of rep.
One question will
bug you throughout the film, however.
You don’t see many Finnish comedies, do you? Iron Sky answers that question. The reason you don’t see many Finnish comedies is Finns just
aren’t funny. The satire on
display in Iron Sky is about as heavy-handed as a jackboot to the balls. While the Sarah Palin jokes are funny,
they’re about four years out of date and Stephanie Paul is no Tina Fey. Kirby’s black hero being dyed white by
the Nazis just seems a little crass and pointless (particularly when there
isn’t even a decent Michael Jackson joke). Dietze and villain Götz
Otto’s earthly sojourn
as trend-setting fashionistas seems to have just staggered pointlessly into the
film to pad out the running time.
Much of the film is given over to “Whoops! There go my lederhosen!” farce that makes your average Carry
On film seem sophisticated. If
you’re making a film where space Nazis dye a black guy white you’re just asking
for trouble by referencing Dr. Strangelove and it’s fight in the War Room. And if you’ve got Udo Kier in your
film, for the love of God use the boggle-eyed loon! Udo is one of those actors, like Christopher Walken or Klaus
Kinski, who just by showing up on set makes a film infinitely more fun. Iron Sky needs more Udo and much less
Christopher Kirby.
A film about
Nazis on the Moon really should be more fun than Iron Sky.
David Watson
Directed
by:
Written
by:
Produced
by:
Starring:
Genres:
Language:
English
Runtime:
1
hour 33 minutes
Certificate:
15
Rating:
3/5
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