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Overall Rating
  Awesome: 32.3%
Worth A Look: 28.57%
Average: 17.39%
Pretty Bad: 7.45%
Total Crap: 14.29%
9 reviews, 107 user ratings
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| Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull |
by Lybarger
"Indy might want to point his whip in a different direction."
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I don’t attend an Indiana Jones movie expecting rigorous history lessons or deep psychological explorations. Complaining that the characters in “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” are one-dimensional is pointless.The sole reason for the films is to watch Dr. Jones safely emerge from one impossible scrape after another: The bigger and more improbable the crisis, the better. As can be expected, series director Steven Spielberg consistently delivers tasty and fattening eye candy. Unfortunately, the wit that accompanied the spectacle in the previous films returns only fitfully here.
In this adventure, archaeologist and adventurer Dr. Henry “Indiana” Jones, Jr. (Harrison Ford) finds himself pursuing remote treasures, not because he’s out to save the world, but because he’s in trouble back home in the United States.
After being kidnapped by a sword-wielding Soviet spy named Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett, with a Louise Brooks hairdo), Jones is forced to relocate a strange relic from a warehouse in a nuclear facility (somewhere near Roswell, NM, no less).
He naturally escapes in typically outlandish manner (remember the technique shown here if you find yourself stuck on an atomic test site about to explode). But the American government that once benefitted from his repeated heroism assumes that he was in cahoots with the treacherous Spalko.
Suspended from his university job, Jones agrees to help a mysterious young motorcycle enthusiast named Mutt Williams (Shia LaBeouf) locate his mother in Peru.
Naturally, ancient mystical treasures and current danger await. Credited screenwriter David Koepp (“The Trigger Effect,” “Jurassic Park”) actually comes up with several intriguing ways of updating the saga after a 20-year gap.
The new movie has a field day poking fun at Cold War paranoia and reunites Jones with his “Raiders of the Lost Ark” love interest Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen). Ravenwood is the only female character who has been able to hold her own against the whip-wielding hero and serves as more than a foil for Jones, so her return is more than welcome.
That said, many of the ideas that are supposed to keep viewers occupied between jaw-dropping stunts are undercooked. Blancett is a suitably cold-hearted villain, but Oscar-nominee John Hurt and Oscar-winner Jim Broadbent are grossly over-qualified to play their one-note roles.
Ray Winstone does what little he can as an unscrupulous colleague of Jones’ named McHale. His shifting loyalties should make him a more interesting character, but Keopp and Spielberg don’t give him any real distinguishing traits except for unrelenting greed.
To be fair, Spielberg, unlike his fellow eye candy merchants Michael Bay or series co-creator George Lucas, can coax his performers to look as if they’re having fun playing monochromatic roles instead of merely picking up another paycheck.
The filmmakers wisely decide to acknowledge that Ford isn’t a youngster (characters constantly refer to him as “old man”), but keep the age-related humor to a minimum. In his mid-60s, Ford is in decent shape, so the switches to stunt doubles aren’t jarring.
The Indiana Jones movies are at their best when Ford has a leading performer who can match him as Allen did in “Raiders” or as Sean Connery did in “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.” LaBeouf is a decent actor and emerges with his dignity intact, but the exchanges Koepp is credited with writing are only marginally amusing.
The artifacts that Jones and his fellow fortune hunters pursue in this effort are disappointing as well. The Ark of the Covenant and the Holy Grail are unseen but iconic treasures that give the filmmakers enough leeway to create an interesting story.
The crystal skulls that are supposedly pre-Columbian wonders simply aren’t that interesting and encourage Spielberg to repeat his earlier work instead of exploring what new territory for Dr. Jones. The third act suffers from some irritatingly predictable story twists that you won’t need a crystal skull to guess.The fun of the previous movies can still be found, but you might have to dig like Indy to find it.
link directly to this review at https://www.efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=17211&reviewer=382
originally posted: 05/23/08 09:35:34
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USA
22-May-2008 (PG-13)
DVD: 14-Oct-2008
UK
N/A
Australia
22-May-2008
DVD: 14-Oct-2008
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