Iron Sky – The Coming Race

World premiere 16.1.2018, 90 min, K-12

Whatever critics and fans might say about the sequel of the 2012 adventure Iron Sky , one thing is clear: the world premiere yesterday in Helsinki with about 2000 guests was probably the biggest ever for a Finnish movie. (REPORT HERE) And another record, the movie’s 20 Mio Euro budget makes Iron Sky 2 (director: Timo Vuorensola) also the most expensive Finnish movie so far.

Synopsis of this Science Fiction / Fantasy satire: Twenty years after the events of Iron Sky, the former Nazi Moonbase has become the last refuge of mankind. Earth was devastated by a nuclear war, but buried deep under the wasteland lies a power that could save the last of humanity, which leads our heroes on an adventure into the Hollow Earth. To save humanity they must fight the Vril, an ancient shape-shifting reptilian race and their army of dinosaurs.

The main characters are Obi, a strong and competent woman leading the small gang of – sometimes less competent – warriors for mankind, Vladimir Burlakov (Sasha) and Kit Dale (Malcolm). Julia Dietze and Udo Kier repeat their roles as “Renate Richter” and “Wolfgang Kortzfleisch”; Kier is also lustfully ridiculous as Adolf Hitler. And there’s also this evil Jobsist sect with their guru boss Donald (Tom Green), LOL!

In this lavish action movie with lots of combat in space and in a jungle pretty much everybody and everything is being made fun of – even the laws of physics. But just like Deadpool and Guardians of the Galaxy the main focus is this certain kind of anarchistic humor in the spirit of Monty Pythons. And when you like those movies mentioned, you’ll also enjoy watching Iron Sky 2 (and the predecessor).

I had a lot of fun with this “how to put your foot in it in style” attitude. As the principal photography happened in 2015, there’s a certain real-life absurdity that isn’t tackled here… but maybe that’s good because this absurdity really does not need any more media coverage…

There are plenty of other targets, and I surely missed some gags hidden in details, in those set decorations or costumes. Kari Ketonen as Putin and Stephanie Paul as Sarah Palin are brilliant and could have had more screen time. Star Wars fans might enjoy some scenes, too, besides the main character being named “Obi”. The fantastic sound track by Laibach needs to be mentioned here as well, and Samu Haber turning the credits song into real ear candy.

Summing up, this movie is simply a lot of fun to watch, not only because of all those great visual effects. Let’s just hope that the story remains Science Fiction and a satire …