My Movie Review on The Rocketeer (1991)
Yo, what's up, Kemosabes?
This is your friendly film, TV show, and episode reporter here with another review.
Today, for the 3rd installment of my "February Festivity", I'm gonna give you guys my take of "The Rocketeer".
Here's the rundown of this adventure:
Cliff Secord is a stunt pilot who works alongside air mechanic A. "Peevy" Peabody in creating and test driving airplanes. In the midst of an auto-airplane accident, though, Cliff and Peevy discover a jet pack that was stashed in the airfield by gangsters, who stole it from famous inventor Howard Hughes. Despite Peevy's insistence that they return the jet pack to Hughes, Cliff decides to keep it in order to make some money, unwittingly becoming a superhero in the process.
During this time, sinister forces are trying to somehow acquire the jet pack for motives that are far from just.
I know that this isn't an all-out romance film. But, I've been wanting to make an analysis of this movie for quite some time, and I thought that it'd be a perfect member of this year's "February Festivity" since the romance between Cliff and his girlfriend Jenny plays a central part in the story. So, I decided to do just that.
And I really must say, watching this movie again was an absolute treat! Everything about it not only contains the hallmarks of a classic action-adventure story, but it proves itself as something fun and worthwhile for all to see.
For instance, the direction by Joe Johnston, the story by Danny Bilson, Paul De Meo, and William Dear, and the screenplay by Bilson and Meo, were all extremely awesome.
Among many things, I loved that the filmmakers weren't afraid of trying to make their concept unique and different from other movies that came before. They took the story and characters in directions that audiences would hardly expect too, like with the character of Eddie Valentine the gangster leader. In addition to this, the movie had a vast amount of humor and wit that was flawlessly executed, and the action scenes were deeply exhilarating and fun to watch. There was heart and emotion in the film as well, which came in the form of the romance between Cliff and Jenny Blake, the bond shared between Cliff and Peevy, and the sense of community shared between the characters I mentioned and their friends at the diner.
The acting, casting, characters, and character development were likewise fantastic.
Each and every performer onboard fit their parts like a glove, and they portrayed their characters with amazing passion, personality, emotion, and authenticity. The characters themselves had dynamic development throughout the movie, and the overall dialogue the filmmakers gave them was fun too. If I had to pick what my favorite characters and performers in the film were, it'd be Billy Campbell as Cliff, Jennifer Connelly as Jenny, Alan Arkin as Peevy, Timothy Dalton as Neville Sinclair, and Paul Sorvino as Eddie Valentine.
Finally, the music by James Horner was melodiously magnificent.
Each melody Horner created gave off an astounding sense of feeling that was strong enough to play with a person's emotions, and they flawlessly captured the film's tone, characters, and time period wonderfully. For instance, whenever a mysterious or thrilling moment was on, there'd be a lowering in crescendo that would be absolutely bone-chilling.
Now, I if I may be honest, I will say that the film should've been rated PG-13 instead of PG, mainly due to some of the cussing and violent moments. That error is something I mainly blame the MPAA rating system for, not the movie.
In conclusion, "The Rocketeer" is an amazing action-adventure movie that's worthy for all to see. Everything about it is fantastic with a capital 'F', and it plays its cards just right too.
So, I rate "The Rocketeer" five out of five stars.
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