Indiana Jones & the Kingdom of the Crsytal Skull (C+ or 2.5/4 stars)
'Indy 4' (as I'll now refer to it) is an action/adventure flick directed & written by the good 'ole Spielberg/Lucas team (yes!!). It may be 19 yrs. after his last cinematic romp, but it's still fantastic to see archaeologist/adventurer Dr. Henry 'Indiana' Jones (Harrison Ford) called back to action for a 4th time. This time, he's thrown into the mix of a Soviet plot to uncover the secret behind the mysterious antiquities that are the 'Crystal Skulls'. Well, I've been out of the theater for about 45 minutes now, and I'm exhausted. This is good & bad. 'Indy 4' is a HUGE mixed bag of thrills, chills & confounding bizarrities.
Nevada, 1957: Indy and his colleague, Mac (an almost unintelligible Ray Winstone), are held captive by Irina Spalko's (Cate Blanchett) band of evil Soviets. She leads them into a warehouse (full of American military artifacts) and expects Indy to locate something significant. Indy manages to escape, of course. And a sequence involving a faux-town being blown up by way of Atomic bomb is spectacular. His igniting the bomb by way of leaning on a dummy-on-a-bicycle is reminiscent of his setting off booby traps in the 1st film; loved it! We fast forward a little and see that Indy is back in class teaching archeology to his students. After being informed that he must take a leave of absence (the FBI falsely believe he's a Commi), he meets a 20-something yr. old "Mutt" (Shia LaBeouf). Mutt needs Indy's help in finding/rescuing his kidnapped mother, 'Marion' (Karen Allen), & beloved Professor Oxley (John Hurt), from the Russians.
It is here where the best action sequence in the whole movie takes place. Mutt & Indy weave in & out, up & down a college campus on a motorcycle, trying to avoid the bad guys who are hunting them. After another escape ... duh, they fly to South America & the Lost City of Gold. There, they realize that Irina Spalko is holding both Marion & Oxley (who had been searching for some crystal skulls). Irina will try to use Indy, again, to track down what she seeks. Apparently, the mysterious crystal skull contains enough power to allow its keeper the knowledge to rule the world (Soviet domination), blah blah blah. There are a few more exhilarating chases/fights in the Amazon jungle before the preposterous climax swings into full gear. Alien life forms (yes, from outer space) play a key role in this grand finale; & major characters are melted ... similarly to Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Here's what I liked in the movie: Harrison Ford is up to the challenge (a worry for many Indy fans). It's great to have Karen Allen back; but her repartee with Ford is almost nil. Shia LaBeouf is good as Indy's right hand man. Fortunately, they have the necessary chemistry early on to make you care for what happens later in the script. Cate Blanchett makes for a fun dominatrix-like villainess; her Russian accent is impeccable. The art direction/sets are superb. The musical score is okay, but fairly standard (as Kevin noted, absent of a memorable theme). The use of tongue-in-cheekness/old-school nostalgia/slapstick humor/witty one-liners helped, a lot. And the aforementioned action/stunt sequences (and various special effects usage) are good enough to wake you from the tedious mid-film moments of never-ending exposition. I smiled a lot throughout. But there are a handful of things that were either overblown OR underused.
Firstly, this is the most contrived, wordy, puzzling screenplay of all the Indy movies. Some of the dialogue lacks interest (particularly dead moments in the middle of the film). If I were to watch this film on DVD, I'd fast forward a lot or flip the channel on TV, & come back later. Most of the character developments are fairly shallow. And it takes a lot (either if you're a fan or not of the franchise) to ignore some of the ridiculous plot points: 1) surviving sword fights atop of speeding trucks in the middle of the Amazon. 2) Tarzan-like vine swinging. 3) Surviving not 1, not 2, but 3 HUMONGOUS waterfall drops (hold on tight to that crystal skull, Oxley ... rolls eyes). 4) Escaping an onslaught of red fire ants the size of a golf ball. 5) And oh, prevent getting beamed up by a UFO. Yes, you read all of that correctly.
You see, some of these experiences are loads of goofball fun. But some of them overstep a line into the realms of pure audacity. There's frenetic energy happening onscreen, it just doesn't always compliment the movie as well as it aims to. 'Crystal Skull' is worth the trip to the theater. It's often slick, sometimes funny, and has energy to spare. But it isn't consistently riveting; not at all. The wonderful balance of comedy, plot intrigue, & action that we've grown to love in the 3 previous Indy films is slightly off here. And this quartet of movies should respectfully end on a somewhat stellar note. In other words, quit while they're ahead.
Nevada, 1957: Indy and his colleague, Mac (an almost unintelligible Ray Winstone), are held captive by Irina Spalko's (Cate Blanchett) band of evil Soviets. She leads them into a warehouse (full of American military artifacts) and expects Indy to locate something significant. Indy manages to escape, of course. And a sequence involving a faux-town being blown up by way of Atomic bomb is spectacular. His igniting the bomb by way of leaning on a dummy-on-a-bicycle is reminiscent of his setting off booby traps in the 1st film; loved it! We fast forward a little and see that Indy is back in class teaching archeology to his students. After being informed that he must take a leave of absence (the FBI falsely believe he's a Commi), he meets a 20-something yr. old "Mutt" (Shia LaBeouf). Mutt needs Indy's help in finding/rescuing his kidnapped mother, 'Marion' (Karen Allen), & beloved Professor Oxley (John Hurt), from the Russians.
It is here where the best action sequence in the whole movie takes place. Mutt & Indy weave in & out, up & down a college campus on a motorcycle, trying to avoid the bad guys who are hunting them. After another escape ... duh, they fly to South America & the Lost City of Gold. There, they realize that Irina Spalko is holding both Marion & Oxley (who had been searching for some crystal skulls). Irina will try to use Indy, again, to track down what she seeks. Apparently, the mysterious crystal skull contains enough power to allow its keeper the knowledge to rule the world (Soviet domination), blah blah blah. There are a few more exhilarating chases/fights in the Amazon jungle before the preposterous climax swings into full gear. Alien life forms (yes, from outer space) play a key role in this grand finale; & major characters are melted ... similarly to Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Here's what I liked in the movie: Harrison Ford is up to the challenge (a worry for many Indy fans). It's great to have Karen Allen back; but her repartee with Ford is almost nil. Shia LaBeouf is good as Indy's right hand man. Fortunately, they have the necessary chemistry early on to make you care for what happens later in the script. Cate Blanchett makes for a fun dominatrix-like villainess; her Russian accent is impeccable. The art direction/sets are superb. The musical score is okay, but fairly standard (as Kevin noted, absent of a memorable theme). The use of tongue-in-cheekness/old-school nostalgia/slapstick humor/witty one-liners helped, a lot. And the aforementioned action/stunt sequences (and various special effects usage) are good enough to wake you from the tedious mid-film moments of never-ending exposition. I smiled a lot throughout. But there are a handful of things that were either overblown OR underused.
Firstly, this is the most contrived, wordy, puzzling screenplay of all the Indy movies. Some of the dialogue lacks interest (particularly dead moments in the middle of the film). If I were to watch this film on DVD, I'd fast forward a lot or flip the channel on TV, & come back later. Most of the character developments are fairly shallow. And it takes a lot (either if you're a fan or not of the franchise) to ignore some of the ridiculous plot points: 1) surviving sword fights atop of speeding trucks in the middle of the Amazon. 2) Tarzan-like vine swinging. 3) Surviving not 1, not 2, but 3 HUMONGOUS waterfall drops (hold on tight to that crystal skull, Oxley ... rolls eyes). 4) Escaping an onslaught of red fire ants the size of a golf ball. 5) And oh, prevent getting beamed up by a UFO. Yes, you read all of that correctly.
You see, some of these experiences are loads of goofball fun. But some of them overstep a line into the realms of pure audacity. There's frenetic energy happening onscreen, it just doesn't always compliment the movie as well as it aims to. 'Crystal Skull' is worth the trip to the theater. It's often slick, sometimes funny, and has energy to spare. But it isn't consistently riveting; not at all. The wonderful balance of comedy, plot intrigue, & action that we've grown to love in the 3 previous Indy films is slightly off here. And this quartet of movies should respectfully end on a somewhat stellar note. In other words, quit while they're ahead.