It's not the years, it's the mileage--but the mileage is getting up there, too.
Written: May 20 '08 (Updated May 20 '08)
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Product Rating:
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| Bang For The Buck |
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Pros: does its best to capture that old "Indy" spirit
Cons: 19 years is a long time off
The Bottom Line: Indy 4 won this semi-skeptic over - it's a bit of a blast, and even though it has its flaws, it's an enjoyable enough ride. Consider this rating a 3.5
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| yogore's Full Review: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull |
(this review reveals no details about the movie's plot)
I have to admit, I'm not the world's biggest Indiana Jones fan. Oh, I like the old movies well enough, but I just didn't really care about the new one very much. I would have been perfectly happy waiting for the dvd to come out. I mean, come on: Harrison Ford isn't exactly in "action movie" mode any more. It's been 19 years since the last movie - a baby conceived after its parents-to-be went to a showing of The Last Crusade would have graduated high school about the time this movie opened. That's a hell of a gap for one actor to play the same character.
But in the weeks leading up to the premiere, a couple different cable channels were showing the first three movies. Oh yeah, now I remember why I liked these first ones so much. And hey, seeing Harrison Ford's promo appearance at SDCC '07, he looked healthier than he has in about a decade - obviously playing Indy agrees with him. Maybe this one would be worth a shot after all.
The actors all do a nice job - yes, even fanboys' favorite buttmonkey, Shia LaBeouf, handles himself well. Watching him reminisce about a lost friend shows that the kid has some chops, even if he did come from the Disney Channel "play it to the cheap seats" school of acting. Ford seems reinvigorated by his old role, and makes you believe a septuagenarian can be an action star; gone is the grumpy old man yelling at kids to get off his lawn, replaced by a slightly older but still active Indy. Karen Allen may be a bit too moony at times, seemingly swooning in the presence of her old lover, but you can see this is still the same character who drank men under the table and beat off assassins with a frying pan in the original. The Nazis have been replaced by Commies as the era-appropriate villains, and though the soldiers are all Russian actors (to best capture the right accents), Cate Blanchett can't quite escape comparisons to Rocky & Bullwinkle's foe Natasha.
There's a bit of a disconnect between the characters and the plot, because we're seeing a 1930s character in a 1950s story. The dusty adventure of archeology is different than the fantastic throes of science fiction, and they require different leading men, just as the scientist heroes of the '50s would feel out of place in a gritty '70s film. Crystal Skull does its best to make Indy (and the audience) feel at home, and once it slips into familiar territory, things flow much more smoothly.
The story is good, though it does rely a bit too much on hitting all the expected "beats" of an Indiana Jones tale. A betrayal by a companion? A flight on a rickety plane? A chase by angry natives? Someone killed by their own greed? A brawl on a vehicle? It's all here, and it was all there, too: these are things we've seen in the previous Indys, so if not for the capable directing and acting, this could easily have come across as a fan-film rather than the real thing.
There are a few instances when the movie becomes too predictable, when something is said that you just know is going to be important in short order. For you literary geeks out there, Chekov's Gun is fired off at least three times. It's like Chekov's Arsenal. And that's not even counting the aforementioned winks and nods toward the films' continuity. But it's the unpredictable moments that work best - like a severely endangered Indy refusing help until he gets the right kind of rope (believe me, it makes sense when you see it). And credit is due for deftly disposing of one plot mystery that would have really suffered if it had been dragged out too long.
The action pieces are done very well, though some may find they run a bit too long. It's fine if you want to move your stunts beyond the realm of "short and punchy," but you still can't have them run on so long that the audience gets used to being in a state of action - action scenes need to be sprints among slower periods, and that increased pace can only be maintained for so long without straining credulity. Imagine if the mine cart chase in Temple of Doom was twice as long, involved the plague of rats from Last Crusade, was immediately followed by the brutal fist fight with the burly German airplane mechanic from Raiders of the Lost Ark and went back to Temple of Doom for the life raft slide as its finale. A bit much, isn't it?
One thing missing from the movie is the sense of world-spanning adventure. Part of the reason Temple of Doom is the weakest entry in the series is that the majority of the movie takes place in one spot - once they get there, there's no more globetrotting. Crystal Skull tries to mix things up a bit, but suffers because two of its locations (visited sequentially) are so similar. In fact, we get the widest variety of locales at the beginning of the film - when it feels its least "Indy-ish." Is that poor planning, or a comment on the audience's expectations?
With nearly two decades of anticipation built up, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull had a lot working against it. Could it live up to the rosy memories of the first three, or would it be a let-down? Overall, it's an enjoyable flick that Indy fans shouldn't have any major complaints with. It's a good way to spend 2 hours, and it will probably grow on you with repeat viewings. Catch a matinee at the theatre, then bring on the dvd!
Oh, and there's no "after-credits" scene or anything: once the screen goes black, you can safely head for the exits.
Recommended:
Yes
Movie Mood: Action Movie
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Epinions.com ID:
yogore
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