inkblot11 Review of Revenge of the Red Baron

Revenge of the Red Baron (1994)

Not for kids, teens, adults or anyone, how did they ever get the cast to sign up for this misery?

[1/10 · 25 March 2015]

Jimmy (Tobey Maguire) is a teen still seething from his parents divorce. All too often he gets angry at school and, finally, he is suspended for confronting a teacher. His mother (Laraine Newman) loses patience and forces Jimmy to spend some time with his wealthy but uncaring dad. Now, Jimmy has lists of chores to do and nothing is ever good enough for his working-on-my-tan father. The only bright spot is the chance to see his grandfather (Mickey Rooney), a semi-invalid who bunks with his son. When they get some free time, G-pa and Jim fly the older man's prize possessions, two remote control airplanes. One of the flying machines is a WW I American vessel, the other, a replica of the Red Baron's plane. One day, sadly, Grandpa has a fall and ends up in the hospital. After this, strange events occur. The Red Baron plane begins to fly on its own, with a nasty mini-German pilot with an urge to kill. Jimmy has a few narrow misses and his dad sends him to counseling, refusing to believe his story. Then, Dad gets attacked in his own swimming pool and dies. Jimmy is blamed and jailed. But, at a tense moment, his mother comes to realize her son is telling the truth and breaks her son out of lockup to escape. Will they? Can anything stop this Chucky in the air? This horrible film is for absolutely nobody. Children should definitely not be allowed to see it and fans of horror films probably won't like it either. Rooney, who is still charming, must have been out of his mind to agree to star in it, and Maguire, Newman, and all of the others were likely temporarily insane, too. With a different approach, such as the Red Baron just making messes instead of murdering folks, it might have worked. But, no costumes, script, direction, actors, or anything else could save this bomb. The best revenge here is to steer far, far away from this disaster of a flick.