Rocketeer

This wonderfully entertaining family film from the early 1990s has aged amazingly well. Maybe it's because of its period setting in 1930s Hollywood. With that setting even today's audiences are probably quite happy to settle for special effects from nearly 30 years ago.The story revolves around Cliff (Billy Campbell), a young daredevil pilot and a rocket powered jet pack. Cliff's sweetheart Jenny (Jennifer Connelly) is an aspiring actress who is seduced by swashbuckling Hollywood star Neville Sinclair (Timothy Dalton), and Cliff does everything to win her back while constantly having to dodge German Nazi agents who are trying to get their hands on the jet pack. A pack of mobsters thrown in for good measure add to the fun.This mixture of fantasy, romance and spy adventure is elevated by the spirited performances of the cast. Billy Campbell looks great and is eminently likable as the young hero and Jennifer Connelly is drop dead gorgeous as the damsel in distress, but it is Timothy Dalton in the role of the gleeful villain who steals the show with a beautifully OTT performance at a time when he was still the reigning Bond. Also worth mentioning is the cracking score by James Horner, one of his best. Highly recommended all round.The DVD is fine, both picture and sound quality are good and subtitles for the hard of hearing are available. No extra features.

I didn't know that much about the lead actor before watching this film (Billy Campbell), but to be honest that didn't matter, because the film is more about the 'Rocket Pack' (very smartly written in as a Howard Hughes developed product) and the ensemble cast, the gorgeous Jennifer Connerly, the slimy Timothy Dalton and the ever comedic and ever so slightly anarchic Alan Arkin. This was an unexpected delight and totally in the style/period of the TV series 'Agent carter', which i enjoyed immensely. I shall watch this film again sometime, as it is such an entertaining romp and a joyful ensemble cast.

The Rocketeer was always a childhood favorite of mine so I thought I'd add it to my collection, still a very enjoyable film, looks good on Blu-ray & the special tin the disc comes in looks great.The hologram front is also a magnet, at first I thought it was a sticker that had been installed at a crooked angle but you can remove it.My only disappointment is the lack of bonus features on the disc, with only the theatrical trailer being present.

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 plane manufacturer invents a rocket backpack to fly a man just as the world war 2 is starting ,after a plane crash and a car,the car owner hides this inside an old biplane from the mob ,he is later killed,the plane pilot madly in love with his girl finds it and tries it out at a nearby airshow scaring the wits out of the peolewho have never seen such a thing.to cut a long story short a top film star turns out to be a german spy after the rocket backpack for the german army to use,and when the pilot offers to do a swap for his girlfriend the mob find out that the film star is a spie as well as the feds (fbi),and all turn on the film star to tries to get away in an airship not knowing the rudder has been jammed and that the pack is leaking fuel the spie takes off leaving the pilot and his girlfriend to die only for the rocket pack to explode,a great family film I recommend to everyone

I liked it very much.It has that 80s/early 90s sense of wonder, witty script, great cast and great action set pieces.My negatives are mostly that it can be more "talk over action" at times - which I think may test some of the younger viewers' patience - and the age of certain special effects can throw you off. Also the Blu-ray is sadly devoid of bonus content.If you are into 80s/90s Spielberg stuff and/or curious about pre-MCU comicbook films, you should definitely give it a watch.