The Rocketeer (1991)

  Rob and I are in California for the weekend so he can be a groomsman in his friend's wedding. While he was at the rehearsal today I watched one of his favorite childhood movies. 

 
I have to say it does not weather the years well technology-wise.  The CGI is really obvious, not to mention that the actual rocket-pack design looks like anyone who used it would end up with burned off feet.  Rob compares it to the Indiana Jones franchise, in that you have to take it with a grain of salt, but he's smoking crack.  I would put it on the same level as John Carter:  fun for kids but pretty lukewarm for adults.

Cliff (Billy Campbell) is a pilot gearing up for the 1938 Nationals, a flying race, when his plane is shot down during a gunfight between gangsters and the Feds.  The gangsters had stolen a prototype personal rocket from Howard Hughes' (Terry O'Quinn) labs.  The FBI thinks the rocket was destroyed but the gangster pulled a switch.  Cliff and his mentor, Peabody (Alan Arkin), find the rocket and mess with it, working out some of the bugs.  Meanwhile, Cliff's girlfriend, Jenny (Jennifer Connelly), an aspiring actress, is trying to get ahead in Hollywood and convince her flyboy boyfriend to take her job seriously.  After a near-disaster when Cliff comes to visit her on set, Jenny comes to the attention of Neville Sinclair (Timothy Dalton), the number three box office star in America.  Unfortunately, Neville is only using Jenny to get to Cliff since he's the one who paid the gangsters to steal the rocket in the first place.

The story is based on the comic books of the same name but I have no idea how faithful they are.  The dialogue is a little stilted for me since they were trying to capture the accent of the period and it just doesn't sound natural.

From what I've read, this movie polarizes people.  There are some who feel that it didn't get enough of a chance, that it was released at the wrong time, or that it should be remade.  A lot of people just didn't like it.  I find myself in an apathetic category.  Would I protest if this movie was being remade?  No, but I wouldn't run out and buy it on blu-ray either.