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All Movie Info
Starring:
Harrison Ford, Shia LaBeouf, Cate Blanchett, Ray Winstone, Jim Broadbent, John Hurt, Karen Allen, Andrew Divoff, Alan Dale, Andrew Divoff, Pavel Lychnikoff, David LaVera, Igor Jijikine, Joel Stoffer
Directed By:
Steven Spielberg
Written By:
David Koepp, George Lucas, Jeff Nathanson, Philip Kaufman
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Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)
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Movie Review by Jarrod
May 22nd, 2008
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'Indiana Jones 4, with the wordy subtitle Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, is a fantastic addition to the series, and while it is not on par with any of its three predecessors, I loved it, and many other Indy fans will, too. You do not have to know much about the original trilogy, but it helps, because Spielberg offers quite a bit of fan service, a brief glimpse of the Ark, pictures of Connery and Denholm Elliot, and a reuniting of Indy with Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen), his love interest from Raiders. Allen has not aged much, but neither has Ford, though both of them are old enough to be grandparents. Their chemistry is spot-on; he is as happy to see her as we are. I miss Connery, of course, as Indy's dad, and the late Elliot as museum curator Marcus Brody. I also miss the Nazis as villains, but this film is set in 1957, 12 years after the defeat of the Nazi Germany in World War II, so it makes sense to replace them with America's new enemies, the Russians.
More precisely, they are Soviets (or Communists), and are led by the icy Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett), one of Stalin's favorite scientists, who is interested in researching psychic energy. Spalko has brought Indy and his war buddy (Indy served in the OSS and actually holds the rank of colonel, apparently) Mac (Ray Winstone), to a military storehouse in the Nevada desert, where she asks him to find something for her. He does, the greedy Mac betrays him, and he makes a daring escape. He stumbles upon one of those creepy replicas of an American suburb, houses occupied by mannequins (like from The Hills Have Eyes); these were used for nuclear tests, and sure enough, Indy survives a nuclear blast, by hiding in a refrigerator. Forget all that duck and cover nonsense. This should tell you from the start that the plot is going to be highly implausible, if not downright silly, and it is, but it doesn't really matter. Indy is forced to take a leave of absence from the university he teaches at (the dean is played by Jim Broadbent). He encounters a young guy named Mutt Williams (Shia LeBoeuf), who looks like a Grease reject, and initially appears on a train platform looking like Marlon Brando from The Wild One. He rides a motorcycle, wears a leather jacket, has slicked-up hair he is always pruning and combing. He and Indy set off to Peru to locate Professor Oxley (John Hurt), Indy's former colleague, as well as Mutt's mother, who is actually Marion.
Yes, Mutt is Indy's son. That is an open secret anyway; revealed already by numerous sources, even if it shouldn't have been. Irina pursues them as they try to find the crystal skull, and then return it to a mythical city of gold. Ford could have carried this movie all by himself; yes, he is that good. He is still very agile, and his whip-cracking skills are undiminished. He can still hold his own in a fight, and there are several good-natured jokes about his age. I actually liked LeBoeuf quite a lot, he does well in the action scenes, and he and Ford play well off of each other. I figured he would be just another obnoxious sidekick. Winstone is utterly useless, and Hurt is wasted in a role that has him babbling incoherently for most of his screen time. Blanchett makes for an excellent villain; her Russian accent is flawless. She never flashes a smile or changes her facial expression at all, but that fits her character. These stock Soviet cronies are the kind you usually find in a Bond flick, and indeed Irina would have been effective in a Bond flick, James's nemesis at first, and then his lover. This is a consistently thrilling adventure yarn; Spielberg's craftsmanship is evident in every sequence, especially the central one, a vehicle chase through the jungle, and along perilously steep cliffs, ending with a grotesque swarm of big red ants devouring anything in their path. Then, Indy, Mutt, Oxley, Mac, and Marion, go over not one but three waterfalls.
The script by David Koepp grows a bit too talkative, focuses occasionally on needless exposition, with Indy explaining things, but he is an archaeologist after all, and that is what he does. I am not sure Koepp should have thrown aliens into the mix, but Spielberg does seem to have an affinity for otherworldly life; these extraterrestrials actually resemble the ones from Close Encounters of the Third Kind, but are not perhaps as benevolent. I will reiterate that I loved this, even though I think it may lack the wonder and overall excitement of its predecessors, but Spielberg is not looking to re-invent the wheel here; he knows the formula and the audience, and exploits them both to great effect. I sincerely hope the series stops here; there is no reason to continue it further, and Ford will be 80 or older before they get around to making the next one, and without him, there is no Indiana Jones, unless they give the role to Shia, and that would be heresy. By the way, the film comes with a preview for Shia's new film Eagle Eye, which looks intriguing, and comes out in the fall.
There is, of course, the classic Indy theme, and terrific cinematography by Spielberg veteran Janusz Kaminski. The production values are superior to those in the earlier films, but technology has improved tremendously in two decades, and Spielberg capitalizes on it. However, in praising the special effects, I will note the strangeness of those prairie dogs/groundhogs in the opening scenes, and those monkeys that swing on vines with Shia.
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