Iron Sky
Or as you guys know it as "That film about the Space Nazi's".
I don't think the film has hit the states yet (and if it hasn't, will it ever come over there, the film is pretty...well... you'll find out in the review
) but I'll say it now, if it ever does, no matter how I come across in this review, check it out.
It reminds me of Attack the Block in a way, that I'll say it's pretty underwhelming from what I original expected, but it's got a lot of strengths behind it that you'll not expect.
It's not as strong as that film (and after re-watching Attack the Block, it's certainly a better film, so the same might happen here, although I doubt it), it doesn't look like they didn't have enough budget for it's ambition, the acting isn't top notch, although better than expected. And the plot, while certainly outlandish, still has it's holes that even a film about space Nazi's can't get away with.
But, thinking back to The Expendables 2, this film at least kept me moderately occupied with the ways it headed in, while that film gave me the most run-of-the-mill rubbish I've ever had in a cinema going experience.
The story behind the film is pretty interesting, when you start up the film, you have to sit though close to 1000 production company logos, the reason for this is that a lot of film industries over Europe banded together to produce one big film, the key ones you'll probably be able to work out are Germany, Italy and France along with others that I struggled to get. Anyway they've been working on the film for over 4 years now and upon release they got huge box office returns from their own companies. Here, sadly, the company in charge where a bit worried about the film and where two scared to give it a theatrical release, until demand forced them to give it a limited one day release, and then dumped it onto DVD and Blu-Ray.
I say all this, because A) it's a film that feels like a lot of care and effort put into it. B) it still looks like a slightly above average Sy-Fy channel (and it'll probably debut on there over in the states, so if it does, don't overlook it if you have any interest). C) besides that, it still has a high cinematic look to it through cinematography that makes it a bit of a shame that the company Revolver didn't have any hope of care in this film over here. And lastly D) the films has balls.
And when I say balls, I mean huge brass beastly pair of testicles.
The storyline is that two astronauts are sent to the moon as what seems to be a PR stunt for the new President (who's a spin on Sarah Palin, four years in production, you can expect it to be a little dated) as one of them is revealed to be the first African American on the moon. They both come across a strange base that we know is the Space Nazi camp they set up after World War II, waiting for their chances to bring the war back to Earth. From there on I'd be spoiling some of the most outrageous and politically incorrect stuff you'll see in a film this year, but they play almost every angle they can with Nazi's in modern day to almost culturally uncomfortable levels.
Which is strange when I say, it isn't all that funny, sure it's crazy and daft, and I was smirking at a lot of the joke, but I only laughed out loud once. The only reason behind it is that I guess the film has a very European sense of humour to it. It very harshly attacks America, with the entire second act set there, with the Nazi's meeting some very unlikeable character who enjoy to use the F-bomb a little too frequently
. There's also a riff on the now infamous scene from Downfall that feels a little too out of place on initial viewing (though looking back, I sort of get what it was heading towards). It's not that it's not funny, it's just that the delivery doesn't work as well as it thinks it does.
I was pretty surprised how I got wrapped up into the storyline though. Filled with holes, I gave up on it early, but strangely enough, it keeps pretty consistent at it, and you wind up buying into the whole charade by the end, mainly because (and I know how wrong this is going to sound) the main character and the two Nazi's are pretty likable and/or well developed in their motivations. And the ending is actually pretty clever although very dark and a bit too heavy handed in its delivery.
And this is what I mean about the films balls, through the very outlandish and challenging humour, to it's ending that plays full measures with its social commentary (which is probably the best film I've seen in a while to handle a social commentary), it takes no compromise. For a film that's had so much money thrown at it from so many countries, it's never safe or watered down.
Although, on the matter of fact about the budget, the film features
A LOT of CGI, some of it looks great, but a lot of it is just barely passable. It's definitely doesn't have a big blockbuster budget, and for that it does push you away as it feels very schlocky and cheap, almost like a modern day B-Movie, which one would argue it is. Yet it features that social commentary that escalates it higher than that genre. Regardless, the film is shot in a way that it still feels cinematic, and that some of the space battles, although with the lack of polish, could be lifted straight from here and placed in a Star Wars film (though it would be ideal to leave out the Swastikas).
Last point to make before I conclude, the score isn't very good. With a lot of cartoony uses of Rise of the Valkyries, Flight of the Bumblebees, etc.
It's strange writing reviews, because when you start to break down a film and look at it as a whole from pieces, a film can tend to look way better or way worse than you walked away from it. With Expendables 2, I walked away from that talking with my friends and laughing at the lunacy of that films final 3rd, but when I came home and wrote about it, it began to annoy me how slow, boring and pandering that first hour was with a few exceptions. With Man on a Ledge, I came away from it pretty average, knowing it was lame, but when I wrote the words "He's proving he didn't steal and diamond by stealing the diamond" with the combination of that simply retarded ending, I suddenly got so annoyed at all the time I spent with that film.
But, here, as I was watching this film, I wasn't all that happy. "This isn't all that funny, I'm not really rooting for the people on Earth here, am I supposed to be rooting for the Nazi's?!?". But when I came away from it, calculating everything up, it hit me that the film is genuinely quite smart.
And if all these paragraphs of writing about a film about Space Nazi's doesn't cement my theory of this being the cult hit of 2012, then I don't know what will.
8/10
All countries
Argentina
Austria
Belgium
Brazil
Bulgaria
Chile
China
Colombia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Estonia
Denmark
Finland
Greece
Hong Kong
Hungary
Iceland
Indonesia
Ireland
Israel
India
Latvia
Lithuania
Malaysia
New Zealand
Norway
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Russia
Singapore
South Africa
South Korea
Sweden
Switzerland
Taiwan
Thailand
Turkey
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
Malick's Badlands is infinitely better. The cinematography and the score are truly breathtaking though. And Anna Karina... oh my goodness... she's extremely, extremely gorgeous in this. 
I guess Godard just isn't for me. 
. Looking forward to picking up the Blu when it hits over here in September, hopefully with a better picture transfer
Linear Mode
