Iron Sky

I loved all the cgi in this movie. See it on a big screen, it will be worth it. I guess you could compare it to movies such as Starship Troupers (1997) or Mars Attacks (1996). Iron Sky is a great example of what can be achieved with cgi. You may even laugh out loud. You will certainly smile for an hour and a half.

US astronauts disturb a Nazi moonbase, and the Nazis launch an expedition to earth to pick up a computer tablet to power their final invasion using a super-fuel mined from the moon.

Hectic spoof sci-fi that's totally illogical, full of plot holes, and yet turns into a good satire. Effects are done really well, plenty of other movies referred to (including the music), and closest in spirit probably to Flash Gordon from 1980.

It does hurry itself along, so the pace is good but at the expense I think of decent character based gags. The acting was good, particularly the females - the lead was very charming, and the president and her sidekick were mean and brisk.

A final plus is that some US reviewers don't like fun being poked at their awful political system.

Overall not great, but it was refreshing.

This diesel-punk film picks up on a conspiracy theory of Nazi's on the moon.... Yes, that's right! In 1945 Nazi's launched a plan so epic that it takes until 2018 for it to be uncovered. They have a secret moon base on the dark side of the moon, from where they have been mining resource and building an army of flying saucers that could once again pose a threat to humanity on Earth. US astronauts accidentally uncover the base but soon regret it as they find themselves fighting for their life trying to escape, while also fighting for humanity too. The Nazi's are only a few steps away from global domination, but they decide that now is the time to act - a plan is set in motion for officers to get the equipment they need to launch the full scale war on Earth.

This is an absurd B-movie sci-fi film which takes inspiration from lots of 1950's sci-fi films - this is clearly evident with the steam punk look of the Nazi's moon base which is based on 1950's technology. It is filled with plot holes and bad logic, it's wrong on so many levels - but it actually works in its own way. Intentionally camp and cheesy with lots of hammed up but superb acting, with over the top but stylish CGI and effects. This film certainly won't be for everyone, but if you are in that small percentage of film fans that like this kind of cr@p (like me) then you are likely to love this refreshing film which pokes fun at itself, and everything that can be poked.

As I have alluded to, the visuals are great, this was intended to be a visual movie and it delivers on that. Superb green screen work, but to an almost Hollywood level - great effects and CGI. It's interesting to note that this film uses almost double the amount of CGI shots as the first Michael Bay "Transformers" film and almost the same as "Spider Man 3" (this uses over 800 CGI shots), but for a fraction of the cost because it used low budget techniques rather than big studios.

The level of humour in the film is satirical and excellent, yes, it's occasionally slapstick too, but not enough for me to put it in a slapstick movie category. The film doesn't just poke fun at itself but also the modern political systems rife in the western worlds. While there is an obvious pantomime villain in the Nazi's the film does much more than pit good guys against bad guys. It looks at motives, it looks at outcomes, it looks at who the actual bad guys are, and where their decisions can ultimately take humanity. It's almost on a Dr Strangelove level in saying "yes this is who we are, you should fear what we represent, oh but by the way, you are one of us too and you didn't know it". Similarly, in a "1984" way it raises the question of who is pulling the strings, and what are their intentions - should they be listened to?

Timo Vuorensola, the creator of "Star Wreck", has done justice directing this film and presented something epic for budget they had. Produced by Blind Spot Pictures from Finland, they have made a Finnish/ German/ and Australian co-produced film for 7.5 millions euros, but it's worth noting that this is still a fan fueled film. 10-15% of the budget came from the people who go to movies rather than investors. At the time of it's release this was the biggest budget for a Finnish film. The musical score by Slovenian band Laibach fits perfectly with the film, making the whole thing a fantastical concept experience. I'll be honest, this is my first experience of them, but it hopefully won't be my last experience.

In the acting stakes, Julia Dietze and Christopher Kirby steal the show in the film. It has to be said though that Gotz Otto and Udeo Kier are brilliant too and bring a wealth of experience to the acting talent on display.

It would be criminal to compare this to Hollywood blockbusters because that's simply not it was aimed to be - a future cult classic for sure, but definitely a film that will divide opinion. An original film - which in this day and age is something that you will rarely come across. Hilariously offensive, and at only an hour and a half it will leave you wanting more.

8 out of 10.

I saw the Iron Sky recently in a preview screening. And, I quite liked it.

For those that do not know, Iron Sky is a Sci-fi action comedy from a team of Finnish "independent" film makers lead by Timo Vuorensola as the director. Iron Sky tells a story about 'freaking space Nazis from the dark side of the moon coming back to earth'.

For what it is, the movie works fine. It's not a masterpiece of dramatic cinematic flavor on line with Citizen Kane or Pianist with some deep philosophical dialog. No, its more in the line of campy Nazisploitation and over-the top action, as one would come to expect. And as one would expect, the movie is absolutely ridiculous. It has its many fun moments and true laugh out loud scenes, specially made for those viewers who are into internet/computer/pop culture related stuff, which presence makes sense considering the guys who made this film are "self taught" young film makers who basically 'grew up' making movies of their own, and are the children of the Internets.

Iron Sky has a really good cast who deliver consistently strong performance throughout the film. With Udo Kier being my absolute favorite who sadly goes somewhat underused with his too old to care and strictly for business Nazi führer of the moon guy... (Oh well, I still have him as the Yuri in Red Alert 2.) Weirdly, Götz Otto being the go-to baddie of the movie, delivers somewhat dry and unnoteworthy performance. And I think it felt this way was because there was a subtlety in his acting which sadly vanishes under rest of the silliness in the film.

Now as expected from the guys who previously did the Star Wrek comedy films, they made absolutely brilliant CGI effects for Iron Sky. I rarely could tell which stuff were done with practical effects and which were done with CGI, which is a very good thing. There are many moments which I knew were definitely done with computers, but still were a blast to watch. Nothing there is jarring or unnecessary feeling, like in majority of the other CGI motion pictures of today.

Now there are some few shortcomings in the film of course, few minor stuff here and there, but also one bigger aspect that was quite difficult to overlook. And that is that the Iron Sky skips around, a lot. It felt like there were tons of shots missing from between the key scenes. You'll watch the characters do something and have it immediately cut to a later moment in time, or to a completely different scene all together. The movie leaves a lot for the viewers to fill in. That was not too difficult for me one I adjusted. It's a bit distracting, yes. But if you manage to push it past, you'll find interesting plot unfolding. Now while I had no difficulties following the movie, I can also see someone used to the regular Hollywood "tell it to the audience" type movies being lost with this film. While the important scenes needed for the plot are still very much present, the sudden jumps might leave the viewer lagging behind, you might get some whiplashes watching this film.

However, there is a very understandable excuse for that, which the director himself told us in the theater on the Q&A session after the film. And it's that way because they had to cut stuff from the script as they simply had no money to realistically do most of them. Iron Sky had a budget of only of 7 million Euros, which compared to other proper big movies, is nothing. They said that every scene they did had to be done in the way of "we'll shoot this if we get the money to do it". And considering that, it's amazing they managed as much as they did.

Iron Sky is a fun little movie that definitely differs from your average schlock. I'd recommend to watch it, if only for the sake of curiosity. (And ridiculous Nazis.)

And what about the the ending? Who wins? Oh, you'll have to watch the movie to find out. You might get a surprise. It might make you stop and think... I know it made me.

When I decided to watch 'Iron Sky' I expected to be entertained by a tasteless and offensive piece of trash. Instead I was entertained by a reasonably intelligent and well made sci-fi comedy that also works as political satire. Of course the idea of nazis on the moon is bizarre, but all in all I did not feel offended by the film (I will explain in a minute why not).

In 2018, the US return to the moon. There, astronaut James Washington (Christopher Kirby) loses contact with mission control because he is attacked and captured. His attackers are the guards of a moon fortress where the nazis are hiding who escaped the 'downfall' of the Reich in 1945. The nazis discover Washington's mobile and decide they need more of these devices to finally make their ultimate weapon operational - the weapon that will allow them to conquer earth. Accordingly they send an expedition (headed by their presumptive next Führer Klaus Adler, played by Götz Otto) that lands in New York... There are a couple of really good ideas in the film. For example, Adler has no trouble at all taking over the re-election campaign of the president (Stephanie Paul), who is clearly modelled on Sarah Palin. In this respect reality has of course trumped satire. There are also a few nice quotes of earlier films. When Paul as president sees her campaign faltering, she throws a tantrum that reminds you of Hitler's in 'Der Untergang' (Hirschbiegel 2004). Another film quoted is Kubrick's 'Dr Strangelove' (1964). The anti-racist message of the film is nicely packaged and not too obtrusive; it is one of the things that prevents 'Iron Sky' from being offensive. The other is that the film mocks and ridicules the nazis quite effectively. On the downside, most of the acting (except Kirby's and Julia Dietze's, who plays Adler's fiancee) is no more than alright, and the storyline does get pretty convoluted. Still, all in all I was pleasantly surprised.