Wetting My Pants Over How Much I Want To Enjoy This

Because of a a connection I made with a 'Cave of Cool' fan in Eastern Europe, I often find myself the beneficiary of first run movies in their pristine digital form. Apparantly the movies fall off the truck on the way to Brad Pitt's villa or something like that. He will never miss them if you all keep my secret.

Today my copy of Iron Sky appeared in my download file and I was eager to sink my afternoon into this one.

Iron Skies, of course, is the long in production tale of Nazis from the Dark Side Of The Moon. It's such a brilliantly high concept that I am praying is beyond 'full retard' in it's execution. As you know, that is my movie making philosophy in a nutshell.

Since I first got online in any serious way, I have heard of this production and seen a few of the digital sequences. Over the years, more and more got added and in 6 year the movie was finally ready for release. This film has mostly Nordic creators and therefor has stayed under the Hollywood radar until recently. It was made for only 7.5 million Euros which is remarkable concidering the quality of the sets and digital effects.

It's a goofy movie that takes broad comedy strikes at everything from stupid American politics, racial stereotypes and misplaced loyalties.

The black astronaut character is all jive talk stereotype that really weaken his character. He needed to be more whip smart scamp like early Eddie Murphy from such films like 'Beverly Hills Cop'.

The female lead looks like she just stuffs out of 'The Sound Of Music' and of course the Nazi girl is immediately fascinated with her new piece of dark chocolate. It would have been fun to see more of this kind of  'jungle love' played for more laughs but their relationship just seems like another 'add-on'.

The relationships between all the main characters have all the subtly of a three stooges movie. I can see how the film aspires to be 'Dr Strangelove' and it does make a few pointed jab at America and it's current political climate. However, all of this is muddled with a story that wants to be too many things. You could cut out five subplots and all the others would be stronger. 

The strenght in the production is that the movie never goes in the direction I expected it too nut it might have been more successful if they hadn't tried so hard to re-invent something that wasn't broken - a good old Nazi space invasion from the dark side of the Moon practically writes itself. The writers here are trying too often to be too cute by half.

The space fighting between junky nazi spaceships and a confederation of more modern earth based ships is fun to watch. Over all the production design and special effects are terrific.

I just wish there would have been a tighter more sarcastic edge to everything that was going on. Why not have the boys from  South Park take a quick run through your script to punch up the jokes?  I wanted more than they gave me and I am pretty sure this time that my opinion is not biased by my unrealistic expectations.

Everything comes together is a very contrived and insane way but maintains its own goofy logic throughout the picture. Each group is insane but have near religious belief in their abilities to triumph.

6/10