The Sky Crawlers

THE SKY CRAWLERS (2008) - Sept. 6, 2008
This was a bit of a disappointment. Set in an undetermined future, in which war is a constant -- though it's waged by corporations rather than traditional armies, and there doesn't seem to be much at stake (it's briefly implied that the war is ongoing solely because society needs a war to keep them occupied -- an intriguing, 1984-esque idea that goes absolutely nowhere). Because there's nothing really at stake, the pilots (most of the movie takes place within a tiny airfield in which a handful of pilots reside) who fly the fighter-planes are all completely laid-back, not really caring about anything other than a small concern for their own well-being. This could have made for a splendidly atypical war film if the characters became people we really care about, but this never really happens -- all the characters are somewhat thin, and most of the time with the protagonist is spent leading up to a twist that's obvious almost right from the start. Add to this a conclusion that practically defines the word "anticlimactic", and you have a movie which, though well made, never really lives up to its potential. **