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This might be surprising to some of you movie fans out there, but there was a time when comic book movies existed that weren’t connected to Marvel or DC at all. It’s true, after the explosive success of Tim Burton’s Batman in 1989 showed Hollywood that maybe there was some money to be made in these funny book things, suddenly we started seeing more and more of them popping up in movie theaters. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Crow, Spawn, Men in Black, The Mask, Guyver, The Shadow and later on movies like Hellboy and From Hell, a sizable portion of comic book adaptations from less mainstream sources, while DC was running the Bat gauntlet and Marvel was tossing properties off the boat in a desperate attempt to stave off bankruptcy. Some of them may not be well-regarded these days, hell most people probably don’t even realize some of these films were comics at all, and only a couple could be said to have earned enough money to be considered successful, but the fact that they were made at all is a testament to corporate Hollywood’s drunken stumbling towards the next big thing actually working out for the better.
In the early 90s Disney was looking to get some of that sweet dosh as well, and to that end they optioned the rights for and subsequently released The Rocketeer, based on the indie comic by Dave Stephens. A golden age adventure taking cues from the Commando Cody film serials of the early 50s, Doc Savage, and proto-dieselpunk sensibilities, The Rocketeer centers around the life of Cliff Secord, a down on his luck (yet with movie star good looks) stunt pilot that comes across a jet pack developed by aviation mogul Howard Hughes. What seems to be a boon to Secord and his ragtag airfield soon proves to be a burden, as the mob (under orders from famous actor Neville Sinclair, played by Timothy ‘Muh-Fuckin’ 007’ Dalton) threaten to tear apart his life and that of his naive actress girlfriend Jenny (Jennifer Connelly). Seems that this town is in need of a hero, and with the aid of Howard Hughes’ jet pack and a fancy new costume, Cliff Secord just might be that hero. He might just be...The Rocketeer. Coming this summer.
Plus this is a movie set during WW2, so you know what fascistic military force is going to make an appearance.
The Rocketeer doesn’t really make any turns you don’t expect, and being a movie with the Disney label on it, you can’t really expect it to move far beyond that ‘fun for the whole family’ labeling, but as these things go it’s a decent action/adventure movie. Personally I have a fondness for those movies that kind of idealize and even cartoonize that era of American history, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Dick Tracy, etc., and Rocketeer manages to scratch that art deco itch for mobsters and Ford Packards while managing to be entertaining throughout. It could have leaned a bit more heavily into the action and Rocketeering side of things, there’s a lot more talking about the jet pack than actually using it for my liking, but it is what it is. I’m sure some of you out there have kids, so if you need a movie this Halloween that’s not spooky but still has the essence of sci-fi and nerdiness that has come to define the holiday, pop in The Rocketeer and see how it goes. Who knows, you might plant the seed of nerd in their heads on the spot.
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