Iron Sky (2012) User Reviews (309)

strange - in a weird way.. guilty pleasure?

[sjarja · 7/10 · 9 October 2016]

To start with ... i found that movie to be entertaining. I never felt bored - or regretted watching it.

It is a comedy/satire but not as blunt (as in Saturday Night Live blunt) .. but sometimes more subtle (however - subtle in that context still means pretty much "in your face!")

Considering the low budget (actually i did not check the budget - i just assume) - it pulls off quite a high production value in terms of visuals as well as acting. The story itself is ridiculous and funny .. and the movie knows it.

7/10 for a good time watching that movie ... 9/10 if you are drunk.

Nazis on the moon, no more or less to it than that

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 23 June 2014]

IRON SKY is the perfect example of a modern-day B-movie, an international collaboration boasting plenty of excellent special effects to back up an involved and engaging storyline. It's not often I watch a film and think "there's something I haven't seen before", but it happened with IRON SKY.

The opening sequence is elaborately staged and quite captivating, offering a much better menace than that of APOLLO 18 (which I also watched recently). From there on then the film builds in complexity, introducing multiple shades-of-grey characters who embark on a story filled with twists and surprises.

At the end of the day, IRON SKY is a film all about the visual effects, and they're excellent throughout. Whether you're looking for interstellar warfare, colonised cities in space or more earthly destruction, this movie has it. The CGI is faultless, adding to the impression that this is far more than your routine B-movie.

There's plenty of satire in the film, aimed not just at the obvious targets but at America too - the benefits of a Finnish/German/Australian production. Quite a few of the central performances are decent and the quirkiness never lets up for a moment. For once, IRON SKY is a concept movie with a real story to go with it.

Good fun

[begob · 7/10 · 11 May 2015]

US astronauts disturb a Nazi moonbase, and the Nazis launch an expedition to earth to pick up a computer tablet to power their final invasion using a super-fuel mined from the moon.

Hectic spoof sci-fi that's totally illogical, full of plot holes, and yet turns into a good satire. Effects are done really well, plenty of other movies referred to (including the music), and closest in spirit probably to Flash Gordon from 1980.

It does hurry itself along, so the pace is good but at the expense I think of decent character based gags. The acting was good, particularly the females - the lead was very charming, and the president and her sidekick were mean and brisk.

A final plus is that some US reviewers don't like fun being poked at their awful political system.

Overall not great, but it was refreshing.

"I'll See You In Valhalla!"...

[azathothpwiggins · 28 August 2019]

As we have always feared, the Nazis have been hiding on the dark side of the moon since the end of WWII. Plotting their triumphant return to power, they have waited these many decades. When an American lunar mission happens upon the enormous, hidden Nazi fortress, it causes problems both on the moon and back on Earth.

In IRON SKY, much has changed since the Reich was booming on our planet, including an African American astronaut, a female President of the United States, and the UN transformed into a World Confederacy! The Fuhrer would be appalled! When a Nazi mission to Earth takes them to New York City, the real fun starts.

The best way to describe this movie would be to liken it to what Mel Brooks might have created in his prime. It lampoons racism, sexism, fascism, political idiocy, high fashion, etc., by being an utterly over the top satire thereof. Plus, it's very well made, in addition to being hysterically funny! The main characters are perfectly ridiculous, yet not annoyingly so. The acting / dialogue is mostly dead pan, making it far more effective than a more slapstick approach. The result is a crackpot sci-fi parody wrapped around a mega-spoof. Highly inventive and entertaining...

Iron Sky is a fun little Sci-fi movie. Watch it, if only for the sake of curiosity

[WhatPayne · 7/10 · 4 April 2012]

I saw the Iron Sky recently in a preview screening. And, I quite liked it.

For those that do not know, Iron Sky is a Sci-fi action comedy from a team of Finnish "independent" film makers lead by Timo Vuorensola as the director. Iron Sky tells a story about 'freaking space Nazis from the dark side of the moon coming back to earth'.

For what it is, the movie works fine. It's not a masterpiece of dramatic cinematic flavor on line with Citizen Kane or Pianist with some deep philosophical dialog. No, its more in the line of campy Nazisploitation and over-the top action, as one would come to expect. And as one would expect, the movie is absolutely ridiculous. It has its many fun moments and true laugh out loud scenes, specially made for those viewers who are into internet/computer/pop culture related stuff, which presence makes sense considering the guys who made this film are "self taught" young film makers who basically 'grew up' making movies of their own, and are the children of the Internets.

Iron Sky has a really good cast who deliver consistently strong performance throughout the film. With Udo Kier being my absolute favorite who sadly goes somewhat underused with his too old to care and strictly for business Nazi führer of the moon guy... (Oh well, I still have him as the Yuri in Red Alert 2.) Weirdly, Götz Otto being the go-to baddie of the movie, delivers somewhat dry and unnoteworthy performance. And I think it felt this way was because there was a subtlety in his acting which sadly vanishes under rest of the silliness in the film.

Now as expected from the guys who previously did the Star Wrek comedy films, they made absolutely brilliant CGI effects for Iron Sky. I rarely could tell which stuff were done with practical effects and which were done with CGI, which is a very good thing. There are many moments which I knew were definitely done with computers, but still were a blast to watch. Nothing there is jarring or unnecessary feeling, like in majority of the other CGI motion pictures of today.

Now there are some few shortcomings in the film of course, few minor stuff here and there, but also one bigger aspect that was quite difficult to overlook. And that is that the Iron Sky skips around, a lot. It felt like there were tons of shots missing from between the key scenes. You'll watch the characters do something and have it immediately cut to a later moment in time, or to a completely different scene all together. The movie leaves a lot for the viewers to fill in. That was not too difficult for me one I adjusted. It's a bit distracting, yes. But if you manage to push it past, you'll find interesting plot unfolding. Now while I had no difficulties following the movie, I can also see someone used to the regular Hollywood "tell it to the audience" type movies being lost with this film. While the important scenes needed for the plot are still very much present, the sudden jumps might leave the viewer lagging behind, you might get some whiplashes watching this film.

However, there is a very understandable excuse for that, which the director himself told us in the theater on the Q&A session after the film. And it's that way because they had to cut stuff from the script as they simply had no money to realistically do most of them. Iron Sky had a budget of only of 7 million Euros, which compared to other proper big movies, is nothing. They said that every scene they did had to be done in the way of "we'll shoot this if we get the money to do it". And considering that, it's amazing they managed as much as they did.

Iron Sky is a fun little movie that definitely differs from your average schlock. I'd recommend to watch it, if only for the sake of curiosity. (And ridiculous Nazis.)

And what about the the ending? Who wins? Oh, you'll have to watch the movie to find out. You might get a surprise. It might make you stop and think... I know it made me.

Trailer is better than the film!

[kaskasport · 4/10 · 17 February 2012]

Just got back home from the festival one of the last shows of this film.

I had seen the trailer, and was very excited about this film. I had to write a review which I usually don't even do, but since this film has been getting so much over hype I think it is fair to say something.

The CGI: I think that the most impressive parts were already in the trailer. I read how they made the film, and I think the uneven quality of the CGI might come from years of development, and so many people working on it. Some parts look like they were from every other fan-made film. I have to say some parts were good, but certainly this film is not comparable to a 100 million dollar Hollywood block-buster in terms of FX. I think the makers must have been getting better towards the end of making these CGI bits. Overall the FX left sort of a mixed feeling.

The plot: It is pretty much what you would expect, except a couple of more twists here and there. I think the first part of the film is better, and towards the ending the film starts getting flatter, and flatter, and yes it is somewhat boring at times. Perhaps this would have made it better if it were a short film of 30-45 minutes. As such there is too much half-written material to fill in the time to make a full feature.

The humor: I have to say that there were perhaps 3-5 good jokes in the whole film, and then tons of bad ones. Although the guys are making a comedy they are seriously not comedians... why didn't they get like some great stand-up comedians to help with the jokes. I would say that the funniness scale is more towards the Simpsons (the new episodes) than that of say South Park. The stereotypes are silly, and don't have that kind of punch that they should. Sarah Palin is funny for the first time, but after-that doesn't really offer that much to the comedy side. I think that the long development time had an impact on the jokes... some of them feel like they would have been funny say three years ago, but don't really ad up anymore. The "criticism" is way easy to be actually "critical", perhaps that's why it is not funny.

Originality and characters: Well even though it was not Hollywood, it could have been one. I mean these guys had all the freedom to do what they liked, and they chose to do this. I find that in a sense even worse. Even casting James with Julia Dietze with into this sexy role is so Hollywood, we'll I have to agree that she does look hot in those Nazi-outfits LOL. I thought that the only good role was Doctor Rikter, but there were not enough of them. Udo Kiers role was missing something... I mean the makers could have put some more evil into the character like that in the Ultimate Hellsing series. His silly moves did not make him believable. The film was not that original I guess...

Overall I don't really know if I feel that much empathy towards the guys who made this film. The film industry especially on the lower end has lots of good talent, and there are many more interesting films, comedies and even sci-fi than this that never got/get any attention.

I would praise the film if it really deserved it, but making a great trailer for promotion is just not enough (sadly that is the game even for Hollywood). I don't think the film is going satisfy the majority of people who see it... or they won't be swept away by it, and the hype is way off. I think if I hadn't seen the trailer I could have given the film one more star.

I think that this film will find its audience (nerd circles), but I believe it to wayyy over hyped.

Much better than it ought to be

[neil-476 · 7/10 · 3 June 2020]

A US mission to the dark side of the moon carries a high profile black celeb as a publicity stunt to help the President's re-election. And it turns out the Nazis colonised the moon at the end of WWII and are planning an invasion. Now if only they could get hold of some mobile phones with some high powered computing potential.

This curious internatiol (US/Australian/Finnish) co-production is partially crowdfunded and accordingly, low budget. A comedy/sci-fi/action/satire, it is a brave thing to attempt - the blend of genres, for a start off, the fairly extensive special effects, and the long stretches in German with subtitles, these are all courageous steps to take.

And it largely works. In fact, it outshines many a production made with a higher profile. Its origins sometimes show, but it is a very worthwhile effort. I enjoyed it, and I rather admire it.

Most Disappointing Film of the Year

[smoochpapandreas · 2/10 · 29 May 2012]

Perhaps I'm getting old. I fail to understand some of the marks for this film. 8? 9? 10?

To my jaded eyes, I've rarely left a movie theatre feeling such disappointment.

Like many people anticipating this movie, I saw the trailer and thought it would be an instant classic. Perhaps not among lovers of the mainstream but certainly one of those films you learn to love and love being among a select number of people who've seen it. I thought it might be this year's 'Tucker and Dale vs Evil'.

It wasn't. It wasn't even close to matching that peerless film.

I'll be brief: Iron Sky is a fantastic looking film, wonderfully shot, but bogged down by one of the most woeful scripts I've witnessed in an age. I fail to comprehend how movie makers continue to pump moving into the fabric of a film whilst ignoring the fundamentals of the script. The problem is highlighted by the credits at the end. Two writers of the screenplay, five people in the scriptwriting 'team', an additional credit for the 'dramaturgist, polishing' and two more credits for additional material. The result is a film that lacks a compelling narrative arc. It's very much the sum of its mismatched parts. Some scenes are excellent but others barely hang together and often left me squirming in my seat at the sheer banality of the writing. I felt sorry for the actors who struggled with the material, especially Julia Dietze who was excellent as the nominal heroine, and Götz Otto as the villain. I might make special mention of the soundtrack which was relentless throughout and overwhelmed many of the scenes.

Yet what's most disappointing is that the film sets itself up as a satire on American politics. The choice of making the President a future version of Sarah Palin might have been inspired but it was largely wasted and instead of the film ending as it might have hoped with a statement akin to the close of Strangelove (a film it self-consciously references on a few occasions) the result is closer to those terrible over the top farces of the 1960s where chaos is let loose on the screen leaving the audience bewildered and ultimately bored.

I really hate writing a review like this but I can't recollect the last time I've so been disappointed with a film. I've not seen a film that looks so good with such possibility in such a long time. It's a shame that so much good work is lost because of the lack of a half decent script.

Utterly absurd, but wonderful space romp

[robertemerald · 8/10 · 1 April 2020]

I loved all the cgi in this movie. See it on a big screen, it will be worth it. I guess you could compare it to movies such as Starship Troupers (1997) or Mars Attacks (1996). Iron Sky is a great example of what can be achieved with cgi. You may even laugh out loud. You will certainly smile for an hour and a half.

Surprisingly good

[Philipp_Flersheim · 7/10 · 24 March 2022]

When I decided to watch 'Iron Sky' I expected to be entertained by a tasteless and offensive piece of trash. Instead I was entertained by a reasonably intelligent and well made sci-fi comedy that also works as political satire. Of course the idea of nazis on the moon is bizarre, but all in all I did not feel offended by the film (I will explain in a minute why not).

In 2018, the US return to the moon. There, astronaut James Washington (Christopher Kirby) loses contact with mission control because he is attacked and captured. His attackers are the guards of a moon fortress where the nazis are hiding who escaped the 'downfall' of the Reich in 1945. The nazis discover Washington's mobile and decide they need more of these devices to finally make their ultimate weapon operational - the weapon that will allow them to conquer earth. Accordingly they send an expedition (headed by their presumptive next Führer Klaus Adler, played by Götz Otto) that lands in New York... There are a couple of really good ideas in the film. For example, Adler has no trouble at all taking over the re-election campaign of the president (Stephanie Paul), who is clearly modelled on Sarah Palin. In this respect reality has of course trumped satire. There are also a few nice quotes of earlier films. When Paul as president sees her campaign faltering, she throws a tantrum that reminds you of Hitler's in 'Der Untergang' (Hirschbiegel 2004). Another film quoted is Kubrick's 'Dr Strangelove' (1964). The anti-racist message of the film is nicely packaged and not too obtrusive; it is one of the things that prevents 'Iron Sky' from being offensive. The other is that the film mocks and ridicules the nazis quite effectively. On the downside, most of the acting (except Kirby's and Julia Dietze's, who plays Adler's fiancee) is no more than alright, and the storyline does get pretty convoluted. Still, all in all I was pleasantly surprised.

Outsiders must have made the trailer.

[teemu-eramaa · 5/10 · 12 April 2012]

One of the producers, Samuli Torssonen was responsible for the amateur Star Wreck animated short films in the 90's, which I remember watching as a child in wonder, and I wasn't even a Trek fan. They were horribly crudely made but they had this certain appeal to them which made the so called "comedy" work. Later, recognizing the name, I saw the feature Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning and absolutely loathed it. It felt like 12-year old schoolboys acting out a school-play, which only their own class mates laugh to. What worked on a silly 2d-animation didn't on a feature.

Later on seeing the Iron Sky trailer, I was astonished. I actually got interested again and was hoping they had learnt the lesson, after all they had foreign actors and an outsider to write the script this time.

But the sad truth is that as the film progresses, it just gets duller and duller and starts to feel like a student film with lots of money... And since it is not well written comedy, but relies on single occasional jokes here and there but not quite becoming a crazy-comedy - which it should've been - but fails in being a moralising satire, it just makes you laugh once or twice. So the need of a well told story becomes even more important.

The outer space CG is delivering, but why bother when other areas, especially the chroma keying was so horribly done. You can actually see the blur added to the silhouettes of characters. Nothing fits, the background compositing looks fake. I know it's a B-movie but then make cardboard sets and lose the disturbing edge transitions. They alienate the viewer.

What works on Iron Sky is the professional actors. Without them, it would have been another In The Pirkinning. But even they have their weak moments because of the clumsy scenes and dialogue.

Don't get me wrong, I do appreciate the power of crowd funding, making a huge effort with a small budget etc - but all you fan boys and girls out there have to acknowledge that in all storytelling, the story -- and telling -- come first.

No amount of CGI or references to pop-culture will make a movie great. If that would be all we'd need, we'd just be watching demo reels and music videos.

But maybe the third one will be the charm. I guess the makers might read these reviews so I'd recommend them to make the next feature with less weight on the CGI and all the weight on storytelling. Robert McKee's book called Story would be a great place to start.

Funny and different

[rune-307-115177 · 8/10 · 3 March 2012]

I saw the film yesterday in Oslo and I must say I thought it was exhilarating, fresh and different. It's also one of those films that you either love or hate, I do not think it is one that you can be indifferent to.

The German language adds a nice touch, and the way it is used helps a lot with creating a believable atmosphere to some scenes. The actors are doing a good job of portraying the stereotypes that they need in order for the humor to work. The humor is pleasantly free from political correctness. And there are many nice references throughout the film, so if you have been living in a cave (or on the moon) for the last seventy years, I doubt you will find it as funny as I personally did.

The CGI is stunning when at it's best. It is not perfect everywhere, but all in all it is quite convincing. The style can best be described as toned down and with natural colors that work very well for this film.

The story is funny if you let it stand on it's own and accept it for what it is. Let yourself be entertained. I am sure that if you have a very critical mindset when going to see this film you will probably find something to pick on. Things could probably be a bit better and more consistent in a + $100M film, but I do not think we would see this expressive freedom in a + $100M film...

The soundtrack was also well thought of and added the needed atmosphere trough the whole film. Not one tune seemed misplaced and I thought it was very impressive.

I liked Iron Sky a lot, and I would recommend it in a heartbeat. I believe this film has the potential to be the cult film of the year. And I think it will do well for itself on cinemas around the world.

Excellent parody!

[iik71 · 6/10 · 29 May 2012]

Excellent parody! If you would wanted to watch a Star Wars type of movie you would be disappointed for sure, but if you appreciate the subtle irony then this your flick. I am sure that not much US Americans would enjoy it, because America is the greatest and you know, they have no mistakes! :) They only have jokes like: Hiroshima joke, Nagasaki joke, Vietnam joke and so on. And these were not acts of extreme fascism, but just peaceful and liberating intervention. ;) I liked this movie be not only for the good sarcasm, but also for the truths that have been said. This is a good German response to the Tarantino's Indigenous Bastards.

Odd but entertaining

[ColbyButler · 7/10 · 18 January 2020]

Seems like a total parody movie. Has elements of many great movies wrapped into parody situations adding crazy outcomes. Entertaining to say the least.

Terrible plot, not enough action to be entertaining

[ravingcandy · 1/10 · 30 May 2012]

I, like so many others have posted before me, was very much hyped for this movie, the trailer made it seem like it would be an instant classic, full of action and comedy, but failed to deliver much of either.

***Spoilers*** It starts off fairly plot heavy, a black-male man lands on the moon, in order to campaign for a president made to look like Sarah Palin, but thereby discovers space Nazis, where after they follow him to earth, and somehow end up leading Palins campaign and get her elected. At this point I'm wondering when they were getting to the action part, as over half the movie had passed without any action whatsoever. And then suddenly the plot takes the turn expected from the start: the Nazis invade the earth, which completely changes the plot direction from the first half of the movie. The Nazis attack earth with massive UFO's, but the humans are more than capable of deterring the nazi menace, which leaves the Nazis no choice but to launch the "Götterdämmerung", but which fails to achieve anything more than blow a small chunk off the moon. I was left feeling "really, was that it" as it came crashing down after a few minutes in the air. The plot and script were incredibly poor, but I hadn't expected it to be good from the start: I was looking forward to a brainless action movie, which leaves me wondering why the dedicated over half the movie to build up some cheesy plot. The action way too predictable, and no where near enough to save the movie, as there wasn't anything else apart from the CGI and music to be interested in.

The plot was all around terrible, at first it's about some technologically advanced Nazis, that even though they can inhabit the moon and build advanced spacefighters, they are too technologically inept to figure out a way to use their spaceship without the computing power of an Ipad. They're portrayed typical dumb Nazis, and at the same time are more advanced than the rest of the world, and yet get taken down so easily, because in the end, they're just dumb Nazis.

The love story is especially poor, as Renate (Julia Dietze) falls in love with James (Christopher Kirby) for seemingly no other reason than he's black. You don't get to know anything about him, apart from that he's a black model. Nothing else is revealed. Klaus (Götz Otto), on the other hand, is revealed to have ambition, he believes that one day he will rule the nazi base on the moon and displays active interest in having Renate as his wife, but he's just a dumb nazi with dumb nazi views, so Renate falls in love with the black man instead. He doesn't do anything the whole movie, until at the very end he pulls some wires which ends up crashing the huge nazi spaceship, but that didn't even matter, as Renate had already killed off the nazi leader. So the only reason he's in the film is to have Renate fall in love with him, even though he never displays any interested in her.

***/Spoilers***

In short, it's a bad movie all around, the plot is terrible and the action is just too short lived to provide any real entertainment, because they've decided to devote more than half the movie on trying to scrape the plot together, which should just have been used as an excuse to show great action scenes in the first place, but instead just ends up destroying whatever hope it had of becoming an instant classic within action movies.

1/10

They Are Back!

[victuki · 7/10 · 14 September 2014]

Back in 1945, before the end of the Reich, Nazis sent a massive contingent to the dark side of the Moon, to settle and be prepared for a future invasion to Earth. Only that is enough to watch it, so absurd and ludicrous, but that's only the beginning of it. The first human to contact these Moon Nazis is a black man, and the USA president is a woman...to much for those Nazis to process. It is a comical approach no doubt, but as the story unfolds, it turns to be not only funny, but a refined satire about power, the USA imperialism and so on and so forth.

This project, partially financed by fans, is a mixture of low budget film and blockbuster (Udo Kier and Götz Otto are film celebrities), both in form and content, and though the Nazi theme might be a bit recurring in a way, the final result is a light entertainment film, but not a meaningless one.

There is a criticism to USA foreign politics, a.k.a. imperialism, to power, corruption etc. but using humour to show it, which is always a good treat, and it leaves no one indifferent. This is a special film, filled with absurd situations, no intention of being serious whatsoever, and loads of funny moments. I honestly recommend it because is fun, nasty at times, but always makes sense, and again, it is really absurd. At the end of the day, they come from the dark side of the Moon...

Really well designed but never as sharp or as funny as needed and often a bit too silly for its own good

[bob the moo · 3 June 2012]

Those who listen to Mark Kermode will have heard of this film quite some time ago as he frequently makes reference to the one-liner summary of this film as it has done the rounds for a while. Finally it arrived but, as interested as I was, I was also put in mind of Snakes on a Plane, another film that benefited from an odd, internet-friendly quirk to it and managed to make the most of a so-so film by virtue of its oddity and its viral marketing. Iron Sky turns out to be similar in that it doesn't live up to what it could have been, but it does actually turn out to be reasonably entertaining despite its many weaknesses and limitations.

The thing that it is best at is the thing that has been in the makers' minds ever since they had the idea to make this film – the design. With 1940's technology combined with modern sci-fi conventions, the effects are full of wonderful steam-punk creations with large cogs, heaving computers and everything very of the era but yet in space. It is ridiculous but yet also very cool. It helps that the CGI is actually much better than I expected – all of the battles and ships looked really good and worked well. As it is in regards the core idea, the film is best when simply delivering on it – by showing us Moon Nazi's! Happily the film doesn't totally fall down everywhere else, but it is certainly not as clever as it wants to be nor as funny as it thinks it is. The script sees lots of digs at various countries and lots of pop culture reference points – from sci-fi series through to YouTube viral videos, there are lots of things in here. Problem is that in terms of the references, they are mostly just made rather than made cleverly. This does still work in terms of amusing but there is plenty of scope for them to have been stronger references with something smart behind them. Speaking of smart, it must also be said that the satire is rather blunt as well, even if most of it has good intentions. I liked the rise of the Palin-esque President on the back of Nazi style campaigning (it didn't seem too out of step with real-life hyperbole) and also some of the broader jokes at the expense of current events (the world leaders roaring at the idea that North Korea could be responsible for the army on the moon was probably my favourite) but mostly the gags were too obvious and neither as smart nor as funny as they should have been. Too often the film also becomes a little too silly for its own good. Some of the silliness works (ie, the central idea behind the movie) but too often it is just a bit daft.

The worst part of the daftness is the character played by Sergeant. She goes for it with vigour but her rather vampish OTT performance isn't backed up well enough by the material and the tone of most of her scenes don't really work. Dietze is better and has an easy charm on the screen while Otto and Kier make for good villains. Kirby doesn't have enough material to work with and ends up with a rather generic character and performance to match. Paul's impression of Palin is a decent one although to a certain degree it is a case of shooting fish in a barrel. Generally the cast is a limiting factor it has to be said – even those that are decent are only that.

Overall Iron Sky is a catchy idea that doesn't fully deliver in reality. Visually and conceptually it is surprisingly strong throughout and amongst the broad jokes and digs there are some to be enjoyed. It is just a shame that the material limits the success by being broad when it should have been pointed, and satirically delivering slow slaps when it should have been jabbing. It still is quite fun to watch, but it could have been a lot stronger with as much work put into the script as there appears to have been put into the conceptual designs.

Don't get fooled by the bizarre rave reviews

[embedrei · 1/10 · 19 October 2012]

Without doubt this movie is in the same league as "Epic Movie", "Disaster Movie" or "Meet the Spartans". It tries desperately to be funny and fails completely, because the guys obviously don't know the first things about comedy. There is nothing more annoying than totally clueless and unfunny wannabe comedians.

A typical example: The moon Nazis want to meet the President of the USA. Their space ship lands in Upstate New York, in the middle of a marijuana field. What? The owner, a redneck woman with a rifle, attacks the soldiers and they have to flee. Again: What the ...? Maybe this is a hint that Iron Sky only works as a Stoner-Movie and anybody not under the influence of certain substances should shy away from it. The second part is definitely true.

As for the alleged political satire: Sarah Palin might have been funny in 2008. Sarah Who? Exactly. By using a Palin look-a-like as President they forsake any claim to political relevance. They didn't dare to make fun of Obama. This moral cowardice is actually quite funny, but not in a laughing out loud way.

Iron Sky is a total wreck of a movie. How could anybody grant it more than two stars? One star because they have to and one because the special effects are kind of OK. But right now there are more that 50 rave reviews with 9 and 10 stars. Very strange indeed. Maybe there has been an invasion from the dark side of the moon after all. Some are complaining that the critics don't get this lowbrow excuse of a "comedy", some are even insinuating that the critics might be Nazis themselves. Aaron Seltzer must be green with envy because none of his movies ever summoned a similar crowd of devoted eulogists. I guess the Iron Sky producers have done something right after all.

Excellent effort, worthy of viewing

[jf-47 · 8/10 · 14 February 2012]

Saw this movie the 62nd Berlinale (Berlin Film Festival). Recommend its worth your time given a few caveats.

Lots of things to like about Timo's sophomore effort here. The movie is intentionally campy and plays to a number of eccentric stereotypes. Albeit, it feels very much a European view of some of the US eccentricities. The script was, by and large, well developed, the humor a little cheesy at times but generally spot on and large kudos should be paid to the FX, CGI teams for some outstanding segments in a sub $10M budgeted movie. The best parts include some great inside jokes specific to Americans and Germans, wonderful stereotyping of international ethnicities/prejudices, great attention to detail in costumes, sets, current culture trends and some above average acting by Julia Dietze, Goetze Otto and, of course, the wonderful Udo Kier. Oh, and the Laibach score for the movie was simply superb.

My caveats are that the cut I saw could have used slightly more surgical editing. Also, while I think Christopher Kirby has played well in other movies, I felt disappointed by this casting choice, as his role was central to the story line and the least "even" in terms of performance. Finally, it is intentional camp so expectations should be adjusted prior to entering the theater. I'm not sure the Mystery Science Theater guys could have come up with better lines than some that were already in the script of this movie.

In the end this felt much more thought out and a real "labor of love" than the traditional camp of Scary Movie, et al. This movie certainly has all the right elements of an instant cult classic. Putting it more simply, its about Nazis, living in a swastika shaped Moon base, trying to re-invade Earth!

My sincere thanks to the Iron Sky community for pulling the resources together to get this film made. For $7.5M I'd say, job very well done! This is probably, or usually, a ~7 IMDb score for this kind of a movie. I'm giving it 8 to balance out the previous reviewer.

The satire is a bit toothless, but in general it's a pretty funny film with a hilarious premise

[zetes · 7/10 · 3 June 2012]

Two words: SPACE Nazis! This Finnish film posits that Nazis founded a moon colony on the dark side in the 1940s and have been secretly ramping up for war there ever since. When American astronauts run into them, it accelerates their plans for invasion. This would have made an awesome B-movie, but this is instead an amusing comedy. Christopher Kirby plays a black astronaut who gets captured. In reality, he's just a model who was recruited by the President (Stephanie Paul, mimicking Sarah Palin) to bolster her approval ratings in lieu of the upcoming election. Udo Kier, the only recognizable actor in the piece, plays the moon fuhrer. Gotz Otto plays a Nazi leader who wishes to usurp that position. Julia Dietze plays a Nazi schoolteacher and Otto's fiancée. Otto and Dietze go on a reconaissance mission to Earth to prepare for the invasion, but Paul and her campaign manager (Peta Sergeant) give them political power by making them her speechwriters (she loves their powerful rhetoric and jackbooted style). Meanwhile, Kirby, changed into an albino by Nazi scientists, becomes a hobo trying to convince people that the Moon Nazis are coming to invade Earth. The political satire is more than a bit dated - I mean, Sarah Palin, really? This must have been written several years ago, one would think. But it's often very funny, and it looks great for what I assume is a pretty low-budget film. Kirby in particular is wonderful and Dietze is a real doll.

Classic B-Movie

[slayerjmk95 · 9/10 · 21 February 2012]

Out of all the films being released in 2012, Iron Sky is, without a doubt, one of the most fun films to be a part of the list. When Nazis build a giant space station on the Moon after the final days of World War II, they await for the day when the Fourth Reich can return to Earth and try to conquer it again.

Yes, it does seem a bit pro-Nazi, but when you watch the film it really isn't; if anything, it does the greatest job at making fun of Nazis. I've never had a more hysterical and enjoyable ride with a movie since Super 8. The script is absolutely cheesy, the visual effects are astonishing, and the action is non-stop. There isn't much to say about the film besides the fact that it's a strange yet entertaining time at the movies and you're sure to not forget it because, even though some people will hate it and others will like it, the story is just so random you can't not remember it. Definitely one to check out for yourself, but just a heads-up for everyone; there's NOTHING realistic about the film. That's another reason why it's really fun.

8.5/10 Stars***

visually beautiful, not perfect but definitely worth seeing

[rodebrtus · 7/10 · 14 February 2012]

Some reviewers have been a bit harsh with this film.

Film made with the fans for the fans, a perfect idea, an amazing set of trailers and finally a film that delivers most of the time. Of course, you cant compare the whole film with a trailer and yes, from time to time things could've been done better, particularly with the comedic pace and the plot. But it will definitely get cult status and I am sure that most people will genuinely enjoy this movie. It is visually beautiful and also the music is amazing, it's made by this band called Laibach (from Slovenia) who are experts on themes like this.

Anyway, I tried hard not to have spoilers in here and I will keep it this way. What I am trying to say is that if you take everything into account (the work, the process) the outcome is quite remarkable.

mrskull

Terrible film.

[saharapage · 1/10 · 2 June 2012]

All I can say is where are the laughs in this terrible film? I was waiting for so many bad ass jokes, I mean Nazis in space! No, what we got were silly, juvenile slapstick. uninteresting sub plots turn out to be all there is. The Nazis are going to invade earth but this is just left in the background of the story until the end of the film. I laughed once in the whole film. Some very one note performances from some of the actors, but I don't blame them, the script was terrible and it was probably what the "director" wanted, I would not allow him to direct traffic! For the budget for the film, the production values were very good and the space ships looked the part. I will never know why Udo Kier decided to be part of this film but at least he had very little to do in it. The only actor who can walk away with her head held high from this debacle is Julia Dietze. Although her character was thinly drawn she managed to project a certain sincerity but what she had to work with was just terrible. The other performances were shallow, monotonous, stereotypes.

A for effort

[kosmasp · 7/10 · 7 June 2012]

A multilingual movie, this is really a very absurd idea taking to the max. I guess you know what the premise is (it's one of those one joke made into a feature film types of movies) and I do think it works. The success in Germany at least shows that people will buy into the hype and watch anything, as crazy as it might sound. This movie deserved that kind of attention.

Actors from all around Europe (or rather all around the world) assemble to make this worth your while. Most of the jokes actually work quite fine with an occasional misfire here and there. It also makes sense (within the reality/absurdity of the movie that is) and is something the filmmakers can be proud of. There is something that you could call a tag scene at the end of the movie. I'm not sure it is worth sitting in a cinema waiting for that though (it's really short and can be searched on the internet I guess)

Not quite the worst film of the year so far, but close.

[TheSquiss · 1/10 · 4 July 2012]

Iron Sky certainly isn't the worst film of the year so far (that accolade belongs to Act of Valour) but it is the worst of the past seven days and that's a week that included Piranha 3DD! There are plot spoilers ahead so if you're still interested in seeing the film after my opening line, I'd suggest we part company now. Feel free to drop me a line, though, if you watch Iron Sky and it all makes sense to you. I'd be intrigued to hear how somebody of sound mind could defend it.

I approached it in much the same way as the 'biting fish and tits' flick, assuming it would be a pastiche or would at least be funny, but I departed very disappointed. Iron Sky doesn't take itself too seriously, that isn't the issue, though it does become a little full of itself. However, it has completely forgotten to be funny or even remotely consistent. It makes it's own rules up as it goes along and then breaks them on a whim.

The premise: In 1945 the Germans fled to the dark side of the moon to lick their wounds and prepare for a full attack on the world at a later date. In 2018, The President of the USA (nameless but clearly and badly based on Sarah Palin), unaware of the Nazi base, sends a mission to the moon in the hope it will win her a second term and consequently spoils the Fourth Reich's plan. The Nazis take one of the astronauts hostage and kill the others. Then, discovering the astronaut's mobile phone powers their ship, they opt to go to Earth to steal more phones in order to power the rest of the ships so they can finally take over the world.

It could have been very clever and it should have been very funny but, regardless of the filmmakers' intentions, it's just a tedious, confusing car crash of a film. I knew of an American several years ago who decided to impress her English boyfriend and his parents with a traditional English Christmas meal. All went well until dessert, whereupon she served a choice of trifle or mince pies. Alas, she assumed that 'jelly' in England is the same as in the USA and so made the trifle with strawberry jam and, for the mince pies, yes, you guessed it, she mixed the cherries, dried fruit and brandy with minced beef. Iron Sky is the filmic equivalent of her catering but probably less funny as an anecdote.

Although shot on a tight budget of about €7.5m, the effects and models are mostly quite good or at least sufficient enough not to jar too much and that's about as good as it gets with Iron Sky. The design of some the ships and machinery leaves a bit to be desired and technology seems to have evolved at different rates on the moon i.e. the Nazis have a vast fleet of space craft that can reach Earth but are still faffing around with computers the size of a small room and haven't developed a mobile phone.

And that brings us to the innumerable flaws and inconsistencies: Despite needing to steal phones in order to power the ships, when it all goes wrong, they still somehow launch all of their ships. For some reason neither the USA nor the moon base has radar, time seems completely lost as characters return to the moon apparently within minutes while battles still rage in the sky, Earthlings are blissfully unaware of any issues in the sky despite the colossal loss of life across the globe, characteristics change on a whim, astronauts become homeless, penniless tramps in an instant… You know what? Forget it. Life's too short to point out the ineptitude of the writers and director who don't even warrant a name check here. It's quicker to watch the film for yourself than for me to detail even half the problems. I'd rather spend that time slamming my head in the car door.

Iron Sky is utter bilge. If after reading this you still go to see it, you deserve everything you get. Put it this way, if my life depended on watching either Piranha 3DD or Iron Sky again, the tits and the fish would win, hands down! For more reviews from The Squiss subscribe to my blog at www.thesquiss.co.uk