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| Monday, December 1st
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| Movie Forums :: User Reviews :: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull |
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Posted on 7/21/08
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
NOTE: this review was originally posted on our movie forums. Click here to see it in its original context: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
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Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Steven Spielberg 2008
Indy's latest outing is about as good as could've been expected.
On a rainy 1981 summer holiday afternoon, my father took me to the cinema proclaiming that I was about to see 'a great Saturday matinee adventure film'. I was six years old, and the film was 'The Raiders of the Lost Ark'. I had wanted to see the other film, the one with the winged horse on the poster, but my father was insistent, my father was right.
Seeing 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' changed me, it changed me from an anxious little boy with with few friends, to an anxious little boy with a very special friend, Cinema. Today, along with many other people of my generation, I trudged down to the local multiplex to try and recapture the magic of 'Raiders', of Indy, and 1981.
'Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of The Crystal Skull' (I'll call it 'Crystal Skull' from now on), is set in the 1950's with our hero now in his mid sixties, still donning the fedora and chasing after mythical relics. The plot concerns a crystal skull (naturally) some Russians who believe it possesses alien powers, and the location of Eldorado where said skull is to be returned, in order to gain said powers. What ensues is the usual series of stunt filled chases and creepy crawlies.
'Crystal Skull' begins very nicely, I had serious goosebumps when the music kicked in, and we first glimpsed that iconic fedora. The entire sequence was strangely moving as the camera panned upwards revealing our now aging hero. Yes, sentimentality took over and almost brought a tear to my eye.
The rest of of the film sped by with hardly a dull moment, I was enjoying it whilst nitpicking incessantly at the same time. You see I never really felt like Indy and co were ever in any real danger, as some of the films set pieces were disappointingly underwhelming. The first three films all had at least one eye popping sequence that had you on the edge of your seat. The truck chase in 'Raiders', the mine cart in 'Temple', and the tank sequence in 'Crusade'. 'Crystal Skull' has one of these too, a car/jeep chase through the amazon jungle, that has heavy emphasis on slapstick thus removing any tension (plus don't even mention those monkeys). This all culminates with our heroes fighting off a swarm of killer ants, but it's rendered so unconvincingly with CGI, that I was left longing for the real bugs of the first three films.
Alot of people have also criticized the hokey alien subplot of the movie, this however wasn't a problem for me. It's set in the 50's, so it has a b-movie theme fitting of the era, that aspect worked very well as far as I'm concerned. My favourite sequence had Indy stranded at a nuclear test site about to be vaporized, the subsequent shot of him silhouetted against a huge mushroom cloud is one of the standout moments of the film.
Performance wise 'Crystal Skull' is pretty solid, Harrison Ford definitely still has what it takes as an action hero. His laconic charm and self depreciating humor sees him through the proceedings admirably. The support is also good, Ray Winstone fits right in as Indy's on/off buddy, Kate Blanchet is great as the dominatrix like villain, and I didn't find Shia LaBeouf anywhere near as annoying as I expected. Plus the reintroduction of Karen Allen is inspired, John Hurt on the other hand is criminally underused.
To sum up 'Crystal Skull' was never going to match the first three episodes, it's clearly a film that should have been made fifteen years ago. I've often wondered, that if someone had visited Spielberg on the set of 'Raiders', and told him he'd still be making these films in 2008 with a sixty five year old Ford in the lead, he'd have laughed and called them crazy. But seeing as Spielberg is, and has, then the result is pretty much as good as could've been expected.
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