Andrew McMurtryIndiana Jones and The Kingdom of The Crystal Skull 7/10
May 24th 2008 14:45
Indiana Jones is back. Yeah, I was confused too. Like, weren't they worried Harrison Ford was going to break his hip or something?
I never got into the whole Indiana Jones franchise, and have only seen bits and pieces. Hello giant rolling ball, monkey brains and lots of torchbearing. But I figured since it's been 19 years since the last Indiana Jones, this was an event I shouldn't be missing. And since I am not a devotee, I won't be able to give a detailed review on what I thought, since I know I must have missed at least half of the inside jokes and am not completely familiar with the style. But I'll give it a newbie's go.
Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of The Crystal Skull sounds like a Harry Potter book. It kinda felt like Harry Potter, too, only without the charming magic, and the spunky young wizard is instead an over-smirking old dude who's quite fond of the whip. For those who don't know the story, Henry Jones is a Professor of Archeology who is a closet daredevil adventurer. This time around, he's been hunted down by those pesky commies (Cate Blanchett and co.) to track down some mysterious skull with special powers, an old colleague Oxley (John Hurt) has gone missing looking for the skull, and a random Fonzie wannabe named Mutt (Shia LaBeouf) wants Indiana's help to find Oxley in Peru as Oxley was a mentor for the bright but misguided kid. Then wacky adventures ensue.
I found it charming and later distracting that Spielberg decided to make the colours extra warm and glowing to give the film a nostalgic feel, it started hurting my eyes. He also decided to throw in random scenes of hot young things driving around really fast while listening to Elvis just to make it extremely clear that this is the 50s. The sets were impressive as usual (at times it seemed like a grown up's playground), the stunts thrilling (although predictable and at times soooo lame), the dialogue had just the right doses of cheese and the characters were just believable enough to make this story enjoyable. Although for the first time ever, Cate Blanchett didn't impress me. Anyone could have done that cliche evil Russian role. Shia was a very good casting choice. He'll bring in a whole new audience with his goofy charm. And Harrison Ford was himself, again.
The climax and ending were as you would expect, and although as a modern audience we do expect more from action films than 20 years ago, I suppose we can forgive George Lucas because we all know he's not the most talented at finishing stories properly.
So as a non-Indy fan, it got the thumbs up. I knew I was in for some really unusual plot sequences, and that's certainly what I got. My brain was definitely left at the door before I went in. What about you hardcore fans? What did you think? Does it live up to the franchise, does it top the previous films, or was it a waste of time? I'd like to hear your opinions.
I do want to add one thought before I go. Dean Charles Stanforth says something about how you know things are going bad in the country when politics and academia collide, a nod to McCarthyism. I found it curious, since today universities are notorious for their political activism, and we've all seen the youtube video of that American college student getting tasered by security when after he questioned John Kerry's credibility in school grounds. But I guess this statement by the Dean was probably Spielberg trying to get brownie points with the Bush bashers. It's like so in right now.
I never got into the whole Indiana Jones franchise, and have only seen bits and pieces. Hello giant rolling ball, monkey brains and lots of torchbearing. But I figured since it's been 19 years since the last Indiana Jones, this was an event I shouldn't be missing. And since I am not a devotee, I won't be able to give a detailed review on what I thought, since I know I must have missed at least half of the inside jokes and am not completely familiar with the style. But I'll give it a newbie's go.
Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of The Crystal Skull sounds like a Harry Potter book. It kinda felt like Harry Potter, too, only without the charming magic, and the spunky young wizard is instead an over-smirking old dude who's quite fond of the whip. For those who don't know the story, Henry Jones is a Professor of Archeology who is a closet daredevil adventurer. This time around, he's been hunted down by those pesky commies (Cate Blanchett and co.) to track down some mysterious skull with special powers, an old colleague Oxley (John Hurt) has gone missing looking for the skull, and a random Fonzie wannabe named Mutt (Shia LaBeouf) wants Indiana's help to find Oxley in Peru as Oxley was a mentor for the bright but misguided kid. Then wacky adventures ensue.
I found it charming and later distracting that Spielberg decided to make the colours extra warm and glowing to give the film a nostalgic feel, it started hurting my eyes. He also decided to throw in random scenes of hot young things driving around really fast while listening to Elvis just to make it extremely clear that this is the 50s. The sets were impressive as usual (at times it seemed like a grown up's playground), the stunts thrilling (although predictable and at times soooo lame), the dialogue had just the right doses of cheese and the characters were just believable enough to make this story enjoyable. Although for the first time ever, Cate Blanchett didn't impress me. Anyone could have done that cliche evil Russian role. Shia was a very good casting choice. He'll bring in a whole new audience with his goofy charm. And Harrison Ford was himself, again.
The climax and ending were as you would expect, and although as a modern audience we do expect more from action films than 20 years ago, I suppose we can forgive George Lucas because we all know he's not the most talented at finishing stories properly.
So as a non-Indy fan, it got the thumbs up. I knew I was in for some really unusual plot sequences, and that's certainly what I got. My brain was definitely left at the door before I went in. What about you hardcore fans? What did you think? Does it live up to the franchise, does it top the previous films, or was it a waste of time? I'd like to hear your opinions.
I do want to add one thought before I go. Dean Charles Stanforth says something about how you know things are going bad in the country when politics and academia collide, a nod to McCarthyism. I found it curious, since today universities are notorious for their political activism, and we've all seen the youtube video of that American college student getting tasered by security when after he questioned John Kerry's credibility in school grounds. But I guess this statement by the Dean was probably Spielberg trying to get brownie points with the Bush bashers. It's like so in right now.
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