Which begs another question: Since Star Wars already borrowed from those films so heavily, simply replacing the visual elements with unfamiliar "alien" ones (X-Wing for shark-plane, etc), have the makers of Sky Captain, by reinstating the original elements (shark-plane for X-Wing, etc), actually concocted a remake of Star Wars?! Whatever the case, the audacity pays off, mostly because the film is so very sincere. The stock characters, obsessively generic dialogue, and hoary situations are piled on to such an excessive degree that the film somehow attains a cleverness in spite of itself. It helps that the direction and CG effects are as meticulous and fresh as The Matrix was when it came out, and all the actors are clearly having a lot of fun (despite working entirely against blue-screens). Allusions to other movies come fast and furious, with the Star Wars debt most prominent (from the opening shot of a giant ship looming over the screen, to a "cloud city" kind of thing, and even to a Darth Maul-esque villain complete with lightsaber!). The Wizard of Oz is referenced outright early in the film, and reinforced later with a pretty goddamned ingenious interpolation of old Laurence Olivier footage in a very "Emerald City" sort of way. There's more than a scad of Raiders of the Lost Ark in a jungle sequence, some Spider-Man in the "Gotham City" scenes, and even a bit of Lord of the Rings when our heroes stumble into Shangri-La (seriously!). Incredibly, the lush visuals and amazing pace help all of this to work, in some instances even besting the film's inspirations. I don't much care for any of the cast members (Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie, Giovanni Ribisi), but they're all on target throughout, with plenty of chemistry and good humor. Sky Captain never bores, and the only thing working against it is the pure confusion factor inherent in trying to determine what is clever homage and what is just misguided fanboy cheese. The best moment occurs with the film's great final line, which attains a Buckaroo Bonzai wackiness that Sky Captain overall could have used a lot more of. But thefilm is such a stunner for the senses that I must say I'm surprisingly hopeful for a sequel.
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