A deliberately ludicrous fantasy that severely overestimated its own popularity heads beyond the streaming atmosphere

Cult classics aren’t designed or manufactured; it’s a status that needs to be earned. Nobody seemed to enlighten the team behind Iron Sky, though, because it made its intentions far too obvious from the start, and it never stood a chance of living up to the initial buzz when it was finally released for the world to see.

“Nazis on the Moon” is a hell of a concept, so it was no surprise co-writer and director Timo Vuorensola’s insane sci-fi fantasy gained plenty of online traction long before it released. When that day came, the bottom fell out, with Iron Sky bombing at the box office and struggling to cobble together even the most mediocre of Rotten Tomatoes scores.

It’s rated at 41 and 37 percent by critics and audiences for a very good reason, because once the admittedly ingenious premise is brought to the table, the rest of the movie doesn’t really have anything worthwhile to say or do in order to make the most of it. While you can’t help but admire a Nazi moon base becoming humanity’s last refuse in the aftermath of nuclear devastation, it’s a one-note gimmick that had so much more potential.

More than a decade on, and Iron Sky has made like its protagonist and risen once again, with FlixPatrol naming it as one of the most-watched features on Prime Video. It did get a sequel that brought dinosaurs into mix for reasons that aren’t even supposed to make sense, but that didn’t make up for such a lackluster opening installment.