Iron Sky

Iron Sky Information

Iron Sky is a 2012 Finnish-German-Australian comic science fiction action film directed by Timo Vuorensola and written by Johanna Sinisalo and Michael Kalesniko. 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 theatrically released throughout Europe in April 2012.

On 20 May 2012, Kaukomaa announced that there are plans for a prequel and a sequel but refused to disclose details.

Plot

The film opens in 2018 with an American manned landing mission returning to the Moon. The lander carries two astronauts, one of them a black male model, James Washington, specifically chosen to aid the President of the United States in her reelection (various "Black to the Moon" word-play posters are seen in the film, extolling the new Moon landing).

Upon landing on the far side of the Moon they encounter Nazis who have hidden there since 1945. Washington is taken captive and the other astronaut killed. Nazi scientist Doktor Richter investigates Washington and finds his smartphone. Although initially skeptical, he recognizes that its computing power outstrips all their technology combined. Moreover it serves perfectly as a control unit for space battleship Götterdämmerung. When he strives to demonstrate the completion of his Wunderwaffe to the current Führer, Wolfgang Kortzfleisch, the phone's battery is exhausted. Nazi commander Klaus Adler, who is (for genetic reasons) chosen to mate with Earth specialist Renate Richter, Doktor Richter's daughter, offers to go to Earth to collect more phones. Adler takes a Nazi flying saucer spacecraft to Earth, taking with him Washington, who has been bleached by Richter. Upon landing they find that Renate has stowed away and traveled with them.

Meanwhile on Earth, the President of the United States has to tackle political issues; she desperately needs a miracle to ensure her reelection. Her aide, Vivian Wagner (played by Peta Sergeant), introduces the Nazi couple to her. Adler and Richter go on to revamp the President's campaign Nazi-style, with apparent success while the clueless Richter is unaware of Adler's ambition to become the next Führer and rule the world.

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 and confronts Adler, but is consequently killed by Adler and Vivian. Adler declares himself the new Führer before returning to orbit with Kortzfleisch's flying saucer. At the same time, Renate Richter comes across the now homeless Washington who makes her realize that the Nazis are in fact cruel and vicious, and intend to wipe out all "subhumans" on Earth.

The United Nations assembles to discuss the extraterrestrial Nazi threat. The President is excited to finally have a war which will likely get her reelected 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 illegally developed armed spacecraft, and join in to defeat the invading Nazi armada.

Richter convinces Washington to go to the Moon to stop Adler. They travel in Adler's flying saucer to the Götterdämmerung, where Washington attempts to disable the engines while Richter goes looking for Adler. Meanwhile, the international spacecraft 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 recently installed to control 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 Earth.

The U.S. President calls Wagner from the U.N. session to congratulate her victory. Wagner discloses that presence of large tanks of helium-3 on the Moon. This material would keep the United States independent of foreign power sources for a millennium. Consequently the U.S. president immediately lays claim to it. This enrages a white-haired U.N. member (cameo appearance by "Percy Stuart" Claus Wilcke) who throws his shoe at her which incites all U.N. members into a mass fistfight. This leads to an international turmoil and the international spacecraft of the hitherto allied nations start attacking each other.

Richter meets up with Washington (who regained his natural skin) in the damaged swastika moonbase, where they embrace in front of Richter's flabbergasted former students and some adults who have fled there from other parts of the base. Richter states 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

Julia Dietze as Renate Richter
Götz Otto as Klaus Adler
Christopher Kirby as James Washington
Tilo Prückner as Doktor Richter
Udo Kier as Wolfgang Kortzfleisch
Peta Sergeant as Vivian Wagner
Stephanie Paul as the President of the United States (a parody of Sarah Palin)
Claus Wilcke as the Russian representative that threw his shoe at the U.S. President.

Production

Production began in early 2006, and the production team took their teaser trailer of the film to the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, seeking co-financiers. The team signed a co-production agreement with Oliver Damian's 27 Films Productions. 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, creating participatory cinema. At Wreck-a-Movie, a collaborative film-making web site, the producers 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).

On 11 February 2009, it was announced that the film would star German actress Julia Dietze, while the Slovenian industrial music group Laibach would be recording the soundtrack. 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. The national anthem of the Nazis from the Moon ("Kameraden, wir kehren Heim!") has the tune of "Die Wacht am Rhein". 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.

Iron Sky was filmed in Red camera format. Filming began in November 2010 in Frankfurt for location shooting, and after that in January 2011 in Australia for studio shooting. Settings in Frankfurt were Weseler Werft (Weseler Shipyard) and Taunusstraße (Taunus Street). On 6 February 2011, the filming of Iron Sky concluded; it then entered a 10-week post-production process.

Release

The film premiered on 11 February 2012 at the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival, in the Panorama Special section. It was released in Finland on 4 April and in Germany on 5 April, running in major cinemas. 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. Following high demand from the film's online fanbase, Revolver revised its decision and Iron Sky's UK cinema release was extended.

Reception

Critical reception of Iron Sky was mostly negative. The film has a 37% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 35 reviews. William Goss of Film.com gave the film a D+, saying it "feels more and more like a lost Austin Powers sequel that already feels exceedingly dated in its humor." Jeff Shannon of The Seattle Times gave the film two out of four stars, describing it as "Great idea, lousy execution."

Awards

The film was awarded the 2012 Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts AACTA Award for Best Visual Effects.

Spin-offs

On 5 October 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.

On 19 August 2012, TopWare Interactive announced an Iron Sky: Invasion, an official video game adaptation and expansion of Iron Sky, to be developed by Reality Pump Studios. The game was described as an advanced space flight simulator game, with elements of the strategy and RPG genres.