Indiana Jones and the
Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
is an amazing movie. Obviously, it is impossible for any movie to
reach the masterfulness of
Raiders of the Lost Ark, but when I went to see this flick, I
wasn’t expecting that. What I was expecting was a fun and interesting
film full of action sequences, thrills, spooky scenes, great characters,
a couple of special effects and excitement. And that’s exactly
what Crystal Skull has delivered. Although it isn’t as fresh as,
say,
Iron Man, it definitely is one of the most fun and entertaining
movies I’ve seen this year, and I’m pretty sure it’s gonna be one of my
favorites. I mean, this flick’s got everything: action, adventure,
humour, sci-fi, chases, sword fights, shooting, explosions and, of
course, our favorite hero of all: Indiana Jones. Indy is back, folks,
make no mistake about it.
The film starts in Nevada,
in 1957. Indy (Harrison Ford, of course) and his new(ish) sidekick/rival,
George “Mac” McHale (Ray Winstone), have been captured by agents of the
Soviet Union, led by Irina Spalko (deliciously played by Cate
Blanchett). She takes them to a military warehouse where every
government secret is stored. (This is the same warehouse that appeared
at the end of Raiders.) There's something she wants Indy to find
and, after he does, he manages to escape. Later, while teaching back in
Marshall College, he receives news from colleague Dean Stanforth (Jim
Broadbent) that he’s being given a leave of absence. Just before he
manages to leave to London, though, his attention is called by a young
greaser called "Mutt" Williams (Shia LaBeouf). He wants his help to find
Professor Oxley (John Hurt), who has been kidnapped by Russians while
looking for a Lost City of Gold, in the South American Jungle; he seems
to be involved in a hunt for the mythical Crystal Skulls. Soon enough,
our two heroes fly to Peru (yay!), where they again encounter Spalko and
her minions, who have captured Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen), Indy’s
original love from Raiders.
Kingdom of the Crystal
Skull works
marvelously because, first of all, it’s an Indy film, and it
feels like one. The fact that it’s a motion picture featuring Indiana
Jones immediately makes it a hundred times better than movies like
National Treasure; there’s no other adventurer that can match
the wit and charisma of Indy. I was pleasantly surprised by this flick
because, since it’s being helmed by Spielberg and produced by the same
people and starring Harrison-friggin’-Ford, it feels the same as
the previous three flicks, boasting more or less the same tone as
The Last Crusade. Everything is the same as in the first, second
and third installments: the action, the adventure, the witty lines of
dialogue and the humour. Even the McGuffin is interesting, at least
better than the Sankara Stones from
Temple of Doom.
There is no other actor in
the world that could play Indy and, even though Harrison Ford is already
65 years old, he plays Indiana the same as in the previous film. In
short, he’s excellent. He delivers all his lines with wit, makes the
action sequences believable and thrilling – because we actually
believe that it’s Ford the one who’s performing them – and has no
problem in bringing back his iconic characters after nineteen years of
absence. It’s also cool to know that he was willing to perform all the
stunts that he could and that, even though stunt doubles were used in
some sequences (as in the previous films), he was physically capable of
doing most of the action. Digital stunt doubles are never used, which
makes it easier for one to believe that Ford is punching and shooting
all those Russians. Additionally, it’s also great to see the return of
Karen Allen as Marion. She looks pretty much the same as she did in
Raiders (except for the obvious differences that have to do with
age), and boasts loads of chemistry with Ford; it’s pretty obvious that
the both of them were having tons of fun while shooting the film.
Allen’s performance is great, and the best thing is that David Koepp
hasn’t changed the character at all: she’s still a strong woman of
action.
I must also say that all
the hate that was directed towards Shia LaBeouf before the release of
the movie was unfounded. Granted, he doesn’t give an incredible
performance, but he’s really good in his role of greaser Mutt. He starts
as a rebellious and dumbish kind of kid, and ends the movie as more of a
mature character. Ray Winstone as Mac and John Hurt as Oxley are great
too, but have too little screentime and aren’t allowed enough time to
shine. Still, they give really good performances: Mac is sufficiently
ambiguous as a rival/sidekick, and Hurt acts hilariously crazy during
most of the film. The real scene-stealer, though, is Cate Blanchett as
Agent Irina Spalko. She might not be as charismatic or memorable as
Raiders’ Belloq, but she’s nevertheless one of the best Indy
villains yet. Blanchett’s accent is great, and manages to make the
character her own. She’s villainous, exotic, beautiful, ambitious, and
she’s got freakin’ mental/psychic powers.
Most people go to watch an
Indiana Jones film to watch the action sequences and the ways our
heroes manage to escape the direst situations and, in that sense,
Kingdom of the Crystal Skull delivers. Spielberg is a master of
action and tension, and in this particular movie he manages to create
many memorable action scenes that made me really excited and pumped-up.
The Warehouse action sequence makes the movie start with a bang, and
gives a hint to the audience of what’s about to come; the Marshall
College chase, which has Indy and Mutt in a motorcycle being chased by
Commies and ends in a library, is tons of fun; the Jungle Chase, which
is the centerpiece of the whole film, is deliciously choreographed and
shot. It has everything: shooting, explosions, bazookas, hybrid vehicles,
fencing (yes, fencing!) and lots of thrills. It’s one of the most
exciting sequences in the whole movie, but it isn’t perfect: the
“mini-scene” of Mutt encountering a group of monkeys and doing like
Tarzan is just too cheesy, and looks too obviously blue-screened.
Fortunately, it doesn’t last long and doesn’t manage to do any damage to
the movie.
Yes, I said blue-screened.
When Spielberg said that the film’s special effects were only like 30%
CGI, he was telling the truth… kinda. The first 2/3 of the flick have
almost no CGI; all the action sequences are shot in the old-fashioned
way, with traditional real-life explosions, real stunt doubles and
Russian extras, and real transports. But it’s when the movie arrives at
its conclusion that the digital effects are let loose. When Spielberg
said that only 30% of the effects were digital, I thought they were
scattered here and there, but the reality is, most of them actually
appear during the film’s conclusion. That doesn’t mean the movie doesn’t
feel like an Indy flick; I was just expecting an ending with less
effects. The great news is that these computer effects aren’t used for
action sequences or stuff like that; they’re actually needed, and
never call attention to themselves. Besides, they look really cool and
expensive.
But why is CGI needed?
Why didn’t Spielberg use 100% practical effects? Well, I must say that
the rumours regarding aliens were actually true, and that
that’s the reason why CGI was needed. No need to worry, though; we
don’t have little green men or stuff like that here. Let’s just say that
Spielberg and his team have followed the theory that says that the
Crystal Skulls are of alien origin, and that some ancient cultures were
capable of constructing such amazing temples and creating such advanced
technologies because of extraterrestrial influence. The great thing is
that Spielberg and Koepp (yes, Koepp too) make all of this
credible and exciting, and if you watch Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
as an homage to cheesy sci-fi movies of the 50s (as the previous flicks
were an homage to the serials of the 30s), you’ll have one hell of a
time. I must say, I was pleasantly surprised by the Crystal Skull
storyline; it’s really interesting, and the way Jones and Mutt discover
clues little by little is engrossing. It also helps that some scenes
take place in Peru, hehe. The filmmakers have got most of the
details of Peruvian history right, and it’s really cool to see the Nazca
lines making an appearance.
John Williams’ score, as
always, is really great too. It might not be the best score he has ever
composed, but it boasts an effective mixture of previous themes – the
Raider’s March, the Ark of the Covenant theme, the Indy and Marion theme
– and new ones – Mutt’s theme and the Crystal Skull’s theme. I wasn’t
able to fully appreciate Williams’ music because of all the
shooting and exploding and punching, but I was nevertheless impressed by
it: the Skull’s theme is really creepy! Sound design is also great; Ben
Burtt (who has left Lucasfilm but returned to work for Crystal Skull
because he really loves the series) was in charge of the sound effects,
meaning that we do hear the exaggerated punch sounds and
everything that makes the Indy movies so special in terms of
sound.
Yes, as you can see, I
really liked Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
I just don’t understand the critics who haven’t liked the movie; it
might not be a masterpiece (the Tarzan scene is ridiculous and special
effects are sometimes too evident), but it's really fun. Maybe they have
seen so many modern action movies full of digital effects, shaky
camerawork and MTV-like editing, that they can’t enjoy a traditional and
seemingly-old-fashioned actioner. One just can’t over-analyse
this picture. The Indy films were created to provide with
exhilarating action sequences, interesting and cheesy (yes, cheesy)
storylines and great acting. So you know what? That’s exactly what
Indy IV delivers. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal
Skull is one of the most fun and entertaining motion pictures I’ve
seen this year, providing with a compelling mixture of humour, action,
sci-fi, special effects, foreign accents and memorable characters. Indy,
we’ve missed you, and couldn’t have chosen a better way to return.
Welcome back.
©2008
Sebastián Zavala - Star Wars Epica
