Scan and Pan
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
1957. Dr. Henry "Indiana" Jones, Jr. (Harrison Ford) is kidnapped by Soviet agents led by the icy Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett) to help them locate a missing artifact they believe will give them military superiority. Although he escapes their clutches, the adventure is hardly over for Indy once the young motorcycle-riding greaser Mutt (Shia LaBeouf), who claims to be the son of a woman named Marion (Karen Allen) who once knew Indy, informs him that his old friend Harold Oxley (John Hurt) went missing in Peru after finding a mysterious crystal skull. Indy and Mutt head for South America, where they find danger and some surprising revelations waiting for them.
Director Steven Spielberg is called upon to adopt a shooting style he largely abandoned after the previous Indiana Jones film in 1989, and for the most part he succeeds in recapturing it. The film does suffer from some pacing issues and some bloat, but for a fourth entry in a nearly three decade old film franchise, it has to be judged a success. Spielberg has certainly grown immensely as a filmmaker since 1989, and it's perhaps for this reason that he can't entirely recapture his old touch for pulp adventures. Although executive producer George Lucas prefers his productions to be shot digitally now, Spielberg wisely shot on film to keep the production's look consistent with its predecessors.
The screenplay by David Koepp (Jurassic Park, Spider-Man), based on a story by Lucas and Jeff Nathanson (Catch Me If You Can, Rush Hour 3), is solidly constructed if formulaic. Raiders of the Lost Ark screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan returns to polish up some of the dialog, but receives no on-screen credit. Many plot elements can be traced back to the unproduced Indiana Jones and the Saucer Men script by Jeb Stuart (Die Hard, The Fugitive) from 1995, which was also based on a Lucas story, although Stuart also goes uncredited. It doesn't fail to let us know what life has been like for Indy since the last film, or what happened to his father and Marcus Brody.
The story is set in the 1950s, reflecting both the pop culture and the paranoia of the times, when even a decorated war hero like Indiana Jones could be suspected of disloyalty. While all the films have had a good amount of humor in them, this one often goes the furthest toward being an outright comedy. Some of it works, some of it doesn't, but it's consistent with the direction the franchise started taking with Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Critics have complained about the film's science fiction elements, but they fit what's essentially a 1950s pulp story and don't require any more suspension of disbelief than angry spirits, magic stones, or centuries-old knights guarding the Holy Grail.
Douglas Slocombe, the cinematographer of the first three films, retired after the previous one, so the task fell to frequent Spielberg collaborator Janusz Kaminski (Schindler's List, Saving Private Ryan) to successfully recreate Slocombe's style, which he does quite well. Production designer Guy Hendrix Dyas (X2, Superman Returns) and costume designers Bernie Pollack (Rain Man) and Mary Zophres (Catch Me If You Can) very effectively create sets and costumes that reflect the period as well as the more fantastic elements of the story. John Williams provides an appropriate score, and his famous "Raiders March" is still a thrilling theme for the exploits of Indiana Jones.
Although some have criticized the film for using so many CGI effects, Industrial Light & Magic is up to its usual high standard of work in creating those effects. The stunts were performed the old fashioned way with CGI used only to remove wires and other mechanical effects equipment from shots, and I think that's the most important thing here, the old school stuntwork.
Ford easily slips back into the familiar fedora without a hitch after almost two decades away from the role, and now Indy is older and a little wiser, but still someone who enjoys a good adventure. Following his lead role in Transformers last year, LaBeouf gives an adept performance as Indy's greaser sidekick and the son of Indy's Raiders love interest Marion Ravenwood, and it's a delight to see Allen return to the role of Marion, as her spirited presence was sorely missed in the other sequels. Blanchett is spot on as the coldhearted Soviet agent, reminding one of a classic James Bond antagonist.
The rest of the effective cast includes Hurt as Indy's old friend, Ray Winstone as Indy's fellow adventurer Mac, Jim Broadbent as the Dean of the college Indy teaches at (essentially taking the place of the late Denholm Elliott's Marcus Brody), Igor Jijikine as KGB Colonel Dovchenko, and Alan Dale as US General Ross.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is an entertaining and affectionate production with nods toward all three of the previous films and television's The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. It works as a nostalgic two hours spent with an old friend who's a little past his prime but still has one last hurrah left in him. Thanks for four entertaining films, Indy!
[3.5 out of 5 stars]
It would have been asking too much to expect this film to recapture the magic of Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) or the B-movie thrills of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), but it gives it a good try and manages to at least achieve a similar level of entertainment value as Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), which it resembles both in theme and tone.
1957. Dr. Henry "Indiana" Jones, Jr. (Harrison Ford) is kidnapped by Soviet agents led by the icy Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett) to help them locate a missing artifact they believe will give them military superiority. Although he escapes their clutches, the adventure is hardly over for Indy once the young motorcycle-riding greaser Mutt (Shia LaBeouf), who claims to be the son of a woman named Marion (Karen Allen) who once knew Indy, informs him that his old friend Harold Oxley (John Hurt) went missing in Peru after finding a mysterious crystal skull. Indy and Mutt head for South America, where they find danger and some surprising revelations waiting for them.
Director Steven Spielberg is called upon to adopt a shooting style he largely abandoned after the previous Indiana Jones film in 1989, and for the most part he succeeds in recapturing it. The film does suffer from some pacing issues and some bloat, but for a fourth entry in a nearly three decade old film franchise, it has to be judged a success. Spielberg has certainly grown immensely as a filmmaker since 1989, and it's perhaps for this reason that he can't entirely recapture his old touch for pulp adventures. Although executive producer George Lucas prefers his productions to be shot digitally now, Spielberg wisely shot on film to keep the production's look consistent with its predecessors.
The screenplay by David Koepp (Jurassic Park, Spider-Man), based on a story by Lucas and Jeff Nathanson (Catch Me If You Can, Rush Hour 3), is solidly constructed if formulaic. Raiders of the Lost Ark screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan returns to polish up some of the dialog, but receives no on-screen credit. Many plot elements can be traced back to the unproduced Indiana Jones and the Saucer Men script by Jeb Stuart (Die Hard, The Fugitive) from 1995, which was also based on a Lucas story, although Stuart also goes uncredited. It doesn't fail to let us know what life has been like for Indy since the last film, or what happened to his father and Marcus Brody.
The story is set in the 1950s, reflecting both the pop culture and the paranoia of the times, when even a decorated war hero like Indiana Jones could be suspected of disloyalty. While all the films have had a good amount of humor in them, this one often goes the furthest toward being an outright comedy. Some of it works, some of it doesn't, but it's consistent with the direction the franchise started taking with Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Critics have complained about the film's science fiction elements, but they fit what's essentially a 1950s pulp story and don't require any more suspension of disbelief than angry spirits, magic stones, or centuries-old knights guarding the Holy Grail.
Douglas Slocombe, the cinematographer of the first three films, retired after the previous one, so the task fell to frequent Spielberg collaborator Janusz Kaminski (Schindler's List, Saving Private Ryan) to successfully recreate Slocombe's style, which he does quite well. Production designer Guy Hendrix Dyas (X2, Superman Returns) and costume designers Bernie Pollack (Rain Man) and Mary Zophres (Catch Me If You Can) very effectively create sets and costumes that reflect the period as well as the more fantastic elements of the story. John Williams provides an appropriate score, and his famous "Raiders March" is still a thrilling theme for the exploits of Indiana Jones.
Although some have criticized the film for using so many CGI effects, Industrial Light & Magic is up to its usual high standard of work in creating those effects. The stunts were performed the old fashioned way with CGI used only to remove wires and other mechanical effects equipment from shots, and I think that's the most important thing here, the old school stuntwork.
Ford easily slips back into the familiar fedora without a hitch after almost two decades away from the role, and now Indy is older and a little wiser, but still someone who enjoys a good adventure. Following his lead role in Transformers last year, LaBeouf gives an adept performance as Indy's greaser sidekick and the son of Indy's Raiders love interest Marion Ravenwood, and it's a delight to see Allen return to the role of Marion, as her spirited presence was sorely missed in the other sequels. Blanchett is spot on as the coldhearted Soviet agent, reminding one of a classic James Bond antagonist.
The rest of the effective cast includes Hurt as Indy's old friend, Ray Winstone as Indy's fellow adventurer Mac, Jim Broadbent as the Dean of the college Indy teaches at (essentially taking the place of the late Denholm Elliott's Marcus Brody), Igor Jijikine as KGB Colonel Dovchenko, and Alan Dale as US General Ross.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is an entertaining and affectionate production with nods toward all three of the previous films and television's The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. It works as a nostalgic two hours spent with an old friend who's a little past his prime but still has one last hurrah left in him. Thanks for four entertaining films, Indy!
[3.5 out of 5 stars]
