Customer Reviews

Flight 714 (The Adventures of Tintin)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Yet again, we get a glimpse of Herge's creative genius in this action-packed Tintin adventure. This Tintin adventure is unlike any other simply because it has hints of being based on some sort of a magical success-formula, not unlike one that would ensure a James Bond movie box-office hit! In sort, it features an eccentric millionaire, an airplane hijacking, a secret island base of Tintin's archrival- the evil Rastapopulous, the return of Captain Haddock's nemesis- Allan (from "The Crab with the Golden Claws", "The Red Sea Sharks"), and also the return of a friend-Skut (from "The Red Sea Sharks"), lot's of gunmen, volcano eruptions, and even a mysterious alien encounter. The plot is quite simple: Rastapopulous wishes to obtain millionaire Lazslo Carreidas's fortune by kidnapping him and getting him to, rather willing fully, reveal his wealth-related secrets- of course with the aid of a scientist's "truth formula" injection. However, getting Tintin, Captain Haddock, Snowy, and Professor Calculus into the picture changes the simplicity of the equation. The artwork, as is the case with the last Tintin book (Tintin and the Picaros), is simply outstanding among all Tintin books-which are already top quality in the first place! One scene I fondly remember is that of Allan catching sight of a monkey and then trying to recall who it reminds him of (based on the shape of its nose), and then realizing that it reminds him of none other than his boss-Rastapopulous. Herge's drawing of Allan's facial expressions (and even Rastapopulous's, as he seems to realize what's in Allan's mind) in this sequence, yet again, displays how effortlessly he could make his characters "talk" to the reader. It is peculiar to note how different this adventure is to its preceding one-The Castafiore Emerald, in which, our heroes don't even leave Marlinshire. Perhaps, Herge himself longed for Tintin to go on another exciting adventure. Definitely, one of the best Tintin stories, great for all ages and very entertaining!!!

"Flight 714" is sort of the generic Adventure of Tintin, with a little bit of everything that Hergé put into his stories to make this one of the landmark comic book series since Cortes discovered pre-Columbian picture manuscripts in 1519. A Qantas Boeing 707, Flight 714 from London touches down at Kemajoran Airport in Djakarta, java, last stop before Sydney, Australia. Disembarking is our hero, Snowy, Captain Haddock, and Professor Calculus. As they stretch their legs the good Captain spots a forlorn figure and slips a $5 bill into the man's hat. Of course no good deed of Haddock's goes unpunished and it turns out the old man is Mr. Carreidas, "The millionaire who never laughs." Well, Professor Calculus quickly takes care of that and Carreidas insists on flying Tintin and his friends to Australia on his special jet. Haddock is looking forward to a pleasure trip, an ordinary flight and no adventures, but fate has something else in mind.

"Flight 714," which actually does not have a single panel of the titular plane being anyplace other than on the ground, offers up a hijacking, a cutting edge prototype means of transportation, an exotic island in the middle of nowhere, an evil scientist with truth serum, a gigantic stone head pagan idol, a threatening lava flow, the return of an old familiar villain, a space ship, and Tintin running around a lot with a gun. Pretty much all of these elements have popped up in the previous twenty Adventures of Tintin that Hergé had told over the previous decades. For that reason this particular adventure strikes me as something of a curtain call for Tintin and his friends, even though this is the penultimate tale and the Thom(p)sons are no place to be seen. The chief charm is that Calculus has somebody new to tangle with in Carriedas, thereby relieving Captain Haddock of the responsibility for testing the eccentric professor's patience. So I see "Flight 714" as being an average offering from Hergé, which still means it is an above average comic book adventure. I only have one Adventure of Tintin left to read and I want to treasure the moment when I choose to find out how it all ends.

Flight 714 is offbeat, considering the tintin stories are usually somewhat believable. The story starts off quite normal but progresses into a science fiction like story wuich, I think, is a mix of Indiana jones and a light version of the X-files. To more picky readers, this book would probably be rated quite low, but to me, I think herge was just simply expressing himself into the book in a different way than ever before. P.S.: While writing the book just before this one, Herge suffered a majore depretion, and perhapps he changed his style of storytelling

Probably the greatest example of the Herge studios ART, 'Flight 714' is a great book. The illustrations, now with the benefit of an airbrush (see the final pages in the caldera) are SUPERB and thrill me everytime I see them. Apart from the Erik von Daniken references, which seem to date the book somewhat, this is a classic. The comic highlight is the grotesque encounter between Rastapopolous and the hideous Carreidas in the prison on the island. They battle to out-do each other, in terms of evil deeds. And it's an absolute masterstroke. But the whole book has an immense 'atmosphere' to it, helped, I think, by the beautifully rendered depiction of the island, the eerie subterranean passages, the presence of an older civilisation and the thrilling 'caldera' finale. BUY it. READ it. And then read it again. It's a genuine classic that will be read for many generations to come.

Flight 714 is the best Tintin volume ever! Not only does this album contain a rather odd alien encounter, but it also features the final showdown between Tintin and Rastapopulos! If you like confrontation or science fiction, this book is for you!

From early childhood, I discovered Herge's Tintin books in the local library. In my humble opinion, "Flight 714" is one of his best works and remains my all-time favorite to this day. Tintin and Co. are faced with insurmountable odds as they're skyjacked and taken to a remote island. As always, Herge instantly imprints upon the reader's mind with the unique chemistry of the characters, the stunning artwork and the attention to detail. The book is chock full of action and the ending is mysterious and unique. This is a MUST READ for any Tintin fan.

Of all the Tintin adventures, this is my least favorite. There are a number of reasons that I can put down to personal taste, like my lack of interest in the Howard Hughes-ish eccentric millionaire, and the fact that, for some reason, I don't like seeing Tintin holding a machine gun. The book is still a competent bit of adventure. It just seems extremely out of synch with the rest of Herge's stories.

Even when Tintin and company launched into space and touched the surface of the moon, their adventures seemed grounded in reality. Perhaps this was because Herge's obsessive (sometimes glyphomanic) descriptions of how the rocket and all of its supporting hardware worked. Everything from the living quarters to the launch system are explained thoroughly, almost as if Herge had consulted with Werner Von Braun during the war, while he was publishing under Nazi occupation. The result is that in "Destination Moon" and "Explorers on the Moon," the moon landing feels less like science fantasy than an engineering feat; a testament to the power of scientific rigor and human ingenuity. It's part of the optimism that runs through the Tintin stories.
The sci-fi element in Flight 714, however, seems tacked on at the end, a little forced. A bit like the "pan-dimensional beings" in the last Indiana Jones movie. Herge seems to have wandered out of his genre, and for some this may be too much of a stretch; it was for me.
If you're a true Tintin fan, you'll say I'm talking rubbish, and you may have a point. there's plenty of great action and humor in Flight 714, and Capt. Haddock is in fine form throughout. But for me, the "surprise" characters at the end of the story, like the grey man sucking in Cate Blanchett's brain, seemed to come out of nowhere, and to belong somewhere else. Like a Moebius book, maybe?

Flight 714, one of Tintin's later albums, is one of Herge's stranger and more modern efforts, as the book deals with such issues as industrial espionage and extraterrestrials (!). As the first men of the Moon, Tintin, Haddock and Calculus travel to Sydney for a conference. Changing planes in Jakarta, Indonesia, they run into Lazlo Carreidas, the man who never laughs, an eccentric millionaire who invites them to their private plane after Calculus gets an accidental laugh from him. Unfortunately, there is a plan set on to kidnap Carreidas' plane with the help of his personal assistant and divert it to a small island in "Sondonesia". The head of the plan is none other than Tintin's enemy Rastapopoulos (other characters from previous books such as Allan and Szut appear here). However, things don't go as planned for Rastapopoulos, as Tintin escapes from captivity in the island and is drawn to an ancient cave full of statues that resemble astronauts, and paintings that resemble spaceships (I suppose that Erich Von Daniken's theories were in vogue when Herge wrote this album in 1968). Things get stranger and stranger, and I find the denouement puzzling (without giving it away, I wonder what happens to Rastapopoulos and Allan...and why they appear back unharmed in Tintin and the Lake of the Sharks). Overall, a great (if strange) album.

Cutting-edge bizjets ... hijackings ... pirates ... kidnappers ... volcanos ... aliens ... what's not to like about this story!

Tintin and crew happen upon their old friend Skut (from The Red Sea Sharks) who is now the chief pilot for an eccentric millionare while transiting flights in Sydney.

Offered a ride on a prototype bizjet ... Tintin and friends are thrown into a devious plot to steal the millionare's fortune ... by none-other than the evil Rastopopulos (also Red Sea Sharks) ...

Throw in some aliens and an active volcano and the recipe for action and adventure is complete.

A big fan of all these stories when I was a kid ... I still enjoy readingthem 20+ years later.

Flight 714 (Vol 714 Pour Sydney in French) is the ideal Tintin adventure. It has all the elements that a good Tintin story needs: wonderful art, a gripping plot with interesting twists, good dialogue, but above all its best feature is the fantastic interplay between the characters. The one scene where Lazslo Carreidas (the diminutive billionaire who never laughs - a great character) has an argument with Rastapopoulos over who is more evil, is terrific. Along with "Tintin in Tibet," "The Castafiore Emerald," "The Calculus Affair," and "Tintin and the Picaros," this one is definitely in the top five.