Indiana Jones And The Kingdom
Of The Crystal Skull
Reviewed
by Rich Drees
The best way to describe Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The
Crystal Skull is to compare the film to a reunion over your
favorite rock band from high school after they had gone their
separate ways almost two decades earlier. Sure, their respective
solo careers have taken them to places far different than their
joint work, but the idea that they are getting back together to
rekindle the magic that only their unique dynamic can create.
In this instance, the rock band in question is the trio of producer
George Lucas, director Steven Spielberg and star Harrison Ford.
Joining them is Ford’s Raiders Of The Lost Ark costar, Karen
Allen, the band member whose contribution to the first “album” stood
out all the more for its absence in subsequent outings. The
filmmakers themselves acknowledge this when Indy tells Allen’s
Marion Ravenwood that none of his subsequent relationships with
women ever worked out because, “None of them were you.” It is a pity
then, that they couldn’t find more for her character to do in the
film’s final third.
But beyond the nostalgic thrill of seeing the band back together,
the question of how good the music is still remains. In this case,
many of the familiar notes are there, played and played well. Some
themes receive new variations, but that’s to be expected given the
nearly twenty years of experience accrued since a new Indiana Jones
adventure last graced movie screens.
The film’s 1957 setting is a different era than we’ve seen Indy in
and it feels a bit jarring at first. The fantastical possibility for
adventure offered by the 1930w has given way to the specter of the
Cold War and a growing, Joseph McCarthy-fueled paranoia. The Soviet
Union has replaced the earlier films’ Nazi menace, but the bad guys
are still after extraordinary artifacts of great power. In this
case, it is a crystal skull believed to be able to amplify psychic
powers. It is a shift from the more supernatural spawned objects of
power in the original trilogy of films to one with an origin more
rooted in science-fiction. That’s ok, though, as it draws a parallel
to the grade B science-fiction films that were just emerging in that
decade.
Hot on the crystal skull’s trail is Soviet Army officer Col. Spalko,
Cate Blanchett in a Louise Brooks bob. The chase will run from Area
51 in Nevada through the jungles of Peru to a lost city near the
Amazon River. Along the way, Indy will meet up with the love of his
life that he let get away, Marion and discover that she has had a
son, played by Shia LaBeouf, in the time they were apart.
But for everything that is done right, there is still something
missing, that spark of youthful energy that propelled the original
films. Some of moments of comic relief seem out of place, especially
a few pratfalls that Indy does in the first third of the film, which
only serve to undermine him as a hero. A few of the cliffhanger
escapes defy even the reality level of the previous films, and
that’s including Temple Of Doom’s escape from an
airplane/landing on the side of a mountain in a blowup raft. In some
cases, such as the trio of waterfalls Indy and his companions
encounter, it seems as if the film isn’t even that interested in the
peril at all, anxious to get past it and on to the next plot point.
The second half of the film moves a bit too briskly along, tossing
much exposition and action sequences at the audience in a mad dash
to get to the end credits. This is especially distressing as the
film’s final reveals are so underwhelming.
After doing Schindler’s List, Spielberg had often stated that
if he were to do another Indiana Jones film, the villains would not
be the Nazis as he felt he couldn’t return to their cartoon-like
portrayal. As a replacement for the Nazi presence in Raiders Of
The Lost Ark and Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade,
Blanchett’s Spalko is a poor second. There’s not much about her
character except that she exists to drive the plot, showing up to
kick Indy in the pants when he needs to get moving again towards the
film’s third act finale.
That’s not to say that the movie fails. There are plenty of great
sequences, most notably the truck chase through the jungle sequence
which gives Ford, Allen and LaBeouf moments to shine. Though
admittedly, they went a bit too far with one of LaBeouf’s pieces of
action during the sequence. And Harrison Ford is the most engaged he
has been with a role in years. As a friend of mine used to say,
“Even bad pizza is still pizza.” Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of
The Crystal Skull is not bad pizza, but it certainly isn’t great
pizza. It is, though, a pizza that moderately satisfies your craving
for a well made action film, even if they went a little heavy on the
cheese. |