Twenty years after the events of the first Iron Sky film (the 2012 flick that detailed Hitler’s exile to the dark side of the moon at the end of World War II where he plans his decades-in-the-making revenge…which ultimately was unsuccessful, but did lead to a freakin’ nuclear war, so there’s that) we pick up with the adventures of survivors of that aforementioned cataclysm taking up residence in the now abandoned Nazi moon base.
All is not well however, as the colony is a mess, and the base is crumbling to shit. Things look up however when more folks from Earth arrive, and lend hope in the telling of tales concerning a secret city hidden deep within the bowels of the Earth.
Obi Washington (Lara Rossi), the daughter of the colony’s leader Renate Richter (Julia Dietze), assembles a misfit team and heads down to the ol’ Big Blue Marble to see how viable this place is to set up shop. Unfortunately the place is about as friendly as a rabid raccoon with hemorrhoids as it’s packed to the gills with deadly dinosaurs not to mention being ruled by Adolf Hitler (Udo Kier) and his cadre of dictators…who naturally are lizard-men.
I’m gonna lay it on ya honest-like; Iron Sky: The Coming Race is a bit of a mixed-bag. Let’s start it off positive and mention that the legendary Udo Kier is an over-the-top delight to watch as everyone’s least favorite despots, and the concept of Nazis riding dinosaurs to cause all manner of mayhem is a solid one, and irresistible for anyone that grew up with shit like DC Comics Weird War Tales comic books. Also, the effects utilized to bring the action above to life are rather solid, especially given the fact this isn’t a Hollywood flick with countless millions of dollars to work their digital wizardry. Unfortunately, that’s about it for the good stuff.
The main fault with this picture is that it passes itself off as a comedy, but honestly it’s a pretty lousy one. The brunt of the jokes fall flat, and the ones that do land inspire little more than a light chuckle. The humor here would have been better utilized playing the film’s outlandish situations perfectly straight which would have increased the absurdist nature of the piece (think of 1980’s Flash Gordon for an example of this).
In the end, if you want to see any of the nonsense listed above you’ll dig Iron Sky: The Coming Race well enough to give it a go, but the flat humor and played-too-broad aesthetic will doubtless not have you running back for another view.
