Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

HUGE

I never got to see Raiders of the Lost Ark during it's initial 1981release. I was in the Army, stationed in Hawaii, had a family and was way too busy to even think about going to the movies as much as I do now. Two years later, out of the Army, living in Washington state and going to school, a couple we know took my ex and I to see it on it's 2nd re-release in 1983.And I just loved it. Raiders was a non-stop action adventure that completely mesmerized me. After that of course, I couldn't pass up the two sequels, Temple of Doom and The Last Crusade.

Indiana Jones road into the sunset nearly 2 decades ago with his father, the ever iconic Sean Connery, leaving fans virtually satisfied- for awhile. When Steven Spielberg was constantly being asked by Indy's fans about his return, it was inevitable the man sporting the fedora and whip demanded a comeback. After a succession of "minor" difficulties with the script (Ford, Lucas and Spielberg all had straight veto power), Harrison Ford has made a triumphant return as the rugged, rip roaring adventurer/archaeologist/part-time teacher in Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Wisely avoiding a cliched time freeze, our hero ages from dealing with Germans in World War 2 to 1957 and the Cold War with the Russians and the Red Scare. Indy and buddy Mac (Ray Winstone), have been captured by the Soviets, taken to Area 51 to help locate a certain box dug up by Indy ten years ago. It's supposed to be in a warehouse that I'm sure Indy fans will find somewhat familiar.

DVD 1 disc

The head honcho of this lethal entourage is Irina Spalko played with charming iciness by Cate Blanchett, her sleek black hair accentuating that she is no doubt the female baddie. She may lay claims to being psychic, but she doesn't foresee Jones's eventual escape after finding what they're searching for.

When he returns to the college to resume his teaching duties, Indy suddenly finds himself under government scrutiny; seems his activities relating to communists has them concerned. It's nonsense of course. Nonetheless, the dean Charles Stanford (Jim Broadbent), has no alternative but to place Indy on "probation" until the situation blows over. He decides to pack his bags and teach in Europe.

The real adventure begins at the train station. While Indy starts his exodus, he runs into the leather jacketed , Fonzi-esque rebel Mutt Williams ( Shia LaBeouf) who has been sent by his mother, Mary to find him. She and an old friend of Indy's, Professor Oxley (John Hurt) have been captured in Peru and the only thing Mutt has to go on is some strange writings from Oxley which he needs Jones to decipher. It leads to a
remarkable discovery that our hero can't resist. Besides, he still has to help Mary and the professor.

Master filmmaker Steven Spielberg knew that kickin' it old school as opposed to a 21st century update, was decidedly the best way to bring Indiana Jones back to the big screen. That's not to say there are no inherent special fx ( Lucas' Industrial Light & Magic was naturally brought on board). Spielberg simply returns to the thrills 'n spills of Raiders, giving us an exciting reminiscence of what the original was like long
ago. He proves that old fashion can be new again, if done right.

All this is aptly supported by Spielberg's faithful; his court composer John Williams stirring musical score; Janusz Kaminski's elegant lensing and Michael Kahn's superb editing. The trio has delivered before and they do so once more.

Shia LaBeouf, whose talents were a bit wasted in a certain robot movie, is a welcome newcomer as Mutt. His freewheeling attitude towards life is no problem to Indy until a sudden revelation. Adventure is solidly imbedded within him as he's thrown into numerous and dangerous perils and surviving them all. Just like someone else we know.

Karen Allen must be related to Dick Clark. She hasn't aged a bit since playing Marion Ravenwood 2 decades ago. It was a joy seeing her character reunited with old flame Dr. Jones. She is definitely the ideal woman to share Indy's adventures with.

Despite some critics sentiments towards Harrison Ford being too old to play the iconic adventurer and the Indiana Jones franchise being worn thin, both have just as much if not, more energy since 1981. Makes me wonder if these critics just see what they want to see. I certainly did-and it was great.

A review by
Liam Sharp

Super

I want to be like Henry 'Indiana' Jones.

Ford, just as he did in the first three Indy films portrays a well kept, intrepid and above all cunning adventurer, the dream combination of wits and skill.

This man can do just about anything he likes with a bull whip while at the same time speak about 200 dead languages. And Indy doesn't hold back, whether it be using gun powder to trace a magnetic relic or drop an AK47 on the floor in such a way that he shoots a Russian in the foot, and he does it at ease.

"You don't know 'im! You don't know 'im!" screams Ray Winstone's character 'Mac' to one of Indy's foes during a game of chicken between two jeeps inside a military hangar.

This long awaited fourth adventure sees Indiana along with prodigal son 'Mutt' (It's a human being, not some sort of talented animal that George Lucas probably wanted to throw in there) delve into a South American jungle whilst at logger heads with the soviets trying to get to the bottom of what it is exactly the crystal skull they have on them can do. Amazing are some of the opening stunts and I never knew how handy a fridge during a nuclear wipe-out could be.

I'm not the naive 10 year old I was when the original Indy trilogy was put to me in the late nineties so like my grandad I was left saying to myself 'I ain't avin that' at some of the plot revelations and just a couple of the stunts. Like driving off a cliff and landing the vehicle on a branch, and it wasn't even Indiana who pulled that maneuver out of the bag.

Being a Brit, I enjoyed seeing Ray Winsone in there and have done a few impressions of him referring to Indiana as 'Jonesy' since seeing the film.

The magic, excitement and interest of the Indiana Jones we know and love is still there and so leads to quite an enjoyable cinema experience, but its needs something just a little bit more out of this world to create that feeling I got during Raiders.

And before I forget, John William's soundtrack still sends that little shiver down my spine.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull:
A Review by Christian De Matteo

Solid

The beauty of Indiana Jones films is that when you sit down, you are simply taken away and blown right out of the water. Whether it's the ground-breaking Raiders, the sheer insanity of Temple or the gleeful brilliance of Last Crusade, you are taken somewhere else where nothing in the world can touch you. Indiana Jones is the definition of a hero, of what it is to truly be cool and what it is to be a man.

I grew up with Indiana Jones, watching him on video cassette every Sunday morning before my parents would wake up, and watching him with my parents whenever we all could. In advance of this new film, my wife and I sat down and watched all three, just to be in the same mindset.

So how was it? It was good. No, this normally wouldn't be a problem for most other films. It was good, is pretty much, most of the time, as good as it gets. But with Indy, the bar is really, really high. I walked out of the theater in 1989, having just witnessed Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade on the big screen like someone who'd just received enlightenment.

I walked out of this movie, a tad underwhelmed.

Underwhelmed by the dialogue, by the characters, by the story, by the action, by the music and by the story. Not destroyed, mind you, not devastated, but simply underwhelmed. The best way to explain it is to remind you about the scene in Temple of Doom, right after Willie Scott says, "Let's get out of here," and Indy says, "Yeah... all of us." The movie then cuts to the slave kids being whipped by the evil henchmen in the mines, and then one of them looking up into camera in surprise. Suddenly the shot on screen is iconic. It's Indy in shadow, head down a little with the great hat on. Truly one of the greatest shots in history. Nothing at all like that shot exists in the Crystal Skull. Not in dialogue, not in action, not in meaningful looks.

My friend Mark put it best: The film was fine. And so it is.

Are there laughs, and cool jokes? Yes. Are there fun action sequences? Yes. But, again, as Mark said after the movie, it has not gravity. None of it means much. The main plot itself means very little. Am I looking for deep philosophical journeys here? No, I'm just looking for a good, holy s**t moment. And I never had one. To this day, moments in the original three make me lean forward and wonder if Indy's going to be okay, even though I know he is, because I've seen them so many times I can quote the dialogue. There was none of that in this movie.

And Sala and Marcus? Do we get their equivalents? No. We get character suggestions instead of characters. We get Ray Winstone, Cate Blanchett, Jim Broadbent, Shia LeBouf and Karen Allen, all actors of different but high talent playing characters who never really get developed. Sure Marcus changed a bit from Raiders to Crusade, but he was still essentially Marcus. When Sala gets the camels as payback for the destruction of his brother-in-law's car, we actually agree that he was right to do it, because we feel bad about what happened. Sala sent his own children in a thug-infested cafe to save Indy, saved him from bad dates, got him on a boat with an honest pirate to get home, saved Marcus from Nazis, helped Indy's Dad when he was shot. Most importantly, he had things to say, important things that showed individual personality. None of the characters here get that, including, most of the time, Indy.

The script is clunky, a little overwrought and underthought, and because of that, the big chance Spielberg and Lucas take with the genre doesn't work out. We the audience, entering with a willingness to accept anything, no longer feel that way. And when the ending only underwhelms while it confuses, we feel a little lost.

This feels like a negative review. It's not. I had fun. I laughed. But I didn't want to be Indy like I do whenever I watch the first three. I didn't want to be anyone, because none of them were real. Should you go see it? Sure. It's a good time.

But is it a great Indiana Jones film? No, not at all. It's just a new Indiana Jones film with a lot of the magic still in retirement.