Throwing It Back To The 30's Serves The Rocketeer Well

Nowadays, the prospect of Disney releasing a superhero movie inevitably means big box office thanks to them purchasing Marvel Comics in 2009, thus allowing the studio to release the various features in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But there was a time when Disney and live-action superhero films actually didn't get along so well in terms of box office glory, with their first foray into this domain, Condorman, being a big enough money-loser that it'd be an entire decade until Disney tried their hand at superhero fare again in an attempt to cash in on the massive success of 1989's Batman. This feature was called The Rocketeer and unfortunately for Disney, it would end up being another box office bust.


Based on a Dave Stevens comic from the early 1980's, The Rocketeer tells a story taking place in the late 1930's about pilot Cliff Secord (Billy Campbell), who discovers a fantastical device plopped into one of the planes on the airfield that he works at. The device, it turns out, is a jetpack created by none other than Howard Hughes that allows whoever wears it to fly around at great speeds. For a guy like Cliff who loves everything to do with flying, this jetpack is dream come true and he's gotta borrow it for at least a little while, especially since said jetpack could help solve the financial problems for that aforementioned airfield that his mentor Peevy Peabody (Alan Arkin) runs.

Turns out that that jetpack has been stolen and famed movie star and secretly nefarious foe Neville Sinclair (Timothy Dalton) wants it back at any cost and uses the local mob to help get that jetpack back just as Secord accidentally uses it to rescue an endangered pilot, becoming the mysterious superheroic figure The Rocketeer in the process. All that's at stake in the plot of The Rocketeer is simply the jetpack that Secord uses to move around in the sky, which is truly minuscule compared to many modern-day superhero movies that, more often than not, put the whole world in jeopardy (to be fair, there is the far-off threat of Nazi's getting their hands on the jetpack technology and using it for world domination). 

That's part of the simple nature of The Rocketeer, which is more often than not incredibly charming. This is a film patterning itself off the broad nature of the Saturday afternoon serials popular in the actual late 1930's in its broadly drawn characters and light-hearted nature. Just as he would do with the 1940's in Captain America: The First Avenger twenty years later, director Joe Johnston makes great use of a period era setting in The Rocketeer through every aspect of the production, including the dialogue (penned by Danny Bilson and Paul De Meo) which makes humorous use of the vernacular of this time period, allowing The Rocketeer to soar off with its own distinct personality among post-1980 superhero movies in the process.

Making sure the whole movie feels like it's ripped right out of 1938 does have its drawbacks though, namely in that our primary female character, Jenny Blake (Jennifer Connelly), is left as a thinly-drawn love interest without much else to her name. Connelly does what she can in the role, but she's vastly underutilized here. The rest of the cast, on the other hand, is in fine form, Billy Campbell as the titular lead superhero especially shines in making the "Aw shucks!" nature of his character endearing as all outdoors while Timothy Dalton just revels in his performance of the kind of overtly wicked baddie that this sort of movie calls for.

Paul Sorvino also stands out in a supporting role as mobster Eddie Valentine, particularly in how he handles a critical moment involving his character refusing to work for his superiors once he realizes said superiors are Nazi's. It's sad that a cartoonish baddie from a 1991 superhero film has more moral integrity than the current President of The United States, but Sorvino is terrific in executing this moment. He and the rest of the cast (save for a poorly used Connelly) are incredibly fun as are the various well-filmed spectacle sequences that make great use of the flying capabilities of The Rocketeer, such delightful scenes really get across how exhilarating having this jetpack at your beck and call must be. Though Disney has allowed the title to fade into obscurity, The Rocketeer soars much higher than a notable amount of modern-day superhero movies (it certainly leaves the likes of Justice League in the dust) and its retro flavor of fun is highly enjoyable.