The Rocketeer

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George W Apr 22, 2019 This movie is a classic. It has a timeless haze over it that reminds me of Indiana Jones and The Phantom. It's not a large globe trotting movie as the previously mentioned, in fact, its the opposite. It's a small town struck by a big problem. The characters, though are not of ocean depth, are specific with each of their stories and uniquely fit together forming a cast of characters all pushing the story along at the same pace. There are no side stories that lose direction of the film but add small details to what's important to each of them. This carries the viewer along to points where you feel for characters and wish they would succeed in their hopes and dreams. It is a movie that reminds you of the times where you'd be eating a bowl of cereal and playing with your toys while a light hearted adventure was being told on your screen. See more

Finn S Apr 11, 2019 In 1938 Los Angeles, two gangsters in Eddie Valentine's gang steal a rocket pack from Howard Hughes. During their escape from the authorities that ends up on an airfield, one gangster is shot to death, the getaway driver hides the rocket pack, and stunt pilot Cliff Secord's (Billy Campbell) Gee Bee racer is totaled in the resulting auto-airplane accident, crippling his career; he and airplane mechanic A. "Peevy" Peabody (Alan Arkin) later find the rocket pack hidden in a biplane cockpit. Movie star Neville Sinclair (Timothy Dalton) had hired Valentine's gang to steal the rocket pack, and he sends his monstrous henchman Lothar to question the injured getaway driver, who tells him about his hiding the rocket pack at the airfield. Cliff's girlfriend is aspiring actress Jenny Blake (Jennifer Connelly), who has a bit part in Sinclair's latest swashbuckling film, but recent events begin to drive a wedge in their relationship. Sinclair overhears Cliff attempting to tell Jenny about the rocket pack, so he invites her to dinner. Afterward, at a local air show, Cliff uses the rocket pack (and Peevy's newly designed face-hiding finned helmet) to rescue his friend Malcolm, who is drunkenly piloting the biplane. The newsreel press and Valentine's gangsters all see him from the airshow audience, whereupon "The Rocketeer" becomes a media sensation, but also sets Sinclair and the FBI on Cliff's tail... Roger Ebert enjoyed the film, noting its homages to the film serials of the 1930s/1950s. Although Ebert cited the visual effects as being state of the art, he described them "as charmingly direct as those rockets in the Flash Gordon serials "the ones with sparklers hidden inside of them, which were pulled on wires in front of papier-mâch (C) mountains". Leonard Maltin wrote that the "film captures the look of the '30s, as well as the gee-whiz innocence of Saturday matin (C)e serials, but it's talky and takes too much time to get where it's going. Dalton has fun as a villain patterned after Errol Flynn". Peter Travers of Rolling Stone magazine also gave a positive review. "The Rocketeer is more than one of the best films of the summer; it's the kind of movie magic that we don't see much anymore", he continued, "the kind that charms us, rather than bullying us, into suspending disbelief". Rocketeer creator Dave Stevens acknowledged he was "satisfied with 70% of the film" and highly praised Joe Johnston's direction. "The overall spirit and sweetness of the series is still there, intact", Stevens remembers. "We lost some good character stuff in editing for time, but the tone of it is still what I was trying to project in the comic pages. I also thought Joe's casting choices were excellent. To his credit, Joe did not fill out the cast with a bunch of Beverly Hills, 90210 Barbie and Ken-type kids". Stevens found Billy Campbell to be "a good-looking guy, but he also happens to be Cliff! I would never have cast him based on good looks alone, but he came into the audition and just nailed it shut. He was made for it. The part was his". "Rocketeer" which is based on Dave Stevens comic is a truly nice little action adventure set in the 1930s Hollywood channeling the vibes and atmosphere of 1930s films. The cast is nice with Billy Campbell, Alan Arkin, Timothy Dalton and the always lovely Jennifer Connelly. The storyline is ok with a nice touch of Indiana Jones in it and the action sequences work pretty well for being done in 1991. See more

Han W Apr 5, 2019 One of my All-Time favourites! A true classic!

Draco S Aug 27, 2018 Slightly generous rating here. Sort of like a poor man's Iron Man if anything, set in the late 30's with the main guy looking like a cross between John Cusack and Brendan Fraser. The graphics are dated as hell and cliché plot points galore(complete with the villain kidnapping the girl to be saved at the end :eye roll:). Timothy Dalton does well in the villain role though and Jennifer Connelly is supremely gorgeous in this too. I'm sure if I had watched this in the 90's when it came out this would have been more enjoyable, so maybe this rating is a bit unfair. Oh well. See more

Rey R Jul 19, 2018 A fun time like no other! Joe Johnston directed a really entertaining comic book adaptation of The Rocketeer. This movie is still tons of fun. Johnston's 1991 film is filled with action, humor, and a sweet sense of American patriotism. It is not the best movie ever made with its campy special effects and goofy mobster underlings, but you will enjoy The Rocketeer for sure. Bill Campbell plays the lead Cliff Secord. He is unfortunately only likable and not very charming. He delivers lines well enough, but he never astounds you. Unlike, Timothy Dalton who gives a stellar performance as Neville Sinclair. You will never forget this role of Dalton drifting seamlessly from emotion to emotion. Jennifer Connelly is as lovely as ever in a very sincere and sweet portrayal of the Cliff's girlfriend Jenny Blake. Unfortunately, Connelly is wasted and relegated to a merely damsel in distress type role, but she plays it well with heart. Lastly, I rather enjoyed Alan Arkin's grumpy matter of fact tone delivery for all his lines. He is really funny here as usual. In all, The Rocketeer is carried by Dalton's fantastic acting and elevated by Connelly's presence. James Horner's music is uplifting and rousing. Horner's score is symbolic of old American and sounds like a staple of patriotism and thematic scoring. He builds up a warm atmosphere that makes you feel at home instantly. Horner does great work with his compositions for The Rocketeer. In conclusion, The Rocketeer remains a forgotten cult classic that is worth revisiting. Families and adults alike will be pleasantly surprised with what The Rocketeer will give them. See more

Hagrid L Jul 16, 2018 Arguably the best superhero comic book film adaptation of all-time, which may in large part be because the comic is a loving tribute to movie serials (ALA Commando Cody). Disney had sequels and a franchise in mind when they made this film. However, although it was not a box office bomb, it was a financial disappointment. I think the main problems is that it was marketed as a Disney film, instead of being a PG-13 superhero film that's slightly more adult and risqué, especially when you have Jennifer Connolly in a role that in the comic was a not so thinly veiled rendition of pin-up queen Bettie Page. The film and the comic revolve around 1930s stunt pilot Cliff Secord finding an experimental rocket pack, which he and his trusty mechanic buddy/mentor sidekick uses to fight gangsters and Nazi's infiltrating Hollywood on the eve of WWII. Director Joe Johnston ("October Sky" and "Captain America: The First Avenger") along with screenwriters Danny Bilson and Paul De Meo (writers of the underrated "Zone Troopers" and "Trancers", along with Frank Darabont reportedly doing some uncredited work), perfectly capture the tone of Dave Stevens' comic book series, capturing the serene innocence and sweetness of the series, but minus the naughty sexuality of Stevens' Bettie Page surrogate character, which was morphed into "Jenny" in the form of Jennifer Connolly, who could easily have captured to same sort of innocent sexuality that Stevens' created in his comic book version of Page. Stevens reportedly had a large hand in the production of the film, and what ends up on screen feels very much in line with the comic book source material. The sets, casting (which besides the always excellent Connolly, who won the role over the likes of Sherilyn Fenn [who'd have also been excellent], Kelly Preston, Diane Lane and Elizabeth McGovern, includes Billy Cambell as Secord (who is PERFECT casting and won the role over much bigger names like Kevin Costner, Matthew Modine, Emilio Estevez, Bill Paxton, Dennis Quaid, Kurt Russell, Johnny Depp, Vincent D'Onofrio, Michael Keaton, Alec Baldwin, Robin Williams, Mel Gibson, Harrison Ford, Ron Perlman, and Tom Hanks), Alan Arkin as Cliff's sidekick Peevy, Timothy Dalton as Neville Sinclair, a villainous Erroll Flynn analogue, Paul Sorvino as a gangster, Terry O'Quinn as Howard Hughes, and a slew of great character actors such as Ed Lauter, Jon Polito, Eddie Jones, William Sanderson, Margo Martindale, Clint Howard, Tiny Ron (in some great Rick Baker make-up, turning him into a spot-on to Rondo Hatton lookalike), Max Grodénchik, famed stuntman Dick Warlock, and more). The film really is nearly irresistible. The cast and characters are endearing and charming. The action is exciting and fun. The romanticized version of 1930s Hollywood is a fun imaginary time capsule that anyone who loves classic films and this period will immediately want to jump onto the screen and live in that time and place (which is most certainly true for me and may be why I love this film so much). Dave Stevens reportedly gave the film's production designer his entire reference library pertaining to the Rocketeer at that time period, including blueprints for hangars and bleachers, schematics for building the autogyro, photos and drawings of the Bulldog Cafe, the uniforms for the air circus staff, and contacts for locating the vintage aircraft that were to be used. Stevens said they "literally just took the reference and built the sets". Additionally, James Horner's music is wistfully nostalgia as well as exciting for the adventure and action elements of the story. Hiro Narita photography is bright and vibrant, perfectly capturing the shine of this imaginary Hollywood. My only complaint about the film is that is was mistakenly made as a Disney film, which softened it too much. Connolly's character should have been allowed to be a tad closer to her pin-up queen source material, and the action should have been allowed to be dialed up a few notches. Outside of the Tim Burton "Batman" film, comic book film adaptations were not a big thing when this movie came out, so superhero films were not exactly the cultural zeitgeist that they are today, and I believe that if this film had come out twenty years later that it would have been a much more successful. Overall, anyone who is a fan of old fashioned Hollywood adventure films or of comic book film adaptations should absolutely check out this under appreciated film. See more

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The Rocketeer

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