Cut from the same cloth as the period set, family action adventure film as the Indiana Jones movies, The Rocketeer is a good old fashioned blast. It has a good old fashioned score (one of James Horner';s finest), a gorgeous Amblin entertainment look helped by Johnson's Spielberg inspired direction, a great, old fashioned character-based story with well structured action sequences to keep the audience dazzled, and a lively cast that includes Alan Arkin's miracle engineer, Paul Sorvino's gangster and Timothy Dalton's swashbuckling actor (who's clearly having a blast, cursing "bloody" every ten minutes, as he tends to do). Plus you've got Jennifer Connolly, in the pre-serious stage of her career where here babyfaced, youthful charm and smouldering looks, off-the-scale cuteness and barely contained breasts squeezed into a ball gown thrilled an entire generation of boys (and men).
ILM's flying man effects are top notch (their Zeppelin stuff is a lot better than their Last Crusade efforts), the action fun and chocked full of humour, the characters appealing and Bill Campbell's over-eager and naive leading man a different kind of hero. I also like the way it weaves historical events (the Hollywood movie scene, Howard Hughes, Nazis) into the narrative. Based on Dave Steven's graphic novel, The Rocketeer often comes across as a Marvel superhero story with the everyday, bloke next door character discovering his new abilities before utilising them to fight a greater evil but it's retro setting and style may have been off putting to those being awe struck on Terminator 2 the very same summer of 1991, for it to find a huge audience.
The Rocketeer is a film summed up by it's poster; a fun, beautifuly produced blast from the past served up with all the expertise of 1991 cutting-edge cinema. An under-rated and overlooked movie that deserves another look.
1 comment:
I totally agree. Gotta love The Rocketeer or "The Rocka-who?" as Jennifer's (mmmm) character asks at one point.
The Rocketeer is tons of old fashioned fun cut from the same 1930's/40's serial cloth as the Indy films and the Star Wars films. I love that old fashioned pulp style and own several of those wonderful old movie serials with Republic's King of the Rocketmen being a major inspiration here.
Joe Johnston does a great job behind the camera, Horner's score is classy and rousing, ILM's FX top notch and the script is pacy, light and fun without ever being dumb or silly (ala Last Crusade). Oh, and Jennifer Connelly - wowzers!
One of those oft forgotten mini-classics that deserves a lot more love than it gets. And that beautiful art deco poster is one of my all time favourites.
"Go get 'em, kid!"
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