The Rocketeer

source: The Rocketeer

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.

To date, there have been five "films" in the 'Scary Movie' franchise and yet only one 'The Rocketeer'. This may not be the worst of mankind's sins, but it's surely in the top-five. Lovingly made by the underrated Joe Johnston and featuring one of the late James Horner's best scores, 'The Rocketeer' really is gee-whiz fun in the absolute best sense of the word. As we await yet another reboot of comic book A-listers like Batman and Spider-Man, I should think there's room at the table for a new adventure featuring this two-fisted retro hero. And when/if they finally do, the bar will be awfully, awfully high.

When this first came out in theaters, I searched and searched reviews and promo on the film to find one - just even one- reference to the film it rips off, the last of the great serials, Commando Cody and the Radar Men From the Moon. That serial made an easy transition to television, and was played every Saturday - some years every day - on television throughout the early 1960s. I sat glued whenever it was on. Commando Cody actually did look like he was flying! - But more importantly, being the last of the great serial heroes, his writers had learned from previous mistakes, not to let Cody or his friends - or his enemies - do any much talking. The serial was just one fist-fight, shoot-em-up-explosion after another; but, what made this important is that Cody thus had no time to doubt, to question, even to pose - he had to take decisive action at every minute - and he did! - this was no typical wimp (which by the mid-'60s were cluttering up comics, books, and films), this was a Man Of Action! And the second I recall ever seeing from popular culture (after Eliot Ness in the Untouchables). So I was originally pleased when it became obvious that the Disney/Spielberg people were going to put together a remake ... until I started noticing in all the hype, that nobody talked about it as a remake. In fact, nobody was mentioning Radarmen from the Moon at all. And by the time it was 'playing theaters everywhere', the horrible truth had sunk in - Hollywood was going to pretend that its real past - which was also part of my own history - never happened. Well, it DID happen. Which makes this remake - and a BAD remake at that. This is everything that Radarmen avoided - SLOW as mud; unnecessary pseudo-scientific explanations; a real wimp for a 'hero'; wretchedly mis-cast actors trying to come up with a good reason for being there; over-bloated cinematography and special-effects; uninteresting, mushy romance subplot; banalized nostalgia; patronizing to young viewers - everything that I loathed on television that drove me to watch Commando Cody to begin with. This is not an action movie; Radarmen from the Moon is an action-movie; this was just a bad excuse to print up promotional paper-cups at fast-food restaurants. Skip it.

Maybe Spoilers "The Rock-a-who"? As said by the incredibly hot, Jennifer Connelly, the hottest woman in the movies. That is pretty much the extent of what I remember about this movie. Well I also do recall the mobsters and the chewing gum. Outside of the fantasies that Jennifer can produce in a guy, I really can not recommend this one. But she is definitely worth a view for you guys. What else can I say, Jenny's character battles with her hero boyfriend and goes after the wrong guy, who well winds up being the villain. After you see this, you'll probably recall Jennifer saying "The Rockawho" also.

I have always loved this movie. I will never stop loving this movie. It reminds me of the time when directors made film with a love for the craft as opposed to these hacks that make films for the love of money. In this day and time you will rarely find a movie that is this fun to watch and has a good story to boot. The plot is simple enough: Cliff Secord(Bill Campbell) finds a rocket in his airplane. This rocket is sought after by mobsters and a Nazi spy working undercover as an actor named Neville Sinclair(Timothy Dalton). Cliff uses the rocket to thwart Sinclair's gang. Bill Campbell is perfect as Cliff Secord. He's headstrong but still immensely likable. Jennifer Connelly is great as his girlfriend Jenny Blake and Alan Arkin gives a strong performance as Cliff's mentor but wise best friend Peevy. Timothy Dalton gives one of his best performances to date as Neville Sinclair. Neville Sinclair is a great villain without being over-the-top with it. I've always like Timothy Dalton as an actor even when he played James Bond. Paul Sorvino's role as the mobster Eddie Valentine shouldn't go unnoticed either. The thing I like most about The Rocketeer is that its a fun movie. Watching Cliff test the rocket for the first time remains in my mind in a place so snug. The director respects the time period(1930s) without contradicting it(like a few directors that do period pieces tend to do). In short its a blast from the 90s that is more enjoyable than the overrated dross that is out now. Its definitely worth a second look. Before I leave I will say this: do not take directors like Joe Johnston for granted or you will be responsible for the onslaught of Follywood hacks. I've seen Joe Johnston's whole catalog of films and have yet to find one stinker among them. He's earned my trust and how many directors can you say that about? Not many. In conclusion support directors that respect the art of film-making or you will be sorry when all that is left are the hacks. Think about it.

Rocketeer is directed by Joe Johnston and co-written by Danny Bilson, Paul De Meo and William Dear. It is based on Dave Stevens' comic book The Rocketeer. It stars Billy Campbell, Jennifer Connelly, Alan Arkin, Timothy Dalton and Paul Sorvino. Music is scored by James Horner and cinematography by Hiro Narita. It took eight years to get to the screen, with many rewrites, changes in personal, changes in setting and etc, the only thing consistent was Disney's inconsistency. Once out the film received generally positive reviews but posted only a small profit, in the wake of a Tim Burton inspired reinvention of the Super Hero genre, Rocketeer fell away into cultdom, sequels planned were shelved and its reputation remains to this day one of being a misfire. Unfair say I! Rocketeer is a lovingly crafted adventure film, nodding towards the serials of the 1930s, it's awash with period Hollywood delights, Art Deco imagery, has a damsel in distress, square jawed heroics, Nazi villains, wonderful effects and a blunderbuss Zeppelin finale. Backed by beautiful smooth tone photography and an evocative heart stirring music score, it's a family friendly blockbuster that ticks all the requisite boxes. The quality of the action sequences still hold up today, and Johnston, who wanted the job big time, directs with a knowing grasp of the setting, and crucially he never once loses a grip on tone and pacing. There's no self parody here, no deep Fruedian dissection of the main character, just a honest to goodness good against bad axis, with a romantic cause deftly wafted over proceedings. The role of Cliff Secord (Rocketeer) proved hard to cast, where Vincent D'Onofrio turned it down and "name" actors such as Dennis Quaid, Emilio Estevez, Kurt Russell and Bill Paxton auditioned for the part. Paxton, it's believed, was very close to getting it as well. Disney wanted an A list man, Johnny Depp and Kevin Costner were mooted, but Johnston had a feel for unknown Billy Campbell and managed to convince nervous Disney heads that he was perfect. Much of the scorn that has flown towards Rocketeer has landed at Campbell's door, again, this is unfair. It's hard to tell if one of those A list actors could have made the character work better, for it helps in this instance to not have a familiar face propelling the adventure. There's an innocence, an awkwardness to Campbell's portrayal that just sits right for a guy stumbling upon a rocket pack and finding himself submerged in a chase and harry battle against bad. He also has the looks, a handsome dude who creates a homespun based chemistry with the sensuous Connelly. It's Dalton's movie, though, he's having a devil of a time as the chief villain. Modeled on Errol Flynn and the spurious notion that he was once a Nazi spy, Dalton has the looks, the gusto, the moustache twirling shiftiness and a voice perfect for such material. A roll call of great character actors fill out the support slots, with Terry O'Quinn, Paul Sorvino and Ed Lauter particularly striking the right chords. A smashing piece of escapism, no pretensions or ideas above its station. The willingness to tap into the basic premise of a comic book actioner and entertain in grand Hollywood terms, to be applauded. And I do, and I do love it so. 8/10

A decent adventure story that has its moments but could have been far more interesting. That's a one-sentence description I would have of this movie, which I have seen several times. I keep expecting it to be better than what it turns out to be. I like it, but there is just something missing. I love the late 1930s look to this film, which has great color and sound and a likable hero in "Cliff Secord," played by Bill Campbell. The rest of the cast is pretty attractive with Jennifer Connelly, Timothy Dalton, Alan Arkin and Paul Sorvino - another reason this film should have been more memorable. The rocket scenes were terrific. I just wish they had more of them, or that the "rocketeer" had used his rocket to help more people than just his girlfriend. The action scenes are a bit hokey but some subtle comedy helped make this Disney action flick intriguing enough for a couple of viewings.

You couldn't blame Disney, really. After all, they'd struck gold - and then some - with WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT and DICK TRACY. Like THE ROCKETEER, those two films had also been lightweight, glossy adventures set roughly during the World War II era. Who's to say that anyone might possibly have suspected that lightning wouldn't necessarily strike a third time? (Then again, we've all heard the expression about three strikes and an out.) I was ten years old on that summer day when my little sister and I were taken to see this. I had no inkling at the time that it had been based on a comic book, but I didn't care; I didn't read comic books then. All I knew was that it had been produced by Disney (a sure-fire name brand for reeling in kids like my sister and myself) and that it was set in midcentury America (a time and place that I had always regarded as colorful and lively) in my mother's hometown of Los Angeles. I didn't expect a masterpiece....but then I didn't expect to be left cold, either. I think my greatest problem was with the actors who played the hero and heroine: Bill Campbell and Jennifer Connelly. Campbell had very little charisma; and Connelly....well, she might as well have been a very lifelike robot. They were so boring that I found myself rooting for Timothy Dalton's suave and sinister bad guy. If your film's protagonists inspire nothing but apathy from the get-go, you're already in serious trouble. The plot was so superficial and generic that it could indeed have been plucked from a 1930s Saturday matinée serial. The concept of a Nazi takeover of America using Howard Hughes's jet-pack device seemed like an afterthought. Why were there even Nazis in this, other than that a posse of well-dressed Mafiosi (led by Paul Sorvino) didn't exactly present a credible menace? The answer, of course, is that you can inject Nazis into anything and the plot will automatically become sexier. There's really nothing wrong with this (the INDIANA JONES films and Disney's own BEDKNOBS AND BROOMSTICKS had also served up Nazis for a family audience); the problem here is that, unlike in other films, here Nazism seems more like a spice rather than an essential ingredient. Even worse, we are never offered any justification for why a wealthy and personable actor like Neville Sinclair would ever be attracted to Nazi ideology. For a supposed action film, THE ROCKETEER features precious little action and spends way too much time on plot exposition during the first half of the movie. The romantic subplot could have been totally written out, as well as the aforementioned Nazi element. Kids like movies with stories in them, but not if those stories are overly convoluted. At the end of the day, we just want to see a guy in a rocket suit beating up villains. (On a side note: Why would Germany be sending a passenger zeppelin around the world in 1938 - a full year after the Hindenburg disaster?) Is there anything at all good about THE ROCKETEER? Sure, there are many things: good dialogue, good music, good special effects, and (in the case of a mob goon named Lothar who looks like he could have made a cameo in DICK TRACY) excellent makeup. But none of these things can ever truly save a movie whose story is weak and whose characters (except for Sinclair) are indeed as paper-thin as the comic-book creations that inspired them.

The Rocketeer looks fantastic. LA in 1938 is colorful and convincing. All the characters look like they were chiseled from marble to play their roles - Campbell as the dashing, all-American hero, Dalton as the Errol Flynn-like Nazi villain. Paul Sorvino looks great in great big gangster suits. Jennifer Connelly fits the period costumes perfectly. Alan Arkin adds good comic relief as the mechanical genius Peevy. None of the leads has a problem with acting, either. So why does this feel like it's just pretty cardboard cutouts? The script zooms along and then loses momentum when they hide the rocket pack and the gangsters shake down the diner. The big finale looks great but looks aren't everything. Somewhere in here is a film lacking in soul. I don't know if it's the actors, the writing, the direction... They certainly put the effort into it, and there's no reason not to enjoy the film, but somehow Indiana Jones and Star Wars grab you on the inside, and this one sits outside and just shows pretty colors. The production is so slick and well done it's a pleasure to watch. You could get a lot less out of a movie, but when they put so much effort into making it look this good it should feel good too. Funny movie alchemy.