|
|
| Source: rec.art.movies.reviews newsgroup | | Rating: 3
| What better childhood fantasy than flying with a rocket strapped to your back? In 1991, Disney developed that idea into a movie called THE ROCKETEER.
The highly atmospheric script by Danny Bilson, Paul De Meo, William Dear, and Dave Stevens is set in a glitzy Hollywood just before the outbreak of World War II. A happy-go-lucky time, full of lavish nightclubs and barnstorming aviators.
The gist of the story is that Howard Hughes (Terry O'Quinn) has invented a personal rocket backpack, but a Mafia group led by Eddie Valentine (Paul Sorvino) is trying to steal it. They make off with the rocket, during the getaway it is switched with an Electro-Lux vacuum cleaner by mistake.
The real rocket pack comes into the possession of ace pilot Cliff Secord (Bill Campbell) and his older mentor Peevy (Alan Arkin). Once he flies with it, Cliff becomes known as "The Rocketeer."
Cliff is head over heels in love with Jenny Blake (Jennifer Connelly), who is an extra in a movie with famous actor Neville Sinclair (Timothy Dalton). Neville turns out to be a Nazi spy who has been bankrolling Valentine and his boys to steal the rocket pack for the fatherland. Hitler has plans to use rocket packs to send a swarm of soldiers to attack the United States.
Marilyn Vance-Straker's costumes for Cliff are a delightful reinterpretation of those worn by Buck Rogers. The sets by James D. Bissell capture a glamour that probably never existed except in our minds. James Horner's music stays energetic and sugary sweet. One gets the sense that all of the cast and crew viewed the film as a romp.
In good BUCK ROGERS fashion, which is the series the show most closely resembles, logic goes out the window. Anyone wearing the rocket would have a barbecued rear and legs. The illogical aspects are not germane since the story stays totally in Fantasyland.
The problem with the film is that it is nothing more than an exercise in whimsical style. Nothing in the narrative is compelling. In place of a story we have antics.
Typical of the slapstick is the scene in which Cliff straps on the jets for the first-time in order to rescue a clown who is attempting to fly an airplane. Cliff goes through all of the canonical gags including shooting out-of-control through a clothesline of freshly washed clothes. Of course, a sheet gets stuck on his face almost causing him to crash. In another scene, there is a race through a crowded restaurant kitchen, and the mayhem causes the obligatory flying food. One gets tired of recycled comedy. Still the scenes of soaring with the rocket are great fun, and they are fresh. Well, fresh if you are too old to remember early science fiction movies.
The biggest failing of the film is the casting of the lead. It is easy to see why Bill Campbell has never been given an important movie role before or since. Campbell has no personality so his acting detracts from instead of enhancing Cliff's persona. Arkin, Dalton, and Connelly give nice performances, but all have done much better work.
Director Joe Johnson seems happy to let the actors in the film drift just so long as the atmosphere stays completely nostalgic. Exercises in style like this are rarely enough for adults, although they can be enough to satisfy younger viewers. But not too young since Tommy guns blast everywhere, and scores of people die in the film. A particularly frightening scene has a guy with his face forced against a hot range. Nevertheless, the picture keeps its violence mainly at the cartoon level. And the acting too.
THE ROCKETEER runs 1:48. It is rated PG although given the level of violence, PG-13 might have been more appropriate. The film should be fine for most kids say 7 or 8 and up, but be careful if they are sensitive to violence. My son Jeffrey, age 8, thought the movie was "good." His favorite part was The Rocketeer whom he would probably love to be. There is not enough for me to be able to recommend the movie. I give it **.
By : Steve Rhodes
|
| | Source: rec.art.movies.reviews newsgroup | | Rating: 4
| Capsule review: The 1981 graphic novel comes to the
screen as what may be the best film ever made based on a
comic book. This is a wonderful tying together of historic
detail in the story of a man who becomes a super-hero with
the help of a rocket pack. Expect this one to run (or fly)
for much of the summer. Rating: high +2 (-4 to +4).
I recognize that there are some films that it is hard for me to be objective about and all I can do is state my prejudices at the beginning of my review. I think I was about five years old when Saturday morning television ran COMMANDO CODY, SKY MARSHALL OF THE UNIVERSE. At five years of age I decided that I really liked something I later learned to call "science fiction" and everything I have ever really been interested in since has been an out-branching from that root. For years, I dreamed of somehow getting a rocket suit like Commando Cody's. Not being a graphic novel fan, I never heard of THE ROCKETEER, released ten years ago. However, seeing the stand-up poster for THE ROCKETEER several months ago brought a flood of memories and I knew even then this was a film that I would have a hard time being objective about. And the film turned out to be much better than I expected even then.
The setting is 1934 Los Angeles. The title character is Cliff Secord, played a bit too callow and pure by Bill Campbell. Secord is a flying ace who, through rather contrived circumstances, comes into possession of a stolen rocket suit designed by Howard Hughes (played by Terry O'Quinn). Lots of people want this suit for lots of different reasons, but it is Secord who has the suit and who reluctantly lets it make him into a superhero. The main villain who wants to get his slimey hands on the suit is handsome film star Neville Sinclair, a character based on allegations that have been made about Errol Flynn. Sinclair is played by Timothy Dalton. The basic plot is very basic and is a negative aspect of the film.
But while the plot is pretty humdrum, much of the writing is not. Like David Mamet's "Water Engine," THE ROCKETEER ties together many pieces of 1930s and 1940s popular culture into a single story. For little details to throw into the story, THE ROCKETEER draws heavily on Hollywood icons, on then-contemporary world events, and on details of aviation history. Through Rick Baker's make-up we get one final film in which Rondo Hatton plays the heavy. There is a witty reference to the famous Hollywood sign over Hollywood. There are allusions to the Hindenburg, here called the Luxembourg. As a rather canny inside joke, a small piece of animation is done in the style used in Frank Capra's "Why We Fight" films. The joke is that Capra's animation, like the film THE ROCKETEER, was a product of Disney Studios. And of course there are the classic planes of the period, provided in part by the heavy involvement of Howard Hughes as a major character. Also we see the classic art deco and just plain weird Los Angeles architecture. For example, the Bulldog Diner is shaped like a giant bulldog. The flying suit itself is art deco. All these elements combine to make a fascinatingly detailed film that constantly challenges the viewer with more than meets the eye.
Special effects are charmingly provided by Industrial Light and Magic. They are generally fairly good with the ironic exception of the flying suit sequences, which are not quite visually believable and which would in real life rip our rocket man apart with whiplash. The script's weak points are the occasional lapses into self-satire, the overly complex interrelations of the villains, and a sequence in a nightclub that drags on much too long. With those exceptions, one has to say that THE ROCKETEER is a very nicely crafted film offering entertainment on many levels. This is one of those rare films you can truly say the whole family should enjoy. I give it a high +2 on the -4 to +4 scale.
By : Mark R. Leeper
| more The Rocketeer reviews:
<<prev 1 2 3 next>>
|
[an error occurred while processing this directive]
|
