After a test flight goes horribly wrong (in large part thanks to the FBI’s chasing of a pair of gangsters across their airfield), test pilot Cliff Secord (Billy Campbell) and trusted mechanic Peevy Peabody (Alan Arkin) discover a rocket pack hidden inside one of their dilapidated circus planes, the pair find themselves in the middle of an adventure featuring Nazis, Los Angeles organized crime, eccentric billionaire inventor Howard Hughes (Terry O’Quinn) and swashbuckling Hollywood superstar Neville Sinclair (Timothy Dalton).

CRITIQUE

I adore 1991’s The Rocketeer. Not that this is any sort of secret. This is one of those pleasing, life-affirming romantic adventures that plays perfectly to who exactly we wish we all could be and everything that we like to nostalgically dream the American way of life (especially pre-WWII) was always meant to be. Director Joe Johnston almost perfectly brings writer/illustrator Dave Stevens’ classic comic series to life, hinting at exactly just the sort of touch required to manufacture and produce Captain America: The First Avenger two decades later.

The movie follows the old Saturday matinee serial template almost line for line. Secord finds the rocket pack, Peevy makes it work, the pair are inadvertently forced to utilize it when an aerial event goes spectacularly wrong, our hero loves the attention, ends up putting beautiful girlfriend Jenny Blake (Jennifer Connelly) in danger, refuses to give himself up to the FBI and Hughes after she is kidnapped ultimately foiling a Nazi plot over the skies of L.A. battling Sinclair and his gun-toting henchman inside a gigantic dirigible. There aren’t many surprises, and that’s just fine, more fun to be found in all of the high-flying antics to be found in almost every other superhero feature before or since.

Sure it can get silly, that’s sort of a given. It additionally almost goes without saying that there is a Disney-fied family-friendly sheen hovering over all of this that is obvious and undeniable. The thing is, none of this ways as much upon the finished product as much as it could have, Johnston showcasing an evenhanded affinity for the tale that’s as intimate as it is wholehearted. Up until Captain America (and arguably October Sky) it was without question the most confidently made picture the director had ever handled, and while many of his subsequent films would be a little light and not quite up to snuff (save the two aforementioned titles) this one has held up remarkably well and become something of a minor cult favorite in the process.

If I were writing a full review at the time, I’m sure I’d have ripped into the minor flaws The Rocketeer has running throughout a bit more thoroughly. But I’m not, and after 20 years of adoration I have to admit my feelings for the film are fairly biased. My view is colored, but it is so beyond the point of care that fact doesn’t bother me in the slightest. This movie soars, and it is sad that it never met with the audience at the time of its release it so utterly deserved. All the same, the fact that it has endured pleases me to no end, as does the fact I can now have it in my collection on Blu-ray, both things making me smile far more broadly as I write this review than I probably should admit.

THE VIDEO

The Rocketeer is presented on a dual-layer 50GB Blu-ray with MPEG-4 AVC Video sporting 2.35:1/1080p transfer. The movie is 20 years old, and digital effects back then were certainly not what they are today. Additionally, the practical effects showcasing our hero in flight hadn’t exactly come a long way in 1991 from where they were for Superman in 1978. All of which means some of the seams undeniably show in this new hi-def presentation, a fault that isn’t on the part of those who did the transfer to be certain.

At the same time, Disney has done an excellent job bringing this film into the world of Blu-ray. Colors are strong, black levels couldn’t be better and depth borders on sensational. The picture has a glorious film-like sheen that’s entirely pleasing, and by and large if DNR has been used on the transfer it’s been done with the lightest of hands.

THE AUDIO

The movie flies onto Blu-ray with an English 5.1 DTS Master Audio track along with a French Dolby Digital 2.0 track and includes optional English SDH and French subtitles.

THE EXTRAS

For a twentieth anniversary Blu-ray release, the fact this Disney chestnut only offers up the film’s Original Theatrical Trailer as its only special feature is something of a minor – heck, maybe even major – disappointment.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I love The Rocketeer, and it is a movie that only worms its way more towards the center of my heart as the years go by. Disney’s new Blu-ray decidedly lacks in the extras department but offers up strong video and audio making the upgrade from the remarkably poor DVD as easy a decision as a fan could ever hope to come across.