Iron Sky - We Come in Peace - Director`s Cut

After his no-budget film Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning was viewed over 8 million times on the internet, Timo Vuorensola was able to realize his first feature film with the help of film funding and a large-scale crowd funding campaign. The result, the sci-fi satire Iron Sky, was able to attract over 450,000 visitors to cinemas in Germany alone. Overall, the success of the theatrical and DVD/Blu-Ray exploitation was great enough that Vuorensola had enough funding to complete the version of the film that he refers to as his actual director`s cut. Before this 20-minute-longer version is released for home viewing with some new extras, Iron Sky first makes it to the big screen again in the Director`s Cut.

The Movie: There are actually people who are convinced that the Nazis once escaped to the moon and set up a base on its dark side from which they plan a new world order. Filmmaker Timo Vuorensola took this absurd theory as the basis for his first feature film and turned it into a biting satire that, despite its relatively low budget, boasts astonishingly good special effects. Filming took place in locations including Frankfurt, which has been convincingly transformed into New York with the help of computer effects, and Australia, where the numerous interior shots were shot.

Iron Sky begins in 2018: during a mission to the moon, inexperienced astronaut James Washington (Christopher Kirby) discovers a hidden space station built on the dark side of the moon by the Nazis. You see, just before the end of World War II, a group of Nazis managed to escape from Earth using secret Reich flying discs. They then spent the years on the moon preparing to finally take over the world at some point. Now that they have been discovered, they see their time has come. But before humanity is to be enslaved with the help of the secret weapon Götterdämmerung, power-obsessed intelligence chief Klaus Adler (Götz Otto) travels to Earth with his fiancée, schoolteacher Renate Adler (Julia Dietze), where contact is to be made with the President of the United States (Stephanie Paul) with the help of Washington. While the President hopes that the sudden appearance of the Nazis will guarantee her re-election - after all, a wartime President has still been re-elected - Adler is sure that he will now succeed in becoming autocrat over the people. But he has reckoned without the subhuman Washington and his influence over Renate.

Iron Sky is a respectable piece of science fiction satire that has many great ideas to offer. The humor may not always work. Some moments seem a bit awkwardly staged and many a gag is just too flat to elicit even a weary smile. Other ideas, on the other hand, are full of bite and originality and with their bitterly satirical character they almost make you stop laughing. It's especially worth paying attention to the smaller details, because that's where a lot of the best gags are hidden. Because even though many of the satirical aspects of the film aren't exactly subtly conveyed (as exemplified by the American president's resemblance to Sarah Palin), the true genius of Iron Sky actually lies more in the small details.

Sure, the mix of clever satire and wacky sci-fi comedy doesn't always work, some of the actors act a little too over-the-top, and the decision to dub the film in its entirety for release in Germany rather than leaving it in the much more effective bilingual version also robs the film of some of its great potential. But despite some justified criticisms, what Vuorensola has put together here for a mini-budget is, on balance, absolutely successful. And with a delightfully over-the-top Udo Kier, as always, and the perfectly cast leads Götz Otto and Julia Dietze, the film is just that much more fun. Iron Sky may not be great cinematic art and may not be able to fully exploit the potential of its wonderful initial idea. For an enjoyable evening at the cinema, the film offers enough cleverness and entertainment value!

The Directors Cut: For a renewed, limited theatrical release and a special edition on Blu-Ray and DVD, the film has been extended by almost 20 minutes. In addition to a few extra special effects used in the extended battles in space, on the moon, and on Earth, the film has also been expanded to include some dialogue sequences and more plot elements. For instance, the arrival of the American astronauts on the moon at the beginning of the story is much longer in the new cut. The demise of one of intelligence chief Klaus Adler's henchmen, who is not yet really familiar with the power of modern cars on Earth, is wonderfully macabre, and Adler's mating visit with Renate has also been extended in an amusing way. If you liked the film in the original theatrical version, you'll definitely enjoy the newly added scenes and effects, and you'll also find this version to be the better one, as it feels a bit more polished and rounded overall. However, those who already had little to do with the 90-minute version will hardly be able to make friends with the director's cut. For fans there is however a clear: Worth seeing!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp