Studio: Entertainment One and Stealth Media Group
Released: 2012
Rated: R
Genre: Sci-Fi, Black Comedy, Satire
Director: Timo Vuorensola
Starring:
Julia Dietze – Renate Richter
Peta Sergeant – Vivian Wagner
Udo Kier – Wolfgang Kortzfleisch
Götz Otto – Klaus Adler
Stephanie Paul – President of the United States
Christopher Kirby – James Washington
Michael Cullen – Secretary of Defense
When I first heard of Iron Sky I thought it was simply a board game which involved a faction of Nazis escaping to the Moon in 1945 who then return to the Earth, in the twenty-teens, looking to crush all opposition under their lunar dusted boots. We even kidded around about Iron Sky on a few episodes of the podcast as a bit of a running gag along these lines:
Jeff: The Nazis are coming back to the Earth. Why?
Elliott: (In his best German accent) Because the moon SUCKS!
I was moderately stunned to find the game was actually based on a Finnish movie which had been produced on an extremely limited budget – somewhere in the area of $6 million U.S. – and wasn’t simply a standalone board game. Yes, I can be a dope sometimes… I have to say I haven’t heard anything about the game since but I’ve now had the opportunity to see the film.
I believe the most impressive aspects of the film itself are A) it was made in the first place and, B) those six million bones went a long way as the movie has the look of a project with a much bigger budget. While the blue screen and special effects are nearly top notch, the budget constraints do show when it comes to the story, direction, and general tone of the production. Or in other words, the film is a bit of a mash up of satire, social commentary, black comedy, SF actioneer, and what I’ll call “slap-schtick.” This leads to a lot unevenness in the final film which detracts from what could have been a much better movie had the creators had focused more strongly on fewer of these varying styles. Oh, and they should have held onto a few bucks to devote to post-production as well.
For all this inconsistency in tone, the movie is still worth a viewing as there’s no doubt Iron Sky is geared toward a certain audience.
The setup is this: Near the end of the Second World War, Nazi Germany launched a colony of soldiers, scientists, and regular Aryan Hansels and Gretels to the Moon in an attempt to stave off final defeat and continue the dream of a thousand year Reich. Located on the dark side of the Moon, this colony has survived for seventy years slowly plotting a return to Earth but, when a politically motivated U.S. lunar mission arrives, the Nazis crank their plan of attack into high gear well ahead of schedule.
Our cast of characters includes an African American astronaut (Christopher Kirby) completely unqualified for the position outside the fact the President of the U.S. thinks a black guy on the Moon makes for a great photo op in her bid for re-election. There’s a sexy Nazi teacher (Julia Dietze) whose pacifistic streak is in direct opposition to the rulers of the Moon yet has the job of indoctrinating the colony children into the ways of the Reich. We also have the spit and polish Fuhrer-in-Waiting (Gotz Otto) who is thoroughly in the Nazi camp but also happens to be the fiancée of our peace loving teacher. Also on the Moon there’s the mad Nazi scientist (Tilo Pruckner) who bears an uncanny resemblance to Albert Einstein as well as the current Moon Fuhrer (Udo Kier) who will lead the Earth invasion.
Their Earthbound counterparts include the über-conservative, nameless U.S. President (Stephanie Paul) who could be Sarah Palin’s doppelganger alongside her coldly calculating campaign manager (Peta Sergeant) and the strangely disinterested Secretary of Defense (Michael Cullen).
Unfortunately, for every solid chuckle there tends to be two or three moments which fall flat or, dare I say, go over about as soothly as a lead zeppelin. Obviously the bucks were sunk into the special effects and, although the script is obviously meant to be over the top, a great deal of the dialogue is pretty horrible. And I’m not talking about “so bad, it’s good” but simply just bad. The actors gamely do what they can with what they have to work with and, outside of a few clunky deliveries mainly from Christopher Kirby as the astronaut, the cast pulls off some yeoman’s work.
Iron Sky is going to appeal to a specific audience and surely won’t be everyone’s glass of Weizenbier. If you’re the sort who doesn’t demand the tightest or most polished movie in order to get a kick out of an evening at the show then you’ll enjoy Iron Sky a lot more than you may expect. On the other hand, if you only watch the standard Hollywood summer blockbuster I’ll guess you’ll be sorely disappointed. Personally, I had extremely low expectations approaching Iron Sky and, even with the issues present with the film, was pleasantly surprised Iron Sky was nowhere close to being as bad as I feared.
As long as you go in with the understanding you’re about to watch a movie about Moon Nazis invading the Earth, and I suppose just reading those words right there should give you an idea of what you’re getting into, Iron Sky is certainly worth catching if it comes to your city or a rental once it’s available on DVD and BluRay. Just make sure to pop plenty of popcorn and only take the film with the same level of seriousness as the filmmakers…
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