Review of The Rocketeer (1991) by Sean L — 29 Apr 2012

Cheery family-friendly adventures in the same vein as Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Set during the waning years of the great depression, it's a snapshot of a very specific period when America was beginning to pick itself up by the bootstraps, the atomic age was looming and not even the sky was the limit.

At heart it's a silly, grinning action gimmick that's backed by a tried-and-true storyline and a stylish, art-deco-meets-dusty-barnstormer sense of fashion. Although the plot is inherently cheesy and predictable, it's straight-laced and innocent enough, a clear homage to '30s adventure serials, that I was willing to let most of those shortcomings slide.

The special effects haven't aged well at all, though, with several obvious green screens and a few rough, quick cuts sticking out in all the wrong ways. Timothy Dalton is disappointing as the pencil-stached villainous saboteur, but Jennifer Connelly and leading man Bill Campbell fully commit to the premise, picking up the slack adequately.

Inoffensive and silly, it's as good as it was ever going to be; a wild kids' ride that the parents won't mind tagging along for.