Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

There’s still some crack in the old whip yet

DETAILS:
Released - 22 May 2008
Certificate - 12A
Running Time - 122min
Director - Steven Spielberg
Screenwriter - David Koepp
Producers -George Lucas, Frank Marshall
Cinematography -Janusz Kaminski
Editing - Michael Kahn
Music - John Williams
Theatrical distributor - Paramount
Country - USA





SYNOPSIS:
Once again Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) is in a race to retrieve an ancient historical artifact and prevent it from falling into the wrong hands. Although twenty years since his last adventure the Nazi’s have long since fallen and it is the Soviets lead by Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett) he must do battle against. To add insult to injury the threat is a little closer to home. During the height of the cold war McCarthyism is rife and the FBI has forced Marshall College to fire Indy due to his suspicious adventuring. With nothing to lose he agrees helps to help teenager Mutt (Shia LaBeouf) help rescue his captured mother Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen) and follow a map in his possession which leads to the Crystal Skull of Akator and possibly the ancient city of El Dorado. Teamed with his sidekicks Professor 'Ox' (John Hurt) and the questionable Mac (Ray Winstone) the adventurer must solve clues and beat the Soviets to obtaining the biggest archeological find in history.


REVIEW:
In recent years I have failed to see the point in exhuming expired 80’s icons. Other than making a bit of money the filmmakers put a dent in the franchise’s legacy and severely disappoint the fans. Through their various faults these money grabbing sequels remind the audiences what made the originals so great in the first place. The trend started in 2003 with the exhumation of Terminator 3, followed by Die Hard 4.0 before pensioner Sylvester Stallone soon followed suit. Due to this increasing trend I shudder at the thought of Beverly Hills Cop 4 which has been green-lighted. However I always had more hope in the new Indiana Jones film. Spielberg and Lucas have had the project in development for almost a decade. Rejecting several scripts from several established Hollywood scriptwriters including Frank Darabont, Spielberg pledged that he would only make another Indiana Jones film that was in the fans best interests. Spielberg certainly has a love for cinema and would not return to Indiana primarily for the money but to do what he enjoys best which is certainly promising. With such hype, preconceptions and expectations, this is a great challenge even for the most successful director in the history of cinema to overcome.

Although all these factors are meaningless without Harrison Ford’s full commitment. If you want to bring back Indiana Jones he is the only man for the job. No matter what his age, Harrison Ford’s charisma and charm embodies Indiana Jones with ease. His take on the role is what made his character so successful and made us take him to our hearts in the first place. Quite arguably Harrison’s best role in his very long, varied and successful career this franchise would have been a very different story if the original casting of Tom Selleck went ahead. Although despite looking very good for his ripe old age of sixty-six it seems time has taken its toll a bit. His lines sometimes don’t role off his tongue as easily and they often seem a bit over rehearsed. It is also a tad bit unconvincing that he can still beat off muscular Soviets when he is old enough to be classed as an ancient artifact himself. His age has kind of been incorporated into the script but not really. Many muses at how old all the characters are now does not hide the fact that people of such maturity are incapable of such death threatening feats.

The main problem is that Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is just not an integral part of the series. The spirit and thirst for adventure is not really present as boring overcomplicated mythical babble takes up the majority of the film. This educational speak is nowhere near as mystifying or as intriguing as the cryptic code cracking from the originals. By trying to avoid an overindulgence in action scenes Indy 4 has taken an opposite route by setting up the story for the majority of the film. There are just too many stand offs and escaping between Jones’ crew and the Soviets. Cate Blanchett constant recapturing Jones and his subsequent escaping becomes far too repetitive.

It is not until the last forty minutes of the film when the adventure actually gets going but by this time it is too late. In fact Lucas has just made the whole film too late. Fans would rather see the adventures that occurred between the 3rd and 4th film that are constantly referred too which sound a lot more exciting. If the originals were of this quality it is safe to say the Indiana Jones films would not be as fondly remembered.

There are glimpses of wit and charm which were dominant in the original series and made them so heartwarming but they are not frequent enough. Hiding behind the over played signature theme tune it almost feels like Lucas is trying to reassure us that this is still an Indiana Jones film, honest. Especially when the aliens land at the end which is not done as convincingly as Spielberg has done so often in the past. For moments it feels like watching a rejected script. If this is the best attempt possible to continue the series I rather that they had not bothered, as it tarnishes the fond memories we have of the originals. Imitating a former version of themselves it seems the cast and crew were so caught up in enjoying themselves that they left out the viewer. There is nothing here to enhance or add to the series just a son and wife for Indy to provide some vague closure.

However if we look at this in out of context with the trilogy Spielberg is certainly far better than most blockbuster directors of our generation. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal is Skull is a masterclass in acting compared to Spiderman 3, has a more gripping script than the dire Pirates of the Caribbean at worlds end and is more efficiently directed than the all guns blazing Transformers. There is definitely at least some fight in the old dogs yet. As an Indiana Jones film this is mediocre, as a standalone film it is a cut above all the rest. It was just capable of so much more with the talent that was on board

TO SUM UP:

Whenever a new family action adventure film is released it is always compared to the Indy trilogy. Looked upon as the pinnacle of the adventure genre it is clearly a legacy that Lucas and Spielberg themselves cannot quite live up to.