Crystal Skull sparkles as Indiana Jones revives the magic
Sunday, May 25th, 2008
BREAKING through the cobwebs to revisit a classic franchise whose last film was nearly 20 years ago was never going to be an easy challenge, even for intrepid adventurer Indiana Jones, who’s well-known for rediscovering old relics - but director Steven Spielberg has definitely pulled it off.
An ageing Harrison Ford dusts off his character’s fedora as Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls takes some daring risks and manages to create a rip-roaring piece of summer entertainment with Ford’s charm, Spielberg’s cinematic magic and the excellent new addition of the surprisingly charismatic Shia LaBeouf.
The movie works as a piece of summer entertainment that can be proudly appended to the previous Indy outings, and the film-making is superb with some stunning visuals and action sequences.
This project was always going to get a mixed response - stick to the original formula and some cry that it’s too tired and dated; make radical changes and you risk people saying it’s no longer Indiana Jones. The finished film is very much in the spirit of the originals, with some additions (LaBeouf and a somewhat out-of-this-world storyline) to take it in new directions.
In the story, Indiana Jones and a new companion, biker Mutt Williams (LaBeouf, above right), battle Soviet agents led by Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett) in a quest to find a crystal skull in Peru which is said to have untold power.
Where it falls short in places is in the writing. Even dismissing the usual Indy cliches (bullets that never hit the target, impossible stunts and death-trap temples), some comic moments feel contrived, some explanations don’t work and the fates of some of the baddies left me totally unsatisfied.
The audience seemed to enjoy the movie and, as I left, one man remarked: “I went in with trepidation but it was excellent” to nodding approval from those around, and that’s exactly how I felt.
I’ll take a look at some of the details of the movie below, so don’t read further if you don’t want to know all the shocks and surprises - instead, come back after you’ve seen the movie and tell me if you agree,
THE DETAILS
This is a genre which has exploded since the first three movies with other quest films such as Tomb Raider, The Mummy and National Treasure, so director Spielberg and co-writer and executive producer George Lucas clearly felt the need to take the story to the next level with Crystal Skull.
Elements of Spielberg’s classic E.T. have now entered the Indiana franchise with this latest movie featuring alien remains, a reference to the Roswell incident and ending with a full-blown flying saucer emerging from an ancient pyramid.
There was a lot of anxiety from some fans before the movie about taking Indy’s archaeological quests into extraterrestrial territory - it does work in the film, though seeing a living alien near the end seemed unnecessary.
And the final explanation of the ‘gold’ of the lost city being the treasure of knowledge didn’t feel right at all, more like a writers’ cop-out. Despite the amazing final scenes at the temple in south America, that explanation seemed phoney and misleading.
The death of Winstone’s treacherous character - who was irritating from the moment he stepped on screen - was largely unsatisfying as was the demise of Blanchett’s eccentric Soviet agent (with bobbed hair, leather boots and a boiler suit). They needed to die - but it should have been more gratifying to the audience and not so rushed. I’m at least relieved that Winstone won’t be annoying me in future Indy movies.
Ford and romantic co star Karen Allen are now decidely advanced in years and one wonders how the franchise can carry on with either of them in physical action roles. Indy’s new sidekick Mutt who turns out to be his son seems to have been there to plant the possibility of him being Jones’ replacement.
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