I loved Iron Sky 1 for what it was, a good SF B-Movie with some very sarcastic and even intelligent political in-jokes. I would rate the first Iron Sky 6/10, or even 7+/10 within its B-movie genre.
This sequel is a big disappointment, unfortunately (and, to reiterate, I write this as someone who loves B-movies and I even donated some money for this sequel during its crowdfunding phase):
- Weak plot, based on a terrible script. No credible bad guy/gal, "jokes" that simply don't work or are tired (for example: "jailbroken" iPhones in 2019?), coupled with wooden acting. However, I don't think the actors are to blame a lot given the incredibly weak script and thin plot they had to work with.
- The special effects are not much better than in the first movie, where did the budget (around 3X the amount of the first movie, 20+ million versus 7-8 million Euro!) end up? For example, the director asked for extra crowdfunding money for some additional "Vril" kill scenes that add next to nothing in the final version.
- On a personal note (since I helped to crowd-fund the project): Weak communication with the funders and supporters, all credibility is broken or lost, especially concerning the prior promises from director Timo Vuorensola. "Normal" moviegoers got to see the sequel weeks or months in advance - and since the movie leaked out to the usual Internet sites, there was and is no sound logic in NOT providing a digital copy (or at least a stream) to all the backers who funded this movie in good faith many, many years ago.
(Partial reason for all the delays: The movie ended up in development hell because of legal troubles with a few members of the FX team from the first movie concerning intellectual property. I will spare you the boring details. This results in more of the jokes and puns that COULD have worked a few years ago being completely outdated as of 2019.).
Recommendation for a third Iron Sky movie (which is at least hinted at when the credits roll):
Get a better scriptwriter, get a better scriptwriter. Did I mention to get a better scriptwriter? And maybe a new director as well.
Seriously, who thought that this was a good or even average script (even for a B-movie)!? To add insult to injury, they even used crowdfunding for the script. A quote from their IGG page:
"In the first phase, we are looking to raise $150 000. This money will be used to produce a full script for the film..."
A film student could have probably written a much better script for $1500. One percent of their budget. I'm being serious (you will likely agree with me once you watched the dreadful movie).
Update on my original review above: It looks like the Finnish production company behind the IS franchise quietly went bankrupt (no wonder given the box office flop of IS 2), therefore a third movie to end the Iron Sky trilogy on Mars looks very unlikely at the moment. Maybe a new company picks up the rights to the franchise and hires more competent people?
