The Rocketeer (1991)

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

This film's a bit of a hard sell to general audiences. There have been more than a few knowing homages to serials (the Indiana Jones series being the most obvious), but this isn't really one of those. Rather than making a modern film that references old films, this is pretty much a serial with a $40 million budget and (at the time) modern effects. It's deliberately old fashioned and will work for you to the extent that you enjoy action stuff from simpler times. I do ... so I enjoy this.

Having discovered a top secret jetpack (like that used by James Bond in 'Thunderball'), it is up to a pilot to keep the device away from the clutches of Nazi spies in this action comedy set in Hollywood during the late 1930s. The jetpack is ultimately little more than a Hitchcockian McGuffin with rocketeering aerial theatrics surprisingly minimal, however, the film works magnificently thanks to its accurate portrait of the era in question. The movie provides a fascinating backstage insight into the filming of an Errol Flynn type swashbuckler and Timothy Dalton is excellent playing a Hollywood star based on Flynn himself. There are also fun brief turns by Terry O'Quinn as Howard Hughes, Bob Leeman as W.C. Fields and Gene Daily as Clark Gable in a blink-and-miss-it performance. The film is genuinely funny at times too; "you steer, I'll push" shouts lead actor Bill Campbell before making a stalling truck speed away, while Dalton's adamant claim "I do my own stunts" is a fun reference to his recently completed stint as Bond. It is no surprise though to learn that the film is quite divisive. With thugs who are more goofy than menacing and an awfully sweet central romance, the film well earns its 'family entertainment' rating, however, the historical nature of the story with plugs to old Hollywood actually makes the film more suitable to adults. Whatever the case, it is likely that all sorts of viewers will at least take something out of 'The Rocketeer'. The flag-waving patriotism is admittedly hard to swallow at times, but beyond this an amusing film awaits.

In contrast to a film like Indiana Jones which was built upon the formula of 30-40's serials, the Rocketeer is designed to recreate them. And it succeeds, bringing the real feeling of something like Flash Gordon in every way from it's cool look to it's action packed story.This story starts when a pilot, an everyman named Cliff (Billy Campbell), comes across the strange device that allows a man to take flight without wings and soar through the skies. But he quickly learns that there are many others who are interested in the device, with the machine being said to be capable of world domination and his girlfriend being kidnapped in an attempt to obtain the device. Thus he must now fly to the rescue fighting of gangsters, Nazi's and shady agents in order to save his girl. It's an over the top story with a plan that doesn't make sense when you think about it (how would Nazi's having jet packs lead to world domination?), but one that lives up to the adventure and excitement that the film is going for. The film also has a great cast of memorable and likable characters. Connelly plays the girlfriend to our hero, who may often be a damsel in distress but always remains likable fighting back and even saving the hero once or twice. Timothy Dalton plays Neville Sinclair, a Nazi sympathiser who's snuck into the Hollywood scene and is a straight cut villain who comes equipped with his own James Bond's Jaws kind of henchman. And Billy Campbell as the Rocketman, who is the everyman with little complexity and just the guy doing the right thing. They're all the basic archetypes we've seen before, but they're so well played and are very memorable. Plus it's nice change to see a straight up hero like the rocketeer now we're at a point where it seems that every hero must be dark and brooding. And it's always enjoyable to have a villain like Dalton who always seems like he's a short step away from twirling an evil moustache. It captures the atmosphere of 30's Hollywood in a great way. Everything from the costumes to the sets really gave a great feel of the time. The little details the filmmakers went to do have are impressive from the Hollywoodland sign to smaller things like some characters use of slang in the dialogue, it all goes a long way to make the context very believable. Plus by being in the 30's we get a great character in Howard Hughes (Terry O'Quinn), who plays a Walt Disney type imaginative character who invents the machine and lives up to the creative legend that Hughes is built up to be. Just like any great adventure film the action sequences are great. Beyond the great shoot outs and brawls, the jet-pack sequences are brilliantly imaginative with some well thought out sequences of the Rocketeer soaring on to a moving plane or speeding round a packed ballroom. Better yet this great imagination is also backed by very impressive special effects. The effects in this film are comparable to something like Christopher Reeves Superman, creating a very realistic feeling of flight which few films have seemed to be able to do. This film has everything you'd expect from a family action movie. In my opinion it's a film that never got the reception it deserved only making a small profit at the box office and sadly stopping the chances of sequels. This is really a shame because they probably would have been something impressive since this film was a great adventure and one that should not be missed.

Formulaic and mostly dull. Pretty much your standard action-adventure story. Has a few interesting / odd diversions here and there but mostly fairly standard stuff. Plot, while seemingly sci fi, is actually pretty much a conventional boys-own action-adventure story.Action sequences are OK, but, once again, nothing special. The final scenes are decent though.Kids will probably like it: it has the don't-worry-about-the-plot holes- and-implausibilities thing going for it that children like.For adults, well adult males, the only reason to watch this is Jennifer Connelly...