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There are flashes of the old brilliance, but No. 4 a disappointment
By Rich Heldenfels
Beacon Journal pop culture writer
Published on Thursday, May 22, 2008
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull has a lot of history to overcome. The history of its main character. The history of Indiana Jones movies. And movie history generally, in which countless adventure epics have tried to match or surpass the Jones style.
Crystal Skull, the fourth big-screen movie in the Jones series, puts up a fight here and there. But history is too much for it. Crystal Skull ends up a disappointment and, even more sadly, an unnecessary addition to the Jones canon.
Since it's been almost 20 years since Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Crystal Skull also leaps past the '30s adventures of the early Jones films. It is set in 1957, and there are numerous references, visual and verbal, to the advanced age of Indiana Jones (played once again by Harrison Ford).
The world has changed since the 1930s settings of the three previous films. America's worst external enemy is now the Soviet Union, personified by a nasty agent named Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett). But after a rough battle with the Soviets, Indy finds there's trouble at home as well when the FBI becomes suspicious of him — and costs him his college teaching job.
Set adrift, Indy is approached by a young tough named Mutt Williams (Shia LaBeouf). Williams needs Indy's help on a journey to South America. Indy agrees. And with the adventure, the movie undergoes a dramatic shifting of gears.
Up to that point, Crystal Skull had seemed to build a new movie foundation for Indiana Jones. Instead of using old serials as its inspiration, it dips into the themes and style of low-budget films of the '50s — not only thrillers and science fiction but youth-rebellion movies. The opening is set to Elvis Presley's music. When Mutt makes his entrance, he's a clone of Marlon Brando in The Wild One.
It's a decent idea, and it fits with the occasional examinations of Indy's age. He's not as dangerous as he used to be. His classroom is no longer full of young women in full crush. When he recalls riding with Pancho Villa — which he did, in an episode of TV's Young Indiana Jones Chronicles — he seems like a page from an ancient book. He has faced loss; the movie notes the passing of his father (played by the now-retired Sean Connery in Last Crusade) and his old friend Marcus Brody (Denholm Elliott, who died in 1992).
But Crystal Skull is not as interested in the idea of changing times as it suggests. The FBI issue, for example, drops abruptly from the mix. Instead, the movie falls into old habits of mystery, fantasy and stunts — getting back to the classic Indy flourishes that Crystal Skull assumes are what moviegoers really want.
Nor is that an entirely wrong move. The stunts can occasionally dazzle. One extended car chase, complete with shootouts and a sword fight, is a dandy.
But it's also something we've seen before, in this film and others. Indeed, I was reminded of films like Face/Off and National Treasure: Book of Secrets, as much as I was of the early Indiana Jones movies.
The character elements might have proved a more interesting course. Even though the scenes leading to the South American journey are quite slow in spots, in retrospect it appears that's because the movie is just meeting an obligation before getting to the fun parts.
Only, again, the tricks are only sporadically entertaining. The big plot twists are not very surprising. (The audience will be ahead of Indy on at least one of them.) Part of one chase makes no sense.
Some of the cast members are wasted — Jim Broadbent as Indy's college dean, for one, and LaBeouf is more a series of poses than a fully drawn character. Even Blanchett, usually so reliable, is not that good.
As I have said more than once, I was looking forward to this movie more than any other film this summer. I did feel a grin slipping across my face when we first see the shadow of Indy in his iconic hat. And the grin was back at times near the end, when the movie felt as comfy and familiar as a 20-year-old T-shirt I am reluctant to give up.
But that T-shirt is tattered at the neck. And Crystal Skull is full of holes.
Worst of all, it leaves room for a sequel.
Rich Heldenfels writes about popular culture for the Beacon Journal and in a blog at http://www.ohio.com. He can be reached at (330) 996-3582 and rheldenfels@thebeaconjournal.com.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull has a lot of history to overcome. The history of its main character. The history of Indiana Jones movies. And movie history generally, in which countless adventure epics have tried to match or surpass the Jones style.
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