Director: Timo Vuorensola
Cast: Götz Otto, Julia Dietze, Christopher Kirby, Peta Sergeant, Udo Kier
Running time: 93 minutes
Certificate: 15
Synopsis: When US astronauts discover a Nazi base of the Dark Side of the Moon, the Fourth Reich send Adler (Otto) and idealistic Renate (Dietze) back to Earth with hostage Washington (Kirby), a black astronaut sent into space as a PR stunt. As Adler plans the invasion, Renate learns the truth about her Aryan race…
The most surprising thing about IRON SKY is not the high concept goofiness, but the fact that it’s really good, and for the right reasons. Myself and my esteemed man-date for the evening, Sir Tom Fordy, didn’t know what tone to expect. But the opening sequence laid our fears to rest, as it features the least convincing space-suits since Marty McFly scared the bejesus out of his dad. IRON SKY is a knockabout yarn and revels in being so. The ‘exploitation’ intentions of the film are established very early, as the black protagonist’s first lines are ‘Maaaaaan, you gotsta be trippin!’ and our female lead’s clothes are removed by an open airlock. Those clothes, by the way, being one heck of a saucy Nazi uniform. Director and screenwriter Timo Vuorensola makes no apologies for the overt sexualisation of the Fourth Reich’s outfit, all leather, cleavage, stockings and corsets. The important thing to remember is that this is a comedy and not to be taken seriously. It sounds obvious to declare such a thing, but there’s no doubt the iconography of Nazi Germany is still deeply disturbing to many and trivialising such things could be seen as dangerous as well as disrespectful. Mel Brooks said that if you laugh at Hitler and co then you cut them down to size, and IRON SKY is just too damn silly to be taken at all seriously. It invites you to laugh at ridiculous nature of everything you see on screen.
In true exploitation movie manner, it has some enjoyably hammy acting, particularly from our three leads. Julia Dietze plays the sexiest Nazi since Dr Elsa Schneider from INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE (1989, all credit to Fordy for pointing that out). Diestze infuses the role with a surprising amount of verisimilitude and her character’s story arch is the emotional core of the film. Her baneful betrothed is Klaus (Gotz Otto), the young lion who hopes to one day take command of the moon based menace. This isn’t the first time Otto has portrayed an aryan super soldier, as he played Stamper, one of the better Bond heavies who came dangerously close to stealing the show in TOMORROW NEVER DIES (1997). His chiselled good looks, quiet assertiveness and innate charisma make him a formidable antagonist. He also looks great in leather. Just sayin’ is all. Then we have James Washington, the unfortunate black male model-come-astronaut who is held captive by space Nazis. Christopher Kirby (THE MATRIX RELOADED/REVOLUTIONS) may have been a little embarrassed with the token-black dialogue (‘It’s all good! It’s all good! …You gon’regret that, white boy!), but these are absolutely basic stock characters. There is no real substance to them and in most other movies, this kind of representation could be offensive, but not here. Kirby and Dietze also partake in the most hilarious police interview since THE BIG LEBOWSKI (1998). There is notable support from Stephanie Paul who plays Palin-president-parody that, although intentionally grotesque, still doesn’t come close to the magnitude of the real life Palin’s horrifying insanity. The brilliantly named Peta Sergeant vamps it up as The President’s aide, Vivian. What could be seen as the most reductive role in the film (cleavage you could dive into, motivated by power and a dislike of men) becomes a hoot to watch as Sergeant really, and I mean REALLY goes for it. Then there’s cult hero Udo Kier as reigning Fuhrer Wolfgang Kortzfleisch. Kier clearly doesn’t give a toss, and he’s all the more endearing for it. It looks like he just turned up on set, got put in a Nazi outfit and stood around looking bored in front of a green screen for a weekend. His apparent disinterest in proceedings is juxtaposed with the vim and vigour of the rest of the cast and makes for a peculiarly enjoyable experience.
Like a lot of exploitation cinema, it throws in some social commentary (as justification?). When Adler and Renate reach Earth, they align themselves with Vivian and The President, who promptly adopt the right wing, social cleansing agenda of the space Nazis as their own rhetoric. The President’s campaign posters change from the Obama inspired ‘Yes She Can’ to the sinister and oppressive aesthetic of The Fourth Reich, allowing the audience to draw some rather obvious parallels between the extreme right of today’s America with that of old school fascism. This movie really puts the B into subtle and towards the denouement, the satire starts marching about in jackboots. Some of the funniest scenes take place at the UN with the interaction of all the delegates (including a great gag about North Korea) and with the appearance of American space craft The USS George W Bush. It leads the Earth armada against the Nazis and is symbolic of its namesake, as it creates a simple duality; Earth = Good, Nazis = Bad. It’s a simplistic notion that Bush himself tried to evoke; America = Good, Everyone Else Who May Disagree With America About Anything = Bad. And perhaps IRON SKY over eggs the anti-American pudding (mmm) in the final act, but its still funny, and if anybody takes the agenda of this film too seriously, they have real problems.
IRON SKY is enjoyable fluff. If you watch it was a group of friends and a bowl of salt, you’ll enjoy it. The film doesn’t provide satire, it clubs you round the head with it, like Eli Roth in INGLORIOUS BASTERDS. But it is chucklesome. Keep an eye out for nods to DOWNFALL and DR STRANGELOVE, nice little homages, but it’s always dangerous for a film to reference something much better.
IRON SKY is out now
