It’s Hollywood 1938. While war rages in Europe, the United States remains largely unaffected by it all; Hollywood and its stars are still busy churning out motion pictures to a waiting public. Cliff Secord (Billy Campbell) is an eager but undistinguished stunt pilot. Cliff’s aspiring actress girlfriend Jenny (Jennifer Connelly) loves him, but feels like he takes her for granted. So it’s no surprise that when the debonair Neville Sinclair (Timothy Dalton), Hollywood’s “third biggest box office draw”, takes an interest in Jenny. In the midst of all this, Cliff’s career faces uncertainty when a plane he’d planned to fly in competition crashes and burns. Unfortunately, Cliff doesn’t have the time or money to find another plane, even with the help of his genius inventor/repairman sidekick, Peevy (Alan Arkin).
Feeling hopeless, Cliff catches a break when he finds a top-secret rocket jetpack in his hanger. Unbeknownst to him, the jetpack was stolen from the eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes (Terry O’Quinn) by criminals lead by mob boss Eddie Valentine (Paul Sorvino), who wanted to get the jetpack for Neville Sinclair. While Sinclair is a box office star, secretly he’s a Nazi spy determined to use the jetpack in his covert activities. After learning how it works he straps it on and The Rocketeer (as the papers dub him) is born. While Cliff only wants to use the jetpack for good things and return it to its rightful owner upon request. However, the gangsters, Nazi’s, and a big, ugly man with a rubber mask want the jetpack for more nefarious purposes and they’ll do anything to get it.
For me, the box-office failure of The Rocketeer was a surprise. There’s a lot of fun action, and more than a few “How’s he going to get out of this?” The biggest problem here is lack of character development. We get the stereotypical characters—the hero, his quick-tempered mentor, the gorgeous girlfriend, and the charming villain. None of them are developed enough to remain memorable. While you root for Cliff, none of the villains are really vicious enough to root against.
As for the actors, Billy Campbell looks pretty stiff throughout. It’s really no surprise that his film career never went anywhere. Jennifer Connelly, who was 20 at the time the film went into production, was just beginning to make her mark in Hollywood. She looks beautiful here, but her role of Jenny doesn’t require much more than posing and looking beautiful. Alan Arkin hams it up as Peevy, while Timothy Dalton plays the bad guy with relish.
Twenty years after its theatrical release, The Rocketeer has become a cult favorite. But in 1991, a lot of viewers probably saw the film as corny; the hero was too human and the story too simplistic. Oddly enough, these are the very things that make The Rockeeter so fun to watch today.
While The Rocketeer looks better than it ever has on DVD, this 1080p transfer in the 2.35:1 aspect ratio won’t knock your socks off. Black crush is evident at various times, while the image has a soft look throughout. Thankfully, the colors are bright and vivid throughout, while the faces look lifelike.
The DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio sound mix is just average. The score by James Horner comes through nicely, but sound effects don’t sound as full as they could. Surrounds only come into play occasionally. Dialogue has to occasionally compete with louder elements of the track, which can be distracting.
A French Dolby Digital 2.0 track is included, as are English SDH and French subtitles.
A theatrical trailer is included, but that can hardly be considered a special feature.
