a5c7b9f00b In 1938, in Los Angeles, the pilot Cliff Secord crashes his plane after being hit in the air in a shoot-out between gangsters and FBI agents in a car chase; completely broken, his best friend and mechanic A. &#39;Peevy&#39; Peabody tries to fix an old plane to raise some money in an exhibition show. However, Cliff finds a package hidden by one of the gangsters with a rocket with belts and they find that the device allows man to fly. Meanwhile, his beloved girlfriend and aspirant actress Jenny Blake succeeds in an audition to make a small part in a movie of the great actor Neville Sinclair who is ranked third in box-office. During a flight exhibition, the mechanic Malcolm (Eddie Jones) has an accident, and Cliff uses the rocket to save him, being called Rocketeer by the public. With his picture in the front page of the newspaper, Cliff is chased by the FBI, the gangsters and German spies that abduct Jenny and forces Cliff to rescue her. In the years leading up to World War II, stunt pilot Cliff Secord takes a trial run in a Gee Bee racing aircraft to prepare for an upcoming air show. But he accidentally comes into possession of a rocket-propelled backpack much coveted by the Nazis. With the aid of his mechanic pal, he gets it up and running, then uses it to foil a plot by a gang of vicious Nazi spies led by Timothy Dalton. Jennifer Connelly is on handthe love interest, but the real fun here is when the Rocketeer takes off. There&#39;s also a nifty battle atop an airborne blimp to defeat his foes who are anxious to use the device in an evil plan to rule the world! The dangerous mission transforms the ordinary young man into an extraordinary hero. Based on the Dave Steven&#39;s 1980s comic book series of the same name, the Rocketeer is one of the first comic book to film cross overs whose director (Joe Johnston of Jumanji) made a serious effort to stickclosely to the source materialpossible. Despite a few alterations to the over all story, suchthe Risqué Bettie Page character from the comics being replaced with the much more repectable &quot;girl next door&quot; Jenny Blake, the film very rarely strayed for the main ideas presented in the comic book.<br/><br/>The film was pitched to audiencesIndianna Jones meets Top Gun, but in fact the Rocketeer was actually an update and homage to the popular 1950&#39;s pulp movie serial Commando Cody.<br/><br/>The film was released in June, 1991, and grossed just under $50,000.00 in the US despite some very positive critical buzz. The film was one of Disney&#39;s major financial flops and quickly slipped into obscurity.<br/><br/>Howeverwith many films of this genre the movie has built up a cult following both stateside and in Japan, were even to this day a major toy manufacturer (Medicom) continues to produce 12&quot; action figures and replica helmets based on the film.<br/><br/>The films cult status is well deserved, and is one of the most under-rated action films of the 1990&#39;s. The script, the actors and even the action were all top notch and exuded a sense of charm that has been somewhat lacking in the last decades barrage of summer popcorn flicks. There was a true sense of that old &quot;Gee Whiz&quot; feeling that was so key to the serial films of the 30&#39;s 40&#39;s and 50&#39;s. Billy Campbell, who like the film has slide into a level obscurity, fully embodied the all American fly boy image that America was trying to establish at the time. Billy was able to walk that same fine line between awkward geek and hero that Christopher Reeves did in Superman. Alan Arkin made the fatherly role of mechanic Peevey his own. Jennifer Connoly struck the perfect chordthe girlfriend who feels distanced and shut out from her boyfrieds life and is always on the defensive regarding her career choice to be an actress.<br/><br/>This is also one of the most memorable roles for Timothy Dalton whose much maligned jauntJames Bond never allowed him to show the kind of acting range he displays here. As a villain Dalton was spot on.<br/><br/>Yes there are clichés, Nazi&#39;s once again are the villains. Yes there are mechanics in the film that are questionable, the Rocket pack shoots out flames that should set Cliff Secords pants on fire. But it&#39;s all very tongue in cheek and if you can see past the few flaws then the film is one hell of a ride.<br/><br/>This is also one of the last big budget films to use practical effects. The film was released in the same month and yearTerminator 2 which used heavy CGI to accomplish many of its action scenes and is considered by many to have begun the CG revolution. There are directors suchJon Favreau that have argued for a return to practical effects due to the over saturation of computer Graphics in modern sci fi and action films, and looking at the Rocketeer it&#39;s easy to understand why some directors are beginning to rebel against the use of CG. The effects in the Rocketeer have a certain charm and magic that would have been lost with the cold and sterile feel that computer renders tend to exhibit in these kind of films. THE ROCKETEER is a fun, lightly-plotted throwback to the old-fashioned serials of the 1930s, featuring a hero fighting against a Nazi plot via his jet pack and plenty of two-fisted action. It sounds like fun and it is, at least to a degree; it&#39;s also a light, insubstantial, wishy-washy piece of Hollywood filmmaking that comes acrossa sub-par Indiana Jones.<br/><br/>Certainly there&#39;s little of substance here if you&#39;re looking for proper characters or plotting. The Nazis are bad, the heroes are good, and a series of outlandish fight scenes, betrayals, and criminal plots fill up the running time. Joe Johnston does almost exactly the same jobdirectorhe did with HONEY, I SHRUNK THE KIDS, creating an effects-heavy adventure in which he&#39;s more focused on stylistics and visuals than he is on real &#39;meat&#39;.<br/><br/>Inevitably comparisons can be made to the modern-day superhero likes of IRON-MAN, although inevitably the special effects of THE ROCKETEER aren&#39;t so great, although they&#39;re still pretty good for their era. I was surprised, actually, at how little in-flight action there is; 90% of the story takes place on the groundvarious factions fight for possession of some super technology. The movie suffers a fair bit from Bill Campbell&#39;s ultra-bland lead - bad guy Timothy Dalton would have been much better - although there&#39;s fun to be had from the Rondo Hatton tribute and a still-gorgeous Jennifer Connellythe love interest. A movie that looks nice and moves along efficiently, but offers little reason for anyone to watch.
dawcobuttgram Admin replied
355 weeks ago