Iron Sky Review

Disclaimer: If you are a believer in American Exceptionalism, if you have been a bit too enthusiastic with your patriotism during the current Olympics, or if you believe that a certain former governor from Alaska is the only sane future for the United States, then do yourself a favor: skip this movie and this review.

Moon. Nazis. 

Nazis, check. "Not Palin," check. "Not Palin" using the office as a home gym? Not pictured, but double check.
(promotional image for Iron Sky)

That is all.

If you really need more reasons to watch the movie, I can say a bit more about the brilliantly camptastic and geek-pandering movie Iron Sky. After all, DC Geeks just finished sponsoring a showing of the film in the DC area, and I owe it to you who weren't there to tell you just what you missed out on.

Dieselpunk/ fantasy/ comedy/ space porn of the highest order.

Iron Sky is a magnificent, partially fan-funded film that is available on demand in the US market. As in, you get enough folks to demand it, they’ll put on a showing. A big chunk of the film budget was raised from fan investors and through fan purchases of Iron Sky merch, including their War Bond kits, which seem to still be available. The rest of the funds, the vast majority of them, came from a series of European institutions that encourage and support film-making. 

Beyond the international investors, one of the selling points for the Finnish movie is its non-Amerocentric viewpoint, which uses the stereotype of a war-mongering, blindly patriotic America to, in my opinion, great comedic effect. Truth be told, while this is a dark comedy it also confirms some of my darker thoughts on how America is perceived by the rest of the world. The pseudo-Palin president is terrifyingly honest in her Oval Office interactions, and what pieces of Americana that are shown adhere to parody and trope.

Honestly, for the first ten or twenty minutes, I was worried that the movie would degenerate into Black Dynamite in Space. One of the two male leads is an African American. On a moonbase. A Nazi moonbase. You can see where this is going. But only until the first of many unexpected moments, after which, I was laughing hard enough that a fellow DCG writer was elbowing me in the ribs to shush me.

You know. Like they do... (promotional image for Iron Sky)

That’s how the whole film operates. Fun, a bit campy, pretty special effects, what seems like a cute story. Then there’s the twist, a weapon that is completely logical when you think about it (and one which hard sci-fi fans will appreciate if they get past the other violations of science and physics). Trying not to spoil anything, but the most amusing and horrifying moment in the movie played off of the stereotype of the uneducated Americans who wouldn't recognize historical references if it were blaring in their face.

So if you can take a joke or fifty at America's expense (as well as Britain's, India's, Finland's, and North Korea's expenses, to be fair); you owe it to yourself to get some friends, find a showing, and enjoy it. I even heard someone as they exited the theater muttering “That was the worst film I've seen in ten years,” laughing through the whole remark. This is not great cinema. It's fun cinema, and if you want to enjoy watching it, you have to appreciate the difference.

Dun dun duuun! (promotional image for Iron Sky)

During the credits, I noticed the "Iron Sky Community" and fan-funding shoutouts listed. In the immediate Google search, I found ways to spread the word as well as rumors regarding sequels or prequels. I don’t know how they’ll do it given where the story went, but I certainly hope they do. The writers, director, and producers have all gone on my automated alerts. I want to know about their future projects. That’s how much fun I had.

Since the Iron Sky community is so eager to have everyone share and embed their media, let's watch that trailer one last time: