Stuff by Steve

The idea of this movie really piqued my curiosity. Set in the vein of ’40s-era sci-fi, we would follow a derring-do hero through the sepia-toned world of propeller planes and dirigibles against giant robot adversaries while doing battle using a combination of old-fashioned pistols, ray guns, and plain old cunning. The movie was also one of the first to be shot entirely using chroma-keying (blue- or green-screen) on a soundstage. How could this not be cool? I think that’s what the director thought, too, and when the time came to write the script, he said “Heck, it will write itself!” Which is pretty much what it did. And then, it couldn’t decide if it wanted to be “Star Wars,” “Indiana Jones,” or “The Island of Dr. Moreau.” The only reason why I watched the whole thing and didn’t instead throw in “Without a Paddle” was morbid curiosity. The story was just intriguing enough that I wanted to know how it ended, but it was terrible enough that I was glad when it did. I felt no attachment to any of the characters, a situation that wasn’t helped in the least by the awful acting, disconnected dialogue, and confusing plot elements. I appreciated the aged post-war stylization, but style over substance is a bad formula for success.