Iron Sky – Review

Worth seeing: for the Nazis on the moon in an ambitious attempt at a high concept thriller, whose success as a camp fest depends on whether the film-makers are taking themselves seriously or having fun
Director:Timo Vuorensola
Featuring:Christopher Kirby, Götz Otto, Julia Dietze, Peta Sergeant, Stephanie Paul, Tilo Prückner
Length:89 minutes
Certificate:15
Country:Australia, Finland, Germany
Released:23rd May 2012

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

It’s 2018 and a US president who looks remarkably like Sarah Palin is campaigning for re-election by sending black astronaut James Washington (Christopher Kirby) to the dark side of the moon.

The publicity stunt goes horribly wrong when he’s captured by a group of Nazis who fled planet Earth after their defeat in the Second World War and set up a colony on our closest neighbour, to regroup and prepare for an all-out assault to take over the planet.

They’re nearly ready and their plans have been jeopardised by the arrival of the American.

To secure his escape, he promises to introduce them to the President.

Their Fuhrer, Klaus Adler (Götz Otto) takes him up on the offer, but soon after their arrival on Earth, he calls in the back-up.

Before long, Earth is under attack from the resurgent Nazis and only the combined efforts of the United Nations countries have any hope of denying them victory in the rematch.

WHAT’S IT LIKE?

This is one of those rare films that leaves you a bit perplexed. What you think of it completely depends on whether you think the film-makers are taking themselves seriously or have their tongues firmly planted in their cheeks.

Whatever the film-makers thought, with the briefest of theatrical releases only to boost its DVD sales, it’s clear how the distributors themselves see it.

The one-line pitch – essentially Nazis return to attack earth after seven decades in hiding on the far side of the moon – is unashamedly imaginative and the scope of the project – from the vast Nazi moon base to the fleet of fighter-spacecraft – is remarkably ambitious; that the film came to fruition on what was almost certainly a tiny budget is a triumph of hope over experience.

But perhaps some of what little money there was should have gone on the script and actors. It felt like a B-movie, desperately trying to clamber up to the top of the bill.

If Sir Ridley Scott hadn’t been busy making Prometheus, he might have been able to take this nonsense and turn it into more than a camp-fest.

Surprisingly, it has a go at tackling some serious themes – starting wars to win elections and going to war to take control of the enemy’s resources – but any attempt at satire or incisive comment get lost against the backdrop of the vacuum of space pulling a woman’s skirt off without even making her gasp for air, while a society that’s built an entire fleet of fighter-spacecraft can’t make computers any smaller than an entire room.

It’s a most peculiar mix! A fascinating failure.