Shamefully unaware of its 30th anniversary, but coming off watching Marvel MCU's Agent Carter series, I happen to have decided to watch The Rocketeer just last week. I had seen it in Germany in cinema when originally released (and still have the booklet that was given as a freebie to cinemagoers), and then again on DVD half way through to today.
I decided to re-watch now it for two reasons:
1) I wanted to see if the streaming copy on Disney+ is of a superior resolution to physical releases so far (spoiler: it's not 4K, it's just HD)
2) I wanted to see the portrayal of Howard Hughes as played by Terry O'Quinn, especially in the wake of the Hughes-inspired Howard Stark character as played by Dominic Cooper in Agent Carter.
The soundtrack by Jack Horner really makes this film stand out, just as many Spielberg movies would have aged terribly would it not have been for John Williams. The film has some pacing issues, and it has a decidedly late-80s early-90s flair to it that would not have worked just 2 years later – think of the cinematic leap Spielberg made with Jurassic Park, or think of other pulp comic adaptations even like The Shadow. Frankly, my positive nostalgia for this film could not cover up that I can now see why this movie flopped. But the practical and visual effects are excellent for the limited budget they had.
Although this film works well as a closed-off story with a solid and fully-earned ending for all the main characters, the fate of the Hughes X3 rocket pack, and all the assorted villains and allies, I think it's kind of a shame that this did not see a sequel. In particular, I would have loved to see more of Terry O'Quinn as Howard Hughes as his portrayal is underrated and eclipses the take on Hughes that Leonardo DiCaprio had with his impersonation in Martin Scorsese's The Aviator – I recall that acting as a bit too tortured, but I may be wrong as I admit that I have not seen The Aviator for over a decade... my memory may be skewed.