TIFF Comic Book Hero Series Review: The Rocketeer (1991)
Cast: Billy Campbell, Jennifer Connelly, Alan Arkin
Director: Joe Johnston
Country: USA
Genre: Action | Adventure | Family | Sci-Fi
Official Trailer: Here
Editor’s Notes: This review of The Rocketeer is apart of TIFF’s Comic Book Hero series which runs from March 9th to 24th at TIFF Bell Lightbox. For more information, visit TIFF.net.
While the 90′s in general was one of the best decades for film overall, if there was one type of film that was woefully underrepresented, it was the comic book genre. Despite Batman being a zeitgeist tapping hit, the majority of the films based on comic books that came out in the 90′s were mostly flash and style over substance. The attitude that most of these films seemed to have with these titles and characters is to put the actors in cheap, gaudy costumes, slather the sets in bright lights and set design and fill it with explosions and gunfire. It wasn’t until Bryan Singer came along with X-Men that filmmakers and Hollywood in general decided to actually take these characters seriously, leading to the current comic book renaissance that’s been going strong for 13 years.
Arguably one of the most successful tributes to Golden Age of Comics, ironically it came out at the exact right time. Before the comic book film caught up with the post-modern, Frank Miller/Alan Moore influenced darker, ultraviolent comics of the 90′s…
But amongst the early 90′s comic book films trying to cash in on Batman that actually succeeded creatively (financially though it bombed due to it opening after T2: Judgement Day and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves) and still holds up 20 years later, its Joe Johnston’s adaptation of the late, great Dave Steven’s graphic novel The Rocketeer. Arguably one of the most successful tributes to Golden Age of Comics, ironically it came out at the exact right time. Before the comic book film caught up with the post-modern, Frank Miller/Alan Moore influenced darker, ultraviolent comics of the 90′s, 1991 was the perfect time to release a lighter than air, patriotic without being jingoistic film about a jetpacked flying ace who does daring mid-air rescues as well as fight gangsters and Nazi’s over the Hollywood Hills atop zeppelins alongside his Bettie Page lookalike girlfriend. Oh and Howard Hughes pitches in as well. I can’t say that if the film were released today it would be laughed at, since Captain America: The First Avenger was both directed by Johnston as well as had the exact same tone and approach to the material. Cliff Secord and Steve Rogers are heroes cut from the same cloth of regular guys who just want to do the right thing. The darkest Cliff ever gets is that he occasionally punches a guy out due to a bad temper. Vengeance is not a word that crosses the mind of those involves in The Rocketeer, nor should it.
Set in Los Angeles in 1938 on the eve of World War II, the aforementioned Cliff (Billy Campbell) discovers a stolen rocket pack hidden by gangsters at the airfield he and trusty mechanic Peevy (Alan Arkin) runs. Initially wanting to use it to raise desperately needed money to rebuild their crashed racing plane, Cliff soons finds himself pursued by mobsters employed by Neville Sinclair (a deliciously evil Timothy Dalton), an Erroll Flynn type movie star who uses Cliff’s girlfriend Jenny (Jennifer Connelly) to get a hold of the rocket pack for his Nazi employers. While the plot is fairly straightforward (and the Nazi’s overall plan is one of the most impractical plans for world domination ever constructed), it is the unapologetically earnest execution of the film that makes it soar as high as the Rocketeer himself.
One of the real joys of the film is its incredible cast. Along with the aforementioned cast members, you got Paul Sorvino playing his 3rd mob boss in 2 years, Terry O’Quinn pre-Lost as a Howard Hughes who could give DiCaprio a run for his money, character actors such as Jon Polito, William Sanderson and Margo Martindale and, the most unexpected of them all, Melora Hardin aka. Jann from The Office as a nightclub singer doing a couple Cole Porter songs. Alongside a great script with equal parts action and witty humor (‘How do I look?”;”Like a hood ornament.”), gorgeous cinematography from Hiro Narita and a memorable theme from James Horner, everyone involved understands that in order to make the material work, you need to take seriously the unseriousness of it all.
The Rocketeer is an amazing achievement in terms of the comic book film. Light and fun without feeling condescending and stupid while serious enough without feeling grave. A film that realizes how earnest and silly the material is, but loves it enough to just go along with it and have fun. For those wanting a change of pace from the brooding, vengeance filled anti-heroes of late, this is the exact film to catch on Sunday at the TIFF Bell Lightbox. See it and feel like a kid again.
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