Iron Sky

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Myself

Space Nazis!

I remember first seeing the concept trailer in 2008. So I guess I've been waiting for this one just as long as The Avengers. This is the unlikely movie that made it from dream to fake trailer to fan funded film reality and now here it is about to be unleashed on cinemas everywhere. That alone is cause for celebration. The fact that it has Space Nazis is an added bonus.

Just about every other for of exploitation cinema has received a revival over the last few years so why not Nazisploitation? And they have a great sci-fi bend in their set up. But aside from the ridiculously fun premise what can this low budget crowd funded fan film offer?

Well it certainly has impressive effects. They did a lot with a little and this is yet another example of where people who are fx savvy are able to get far more bang for their buck and produce blockbuster style movies for whatever money they could raise. Sure it's not ILM but the the work done here holds up nicely on the big screen and probably the most entertaining segment of the film for me was the climactic space battle. When the film gave itself over to pure action and spectacle it was wholly engaging and I loved it.

Where the movie really showed its budget for me was the music. But I have a very low threshold for synthesised orchestral music so it ma not be a problem for others. The cinematography with the Red One camera and all the production design was certainly great.

As for the rest of the film it was tonally all over the map. Farcical, serious, funny, political, parody, poignant, satire, it never finds a good balance for me. There's a lot of love for Dr. Strangelove in the film and you can see them trying to recreate that satirical political edge, with thinly veiled parody of Sarah Palin, were she elected president, and the squabbling U.N. sitting in as the war room.

Most of the time I found myself conflicted for loving the idea of a gag but just not entirely fond of the execution. I don't want to spoil some of the surprises the film has in store but the journey of the campaign manager (who is introduced by doing a shot for shot recreation of the infamous "Hitler loosing it" scene from Downfall that has been usurped and re-subtitled by the youtube community) is utterly hilarious and really works as satire but the writing and acting just never do it justice. And this is true of many other interesting ideas the film offers but fumbles the delivery of.

And Udo Kier was kinda wasted.

To be clear, there are other hilarious ideas equally ridiculous to Space Nazis not least of which is what happens to the hapless astronaut who discovers the secret nazi base and there are plenty of jokes that work.

That is a fine line though, and it's going to be different for everyone. It's obvious that for everybody working on it from Finland, Germany and Australia and wherever else, this film is a labor of love. It's also obviously made by fellow cinephiles with so many references to classic war films. The effort is impressive, the action is great, the effects are wonderful but I just wanted to have a bit more fun with it. Huge tone shift in the last moments of the film that I don't quite know how I feel about yet. I'll be interested to see it with a bigger crowd and see if a lively audience gives it that boost it needs.

And like The Avengers, be sure to stay through the credits, not just to see the list of fans who donated to help make this film a reality, but also for a fun little tag that might hint at a possible sequel.