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Iron Sky

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Iron Sky
Theatrical release poster
Directed byTimo Vuorensola
Screenplay byMichael Kalesniko
Timo Vuorensola
Story byJohanna Sinisalo
Jarmo Puskala (concept)
Produced byTero Kaukomaa
Oliver Damian
Cathy Overett
Mark Overett
Samuli Torssonen
StarringJulia Dietze
Christopher Kirby
Götz Otto
Peta Sergeant
Stephanie Paul
Udo Kier
CinematographyMika Orasmaa
Edited bySuresh Ayyar
Music byLaibach
Production
companies
Energia Productions
New Holland Pictures
Distributed byWalt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Finland (Finland)
Polyband (Germany)
Release dates
  • 11 February 2012 (2012-02-11) (Berlinale)
  • 4 April 2012 (2012-04-04) (Finland)
  • 5 April 2012 (2012-04-05) (Germany)
  • 18 April 2012 (2012-04-18) (Sweden)
  • 19 April 2012 (2012-04-19) (Denmark)
Running time
93 minutes
CountriesFinland
Germany
Australia
LanguagesEnglish
German
Budget€7.5 million[1]
Box officeUS$8,061,167[2]

Iron Sky is a 2012 Finnish-German-Australian[3] comic science fiction action film directed by Timo Vuorensola and written by Johanna Sinisalo and Michael Kalesniko.[4][5] It tells the story of Nazi Germans who, after being defeated in 1945, fled to the Moon where they built a space fleet to return in 2018 and conquer Earth.

Iron Sky comes from the makers of Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning and was produced by Tero Kaukomaa of Blind Spot Pictures and Energia Productions, co-produced by New Holland Pictures and 27 Films, and co-financed by numerous individual supporters; Samuli Torssonen was responsible for the computer generated effects. It was released to theaters in Finland, Germany and other European countries in April 2012.[5]

On May 20, 2012, Kaukomaa announced that there are plans for a prequel and a sequel of the movie. He declined to give precise details.[6]

Plot

The film opens with an American manned landing mission returning, in 2018, to the Moon. The lander carries two astronauts; one of them a black male model, James Washington, specifically chosen to aid the current President of the United States in her re-election. Upon landing on the dark side of the Moon, the two encounter the Nazis who have been there since 1945, and Washington is taken captive.

The Nazi scientist Doktor Richter is called in to investigate Washington and finds his smartphone. Although initially skeptical, he recognizes that the computing power of this device far outmatches anything they have come up with themselves and integrates the device into the Götterdämmerung, the Nazi space battleship. Unfortunately for Richter, the phone stops working due to an empty battery just as he is demonstrating its power to his superiors, especially the new Führer Wolfgang Kortzfleisch. Nazi commander Klaus Adler, who is (for genetic reasons) destined to marry Earth specialist Renate Richter, Doktor Richter's daughter, offers to go to Earth to find more phones. Adler takes a spacecraft to Earth, taking James with him, who has been aryanized (i.e., his skin turned to white) by Richter. Upon landing they find that Renate has stowed-away and travelled with them.

Meanwhile on Earth, the President of the United States is having some problems of her own; she desperately needs a miracle to ensure her re-election. Her aide, Vivian Wagner (played by Peta Sergeant) presents her with the two Nazis. Adler and Richter go on to transform the President's campaign Nazi-style, with apparent success, although Richter is unaware of the plans of Adler to both annihilate the United States and overthrow the current Führer.

After three months, Kortzfleisch seems to have figured out Adler's plan. He sends his armada (though without the Götterdämmerung) to Earth orbit. He himself lands on Earth to confront Adler, but Adler kills Kortzfleisch and takes his position, returning to orbit with Kortzfleisch's flying saucer. At the same time, Renate Richter finds Washington, now homeless, in the streets and is shown the error of her Nazi views by Washington.

The United Nations meets to discuss the Nazi threat in orbit. The President is thrilled to finally have a war which will likely get her re-elected, and appoints Vivian Wagner as commander of the spacecraft USS George W. Bush, which orbits the Earth carrying nuclear weapons. As it turns out, most of the other nations have also developed armed spacecraft, and join in to defeat the invading Nazi armada.

Back on Earth, Richter convinces Washington to come with her back to the Moon to stop Adler. They take Adler's flying saucer back to the Moon and to the Götterdämmerung, where Washington attempts to disable the engines while Renate goes looking for Adler. Meanwhile, the international space craft armada has destroyed the Swastika moonbase and is heading for the Götterdämmerung as well. In the final battle, Washington manages to disconnect the tablet device now controlling the Götterdämmerung while Richter takes out Adler. The spaceship crashes into the Moon, but not before Adler has taken out a considerable chunk of the Moon attempting to get a clear shot at the Earth.

The U.S. President calls Wagner from the UN session, congratulating her on her victory; however, Wagner mentions the large tanks of Helium-3 she has seen on the Moon. As it turns out, this material would keep the United States independent of foreign power sources for a millennium; thus, the U.S. president immediately lays claim to it. As a result, the UN members and the international spacecraft start attacking each other resulting in apparent mutual destruction of the spacecraft.

Richter meets up with Washington (now turned back to black) in the burning Swastika moonbase, where they kiss, provoking incredulity in the other Nazis. Richter remarks that "[they] have a lotta work cut out for [them]". The final moments of the film show the Earth, where missiles are causing nuclear explosions across the globe. At the very end of the credits, the planet Mars is revealed with a man-made satellite of undetermined origin in orbit.

Cast

Production

Production began in early 2006, and the production team took their teaser trailer of the film to the Cannes Film Festival in May 2008 seeking co-financiers[8] and signed a co-production agreement with Oliver Damian’s 27 Films Prods.[9][10] During the 2010 Cannes Film Festival Iron Sky signed a co-production agreement with the Australian production company New Holland Pictures, which brought Cathy Overett and Mark Overett as co-producers of the film.[11]

Iron Sky is one of a new wave of productions, including Artemis Eternal, The Cosmonaut, A Swarm of Angels, and RiP!: A Remix Manifesto, produced in collaboration with an on-line community of film enthusiasts, that are creating a new kind of participatory cinema. At Wreck-a-Movie, a collaborative film-making web site, the producers have invited everyone interested in "chipping in" with their ideas and creativity to read the tasks given to the community and to take a shot (write an entry).[12][13][14]

On 11 February 2009, it was announced that the film would star German actress Julia Dietze,[15] while the Slovenian industrial music group Laibach would be recording the soundtrack.[16] Appropriately enough for a film about Nazism, the orchestral soundtrack incorporates leitmotifs from the operatic cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen and other operas by Richard Wagner, a composer whose music was favoured by the Nazi leaders.

Filming began in November 2010 in Frankfurt for location shooting, and after that in January 2011 in Australia for studio shooting.[1] Settings in Frankfurt were Weseler Werft or Taunusstraße.[17] Iron Sky was filmed in Red camera format.[18] On 6 February 2011, the filming of Iron Sky concluded in Australia and entered a 10 week post-production process.[19]

Spin-offs

On October 5, 2011, Blind Spot Pictures released a digital comic prequel to the film, titled Iron Sky: Bad Moon Rising, written by the writer of Alan Wake, Mikko Rautalahti, and fully illustrated by comic artist Gerry Kissell, creator of IDW Publishing's Code Word: Geronimo.[20]

On August 19, 2012, the video game publisher TopWare Interactive made an announcement during the Gamescom video game trade fair in Cologne, Germany of an official video game adaptation and expansion of “Iron Sky”. “Iron Sky: Invasion” is to be developed by Reality Pump Studios, and will be an advanced space flight simulator game, with elements of strategy and RPG genres.

Release

The film premiered on February 11, 2012 at the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival, in the Panorama Special section.[21] It was released in Finland on April 4 and in Germany on April 5, running in major cinemas.[22] In the UK, there was some controversy regarding the decision of the distributor, Revolver Entertainment, to release the film for only one day, causing the film makers to issue a public condemnation of their UK distributor, and accusing Revolver of misleading them.[23] Following high demand from the film's online fanbase, Revolver revised its decision and Iron Sky's UK cinema release was extended.[24]

Reception

As of 28 June 2012 the film holds a 40% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 30 reviews.[25] As of 5 July 2012 26,273 IMDb users have given a weighted average vote of 6.4 / 10.[26]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Invest in Iron Sky : Iron Sky :: Official Movie Site". Iron Sky. Retrieved 4 April 2011.
  2. ^ Iron Sky box office gross. Retrieved 27-08-2012.
  3. ^ "Finance : Iron Sky :: Official Movie Site". Iron Sky. 13 March 2012. Retrieved 24 May 2012.
  4. ^ io9.com, by Charlie Jane Anders (May 7, 2008), "Nazi Moonbase Launches Stealth Attack". Retrieved 01-05-2009.
  5. ^ a b Iron Sky info site
  6. ^ Blind Spot plans prequel and sequel to Iron Sky 20 May, 2012. Geoffrey Macnab. ScreenDialy
  7. ^ "Die finnische Filmparodie „Iron Sky" erzählt von durchgeknallten Nazis auf dem Mond". Der Spiegel. 2 April 2012.
  8. ^ Nordisk Film & TV Fond, September 5, 2008, "Finland's Iron Sky Falls On Cannes". Retrieved 01-05-2009.
  9. ^ Blind Spot looks to Nazis in space Hollywood Reporter, May 21, 2008. Retrieved 01-05-2009. [dead link]
  10. ^ geekytyrant.com, "Iron Sky was picked up at Cannes". Retrieved 01-05-2009.
  11. ^ "New Holland joins Iron Sky team". Screen Daily. 17 May 2010. Retrieved 4 April 2011.
  12. ^ Lance Weiler (18 June 2008). "5 questions for Timo Vuorensola". The Workbook Project. Retrieved 1 May 2009.
  13. ^ newteevee.com, by Chris Albrecht (May 12, 2008), "Iron Sky Opens Up the Filmmaking Process". Retrieved 01-05-2009.
  14. ^ slashdot.org, "News for Nerds: Iron Sky Trailer". Retrieved 01-07-2009.
  15. ^ Julia Dietze to star in 'Iron Sky' Variety, Feb 11 2009, "Julia Dietze to star in 'Iron Sky'". Retrieved 19-03-2009.
  16. ^ Mark Kermode Interviews Timo Vuorensola at Cannes, May 16, 2010, "Mark Kermode Interviews Timo Vuorensola at Cannes". Retrieved 17-05-2010.
  17. ^ Patrick Abele, hr-online, Aus Hessen wird Hollywood - Weltraum-Nazis erobern Frankfurt 09-02-2012.
  18. ^ Blackstar Halo – Energia’s first Red camera vfx shots
  19. ^ Iron Sky Shoot, The Final Day. Retrieved 18-02-2011.
  20. ^ Iron Sky Comic Is Out – Pay What You Like Or Read It For Free  : Iron Sky :: Official Movie Site
  21. ^ Staff writer (9 February 2012). "Iron Sky premieres in the Panorama Special section of the Berlinale". ses.fi. Finnish Film Foundation. Retrieved 10 February 2012.
  22. ^ Iron Sky in Cinemaxx Retrieved 05-04-2012.
  23. ^ "team does not approve the UK release strategy : Iron Sky :: Official Movie Site". Iron Sky. 16 May 2012. Retrieved 24 May 2012.
  24. ^ "'Iron Sky' granted extended UK cinema run : Digital Spy". Digital Spy. 23 May 2012. Retrieved 31 May 2012.
  25. ^ Iron Sky - Rotten Tomatoes
  26. ^ Iron Sky (2012) User ratings
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