Stream Science Fiction Space Epic That Takes History’s Greatest Villains To The Moon

What is Iron Sky about, exactly? The story kicks into high gear when two modern astronauts discover the lunar descendants of Nazis who fled Germany in 1945 (which was certainly a better use for their rockets). The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree even in the vacuum of space, and these villains use technology they capture from their visitors to help power a Nazi space invasion of the planet Earth.

Iron Sky doesn’t have the biggest names in Hollywood, but the cast includes a veritable Who’s Who of captivating character actors. For example, it stars Götz Otto who played a minor Nazi in Schindler’s List but is better known to genre fans as the Big Bad’s second banana in the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies. Additionally, Iron Sky stars Udo Kier, best known for playing billionaire Ron Camp in the Jim Carrey classic Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.

When Iron Sky was released, it was a box office bomb, though it later found a real cult following (more on this soon). It similarly baffled critics: on Rotten Tomatoes, the movie currently has a critical score of 41 percent, with some critics taking aim at the film for its broad attempts at humor and devotion to the aesthetics of shlock cinema. Other critics actually praised this movie for its fast pace, entertaining execution, and subversive plotting.

Iron Sky was released in 2012, and with it came spinoffs in the form of a video game and a board game. These helped to complement the digital prequel comic that had come out the previous year. Looking back, it’s clear that director Timo Vuorensola was hoping this film could become a runaway hit and a merchandizing darling in the vein of Marvel movies.

Despite the movie failing at the box office and getting snubbed by critics, Iron Sky picked up a cult audience over time who appreciated how this film is the intersection of the science fiction and superhero genres and served up with a big side order of strange comedy. It’s got the artistic sensibilities of the craziest things you’ve ever seen flipping through late-night cable, and its off-kilter execution is one that (love it or hate it) you will never forget.

The cult success of Iron Sky eventually led to a 2019 sequel, and its extreme box-office failure led to production company Blind Spot Pictures. Obviously, their efforts didn’t always connect, but we have to respect films that are willing to take very big swings. Iron Sky swings for the fences, and you can judge for yourself whether they knocked it out of the park or struck out by streaming on Prime Video.