Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow/YMMV
- Damsel Scrappy: Done deliberately with Hot Scoop Polly Perkins, as in the pulps every female character was a Damsel Scrappy. Franky and the Mysterious Woman however are typical modern Action Girls.
- Fridge Brilliance: The idea that Dr. Totenkopf, who has been dead for 20 years in the story, is being portrayed using re-cut archived footage of Laurence Olivier, who had died 15 years before the film is released. The idea of a dead man portraying a dead man just kinda seems to work.
- Ham and Cheese: Angelina Jolie as Franky.
- Values Dissonance: A mercenary commanding his own private air force seems an unusual choice for a hero now, but makes sense for the time the movie is set, when the exploits of the Flying Tigers in China made them popular heroes and a good choice for a hero.
- Why Would Anyone Take That Bitch Back?: She sabotaged his plane. His super-fast high-flying plane. Causing him to crash. And be imprisoned and tortured. But, y'know, he was cheating on her, really he should be the one who's sorry. (Or he could've drowned her in the ocean before anyone finds them, at the end. Just saying.)