Film: Iron Sky

And now, for some one-of-a-kind weirdness from Finland: Iron Sky (2012), a daft, funny, visually striking science fiction satire that assaults the world geopolitical climate in broad strokes.

No need for an in-depth summary here: at the end of World War II, survivors of the Third Reich establish a secret moonbase in order to plot their return to power. Fast forward to the present: when a Sarah Palin-like president sends an expedition to the moon as a political stunt, the Fourth Reich sees its window of opportunity.

Iron Sky is wildly uneven in many ways. In particular, the English-language acting is iffy, and the humor misses the mark as often as it hits. But oh, is it ever different, a bizarre, irreverent skiffy retrofuture with moon Nazis, space zeppelins, and the weirdest love triangle of all time. Some of the jokes that don’t fall flat are laugh-out-loud funny, and there are moments of gleeful political incorrectness. (Quote from the peanut gallery: “Oh my god…they went there.”)

The look of the film is amazing, especially the Nazi moonbase with its steampunk tech and its throwback villainy. It also transcends its modest budget to present some impressive space battles. I wouldn’t recommend setting Iron Sky aside for intense filmic study, but if you’re craving something full of eyeball kicks, sight gags, campy shtick and scathing political subtext — well, maybe not even that sub — it’s definitely worth a couple of beers and ninety minutes of your time.