Review No.90: Iron Sky

There's no denying that the Fins are an odd bunch you just have to look at their 2006 Eurovision winning act Lordi to see that and now we find Finnish director Timo Vuorensola helming the barmy Nazis on the moon film Iron Sky. The film sees Christopher Kirby's African-American supermodel James Washington being sent on a mission to the moon by Stephanie Paul's Sarah Palin-esque president mainly due to his race. Landing on the dark side of the moon Washington discovers that a large group of Nazis set up camp there in 1945 and are currently planning to invade the Earth instructing Julia Dietze's schoolteacher Renate Richter to teach all the youngsters English. Deciding to exploit Washington's relationship with the president the Nazis send Goz Otto's high-ranking official Klaus Adler back to Earth with him but first decide to give the model an Arian makeover which in my opinion made him look like a lion. On Earth, Adler is able to manipulate the President's sexually charged adviser Vivian Wagner who in turn presents her boss various Nazi propaganda as new campaign promises every one of which she takes on board. After a few months Washington is able to show Renate that the Nazi party doesn't stand for good and teams up with her to take down Adler who is now joined by the rest of the space Nazis. The final showdown sees a massive fight in the united nations, a space battle between the Nazis and the rest of the world as well as more than one character getting impaled by a high heel shoe.

The real test if you're going to like Iron Sky or not is if you laugh when a random member of the crowd points up above and yells 'It's Space Nazis!' I personally have to say I enjoyed this film with my facial expressions going from smiles to big laughs as the film ran on sure some of the jokes are pretty tired while there's too many targets for it to be completely satirical. But I don't think satire is what Vuorensola and company are going for instead making an enjoyable B-Movie that at just over 80 minutes doesn't outstay its welcome and entertains throughout. One of the things I liked was that it didn't just rely on a string of jokes instead focusing on the schoolteacher who believed that the Nazi party stood for unity and doing good shocked to see on Earth that they are represented by a bunch of skinheads. There were also little in-jokes I enjoyed in the United Nations scenes including one in which the director takes a shot at his own home country essentially nothing is off limits. From a film-making point-of-view Iron Sky is poorly made particularly in certain areas such as the cheap looking make up and the ludicrous set design however the latter does lend itself well to the overall feel of the movie. Iron Sky isn't going to win any major awards and at some points goes off at wild tangents however it is bloody entertaining and if you go with the Finnish sense of humour you will enjoy yourself thoroughly throughout.

Verdict: Poorly made but highly entertaining Iron Sky wins points for pure originality only so I'll give it a very passable 6/10