Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted; Top Cat: The Movie; Iron Sky; Sound of My Voice; Little Monsters

Iron Sky

by Ian "Professor Clumsy" Maddison

EXPECTATIONS: I don't know an awful lot about this film other than that it contains space Nazis and enjoyed a cinema release in the UK of only a single day before hitting the video and on-demand market. That said, it has been generating a great deal of pre-release buzz amongst science-fiction nerds all over the internet and that's always a good thing, right?

REALITY: Iron Sky is extremely silly. I don't mean that in a bad way. Its silliness is actually its greatest strength, because it doesn't really have much else going for it. As political satire it almost strives to counteract that silliness in an effort to make a point about modern politics, but it all just comes out as an outrageous joke. Haha, yeah we sure do live in an entirely ruined society.

Subtle.

In an effort to ensure her re-election,Sarah Palinthe unnamed President of the United States (Stephanie Paul) sends a black man to the moon. Unfortunately, the man in question is no skilled astronaut and is in fact male model James Washington (Christopher Kirby). Immediately after landing, Washington finds an antiquated Nazi outpost on the surface of the Moon, fully manned and continuing the teachings of Hitler's Reich through misinformed school teacher Renate Richter (Julia Dietze). Washington manages to teach Renate a thing or two about the real world before they are forced to put a stop to a full-scale Nazi invasion under the leadership of new Führer Klaus Adler (Götz Otto).

You can see there's definitely a lot going on in this film, and it's all exactly as ludicrous as it sounds, joyfully so in fact. From the initial reveal of the Nazi outpost on the dark side of the moon, as the camera pulls away to reveal that the entire base is shaped like a Swastika, Iron Sky keeps you laughing throughout. Every plot twist is so bizarre and unabashedly ridiculous that you can't help but feel charmed by the whole thing.

Very subtle.That's not to say that Iron Sky doesn't have its share of problems. One particular subplot, involving a publicity agent (Peta Sergeant) who falls for Klaus and ends up seeking revenge on him, ends up forging the major thrust of the film's third act. It feels like they struggled to come up with ideas to bring this thing to a satisfying denouement and so threw in a bunch of space ships and some "America be crazyyyyyy!" scenes to move us away from all the zany Nazi shenanigans. In truth, this whole subplot is hurt by some sub-par acting from Sergeant who suddenly becomes a captain on a weird spaceship called The SS George W. Bush. There's some weird contradictions when she describes Klaus' battleship as a "fat phallus," but her ship is much more phallic. Klaus' ship even has a big, gyrating opening on the top. I assume that this is deliberately contradictory, but why? The reason is never clear.

Iron Sky presents itself as a relevant satire, but can't seem to find its teeth when it needs to. It seems to be suggesting that America's love of war is going to lead the whole world into destruction - much like Dr. Strangelove, a film that is referenced throughout - but it all culminates in a whole lot of nothing, which is a shame.

Iron Sky is a whole lot of promise with crazy, insane ideas that almost work. For all of its flaws it has one incredible strength (silliness aside): it is completely and utterly unashamed of itself. It's rare to see a film like this, on this scale, that just takes the maddest ideas and runs with them all the way to whatever conclusion they can come up with. The conclusion itself might not work, but you have to admire it for having the strength of its convictions.

MINORITY REPORT: I come home from the matinee
My mother says, "Where'd you spend this week's pay?"
Oh mother dear, Nazis live on the moon
And moon Nazis want to have fun
Moon Nazis just want to have fun.

Turns out this ain't no fictional flick
They're persecuting Jews from a few million klicks
A black astronaut discovered the truth:
Moon Nazis want to have fun
Oh, moon Nazis just want to have fun.

That's all they really want:
Some fun
When the executions are done
Moon Nazis want to have fun
Oh, moon Nazis just want to have fun.

In '45, they ran away from the Yanks
And learned Zyklon B's ineffective in space
They're returning to Earth to finish the job
Moon Nazis want to have fun
Iron Sky doesn't seem like much fun. - Sean "Cyndi Lauper?" Hanson