Maybe twenty years was
too long. Maybe fans expected the unexpected or something close to nirvana, or
the same old, same old. When Steven Spielberg's WWII epic "Saving Private
Ryan" was up for release in the early summer of 1998, someone in the press
mentioned it as "the Second Coming." Perhaps that is the problem -
when Spielberg cranks out another film, expectations run solidly high on the
nirvana meter. But when Spielberg is readying up a new Indiana Jones movie, the
expectations run to paramount extremes higher than any nirvana scale - it is
pretty much a supernova (like George Lucas's "Star Wars" saga). 1989
was the last time that audiences watched Indiana Jones, the rugged, stubborn
archaeologist adventurer as he battled Nazis and sought to preserve his dignity
with his crotchety old father coming along for the ride. That was the Last
Crusade and Indy (Harrison Ford) and his father (Sean Connery) and his clumsy
museum curator pal, Marcus Brody (the late Denholm Elliott), rode off into the
sunset. Creator George Lucas couldn't come up with any other adventures or
MacGuffins so the curtain was closed. Or was it? Even Harrison Ford admitted
that you should never say never again, in a taped interview with Entertainment
Tonight back in May of 1989. As for the sunset conclusion, it was the end of
the 1930's era yet, despite Spielberg's claims, my feeling of riding off into
the sunset was it symbolized further Indy adventures, not the end of them.
Clearly George Lucas
thought so too and he came up with a new idea: aliens, crystal skulls, a
possible son tagging along and the return of Marion Ravenwood, Indy's former
flame from "Raiders of the Lost Ark." When Lucas presented the idea
to Harrison Ford while they were shooting Ford's cameo for "Young Indiana
Jones Chronicles" back in 1993, Ford declined to appear in anything
involving flying saucers. Spielberg himself did not want to revisit alien
terrain either, having directed "Close Encounters of the Third Kind"
and "E.T" as two notable flicks dealing with an alien intelligence.
Years passed, different writers wrote a few drafts (including Young Indy scribe
Frank Darabont) and, finally, after much anticipation and speculation, the
fourth Indiana Jones movie became a reality in January of 2007. Lucas made the
announcement that filming was scheduled for June 18th, 2007 for a May 2008
release.
Rumors circulated like
wildfire. An early one was that the film would begin with an atomic explosion.
Later in July of 2007, someone spotted Karen Allen at a Borders bookstore in
Hawaii, the much heralded secret that was meant to be kept as such until the day
the film opened. Another was that Shia LaBeouf was going to play Indy's son.
Those turned out to be true. Some false truths were that John Hurt was going to
be playing Abner Ravenwood, Marion's father who died, according to a line of
dialogue from "Raiders." Another one was that the Ark of the Covenant
was instrumental in the plot, which it was not. Yet another wild rumor was that
Clint Eastwood would be appearing as a general. When Shia LaBeouf announced at
the MTV Movie Awards the title of the film, the rumors of what artifact would
be pursued quieted down and became known - it would be a crystal skull.
May of 2008 saw the
release of "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,"
first at a Cannes Film Festival premiere that caused some mild praise and some
mild negativity and then its U.S. premiere. The sharp critical knives were out
in full force in what has become the most hotly debated and critically reviled
sequel in the Indy saga (more appropriately, the most critically reviled sequel
in history, aside from Lucas' own "Star Wars" prequels). So keep
reading and let us dissect the complaints, the truths, the half-truths from
fans and non-fans, and the development of the characters and what actually
transpired in the fourth Indiana Jones movie.
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A
Nuclear Jones Family Unit (Harrison Ford, Shia LaBeouf, Karen Allen)
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I. Complaints from
Indiana Jones fans
The superficial
complaints came out in full force from the Indy fans. Though there have been
ruminating questions about plot and character, they came up empty because they
were looking at them in the wrong context; more on that later. The futile fan
complaints were as follows: Too many unbelievable stunts, including the rubber
tree where a DUKW vehicle safely rides out into the water by literally riding
against the tree; one too many Amazonian waterfalls; an atomic blast that Indy
survives by hiding in a fridge, and a sword duel on two parallel vehicles. I am
not disagreeing that the stunts are more unbelievable or cartoonish than
before. As a matter of fact, they approach the cartoonishness of "Temple
of Doom." The rubber tree was fun to watch despite being so improbable,
and aren't Indiana Jones chases and stunts supposed to be fun? It is just as
improbable as "Temple of Doom's" inflatable raft that falls from a
plane and rests squarely and safely on a rocky mountain and then falls a few
hundred feet into a waterfall where the heroes survive without drowning. The
heroes in "Crystal Skull" ride their DUKW vehicle through three
waterfalls! Yep, one too many that ends with Marion holding a steering wheel on
land while hysterically laughing and Indy and the others drenched, though they
miraculously get dry on land fairly quickly.
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Karen
Allen as Marion Ravenwood
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Indy: "That can't be good."
The atomic blast left
many fans irate, so irate that the term "Nuked the Fridge" was coined
(a phrase paralleling "Jump the Shark"). Indiana Jones is in
Doomtown, a Nevada nuclear testing site where a nuclear bomb is about to be
dropped within fifteen seconds. Indy scrambles inside a house to find shelter
and decides the safest place is the inside of a lead-lined fridge. The blast
occurs sending the fridge several miles into the air and Indy gets out with
barely a scratch. Improbable? Of course (and this was Spielberg's idea, not
Lucas’). Intense and nerve-wracking? Naturally. In the past, Indiana Jones'
bloodcurlingly dangerous perils involved outrunning rolling boulders; near
impalement in a collapsing spike chamber; an out-of-control careening mining
cart; being dragged under a truck; narrowly escaping collapsing walls and
poisonous darts, and much more. None of these events are anything that (I'd
hope) a human being would ever encounter. An atomic blast is something people
have suffered or died from (Hiroshima, for one) and so the fact that Indy is
stuck in a very real-life situation that is shown very realistically (sans the
fridge) may have been too much for some audiences (in Japan, many patrons were
understandably disturbed and ran out of the theater). The iconic moment where
he stares at this mushroom cloud is not unlike eerie actual footage of U.S.
soldiers walking towards nuclear fallout at actual testing sites. Ford himself
said that there were scenes that would make an audience uncomfortable. I am sure
he was talking about this one. But would the fans have preferred that Indy
perish in this scene? What other way would he have survived it if not inside a
fridge? (There is a brief shot of that red coupe but I doubt that the ignition
works). The other complaint from fans is that surviving such a blast makes Indy
superheroic, invulnerable and anything else he endures afterwards is
anticlimactic. True but Indiana Jones is meant to survive, to sidestep danger
because he always does. Is the scene too cartoonish? Absolutely, but do
consider what the scene is ultimately about. Indiana Jones looks out of place
in this brightly colored suburban replica. He is not comfortable with the
notion of suburbia (the one shot that shows his house in a later scene looks like
a mansion) and he is not part of that, pardon the pun, nuclear family unit
(though he is by the end of the film). The scene itself takes on another
dimension in Spielberg's own past use of suburbia - Spielberg demolishes it and
the fact that mannequins are seen standing around waiting for the inevitable
gives the film a criticism of placid complacency. It is a blazingly original
contrivance for Indy to be stuck in such a predicament, and it is both
disturbing, creepy and entertaining (the fridge flying over the Army car is
creepily funny). So Indy escaping almost certain death in a fridge is a
metaphor, I believe, for his future with Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen). It
will be a rocky ride but he will survive it. Or will he? I guess we will find
out in the fifth Indiana Jones adventure if it ever becomes a reality.
The hot-rod drag race
has been criticized by fans to be too long and serving no purpose. It is a race
that precedes Doomtown and it is not just an homage to Lucas's own
"American Graffiti." In the drag race scene, a 1932 Ford car model is
seen along a desert field (echoes of "Last Crusade"s opening prologue
in a slightly similar setting) with some unruly teenagers who are driving at
rapid speeds. They get on the main road and try to get the Army car to race
them. Mutt Williams is someone that might have hung out with this crowd, thus
these "Stand By Me"-teens foreshadow the later introduction of the
greaser and high-school dropout Mutt. These teens are unaware that Indiana
Jones is inside the trunk of that Army vehicle and are also unaware the drivers
are not actual Army officers. This crowd is not seen again but they do pinpoint
to the interaction of preppy teens and greasers in the later malt shop scene.
Significantly, Indy is also a little out of place in the later malt shop scene,
a place for presumably greasers and university students (and the two Spalko men
are also out of place, the "bricks who didn't come for the milk shakes.")
When Indy runs out of the malt shop, he hops on Mutt's motorcycle and they try
to evade the bricks. It is almost a reprise of the hot-rod chase, except this
is a real Indiana Jones movie chase that involves shocked
streetcar onlookers and students protesting with anti-Communist propaganda
signs.
As for the sword duel
(which is better executed than any of the sword duels in Spielberg's dull and
gloomy "Hook"), it is classic Indiana Jones to me. Sure, it is on two
vehicles with Mutt Williams (Shia LaBeouf) and Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett)
swordfighting on two parallel roads. But it is inventively shot and edited
(yes, there are those branches that keep striking Mutt in the groin and, yes,
there is that Elvis monkey). The Tarzan-like Mutt is seen swinging from vine
after vine to catch up with Indy and eventually safely lands on Indy's vehicle.
So what? We are watching Indiana Jones here, not the early versions of
"King Solomon's Mines." Do these "improbable" stunts veer
from even some of the implausibilities of the first three Indy flicks? A
little, but not enough to make one think "Raiders of the Lost Ark"
was the "Taxi Driver" of action-adventure movies. "Raiders"
is not even the "Gunga Din" of adventure movies, it is more on the
level of the Flash Gordon, Zorro, Lone Ranger and Perils of Pauline serial-type
movies. A Youtube user, who will remain anonymous, said that
"Raiders" was a very realistic movie. I hate to think that the youth
of today see these movies as credible and realistic.
Though unmentioned by
Spielberg or Lucas as intended homages, the nuked fridge bit seems to have been
cribbed from 1963's very dramatic "Ladybug Ladybug" where a young
girl seeks shelter in an abandoned fridge from a possible nuclear bomb blast.
There is also a dose of "The Atomic Kid," a Mickey Rooney comedy
flick where Rooney is relatively unscathed after being in a house that is
demolished during a nuclear test. There is also a passing resemblance to the
alternate "Back to the Future" scenario with its just released
storyboards on DVD that detail the alternate manner by which Marty McFly's
Delorean heads back to the future - by way of an atomic explosion in a nuclear
testing site with a suburban replica and mannequins! And let us not forget that
Marty was initially going to time travel in a refrigerator! Coincidence?
Keep in mind that the
Indiana Jones movies are a slight wink and slight send-up of the B-movies and
B-movie serials of the past - they are not meant to be taken seriously. The
whole notion of Indiana Jones is exaggeration, not a template of real-life.
Indy is a world-renown archaeologist and professor who packs a gun and a
bullwhip when pursuing precious treasures out in the field. Does this remind
you of any actual archaeologists? Do they encounter 700-year-old knights, arks
that emit the Wrath of God, glowing stones of Sankara, a Holy Grail that can
cure a bullet wound, drink poison and jump out the window of a building with a
handy rolling gong, and initiate light traps that trigger spiked corpses? More
than likely, real archaeologists spend time digging and reading than actually
finding any precious treasure and they are not setting out to shoot nefarious
villains. Maybe an "interdimensional being" that happens to be an
artifact-collecting alien inside a flying saucer that is a portal to the
"space between spaces" and is literally inside a temple isn't so
outside the realm of the Indy universe. Even Indy sees the aliens as
archaeologists, considering the collection of golden artifacts next to their
crystal chamber. Fantasist author Harlan Ellison once wrote a brief word on
"Raiders" in "Screen Flights, Screen Fantasies" stating
"Raiders" as "marginal as sf but it should not be excluded on
grounds of excellence."
Don't believe the
winking? Look at Indy shooting the Cairo swordsman in "Raiders" - the
scene has the swordsman showing his tricks and Indy just shoots him. It gets a
big laugh from the most obvious gag in the world. "Temple of Doom"
has the same scene but with two swordsmen and Indy has no gun. Indy shoots
three Nazis at once in "Last Crusade." These are not scenes you would
have seen in the serials of yesteryear. The punches are exaggerated and the
hero never truly ever loses his hat. He survives every perilous situation yet
Harrison Ford shows Indy's vulnerability brilliantly, making us think that he
might not survive. That is why the first major peril Indy had in
"Raiders" - where the wall compresses while Indy is trying to get a
foot hold so he doesn't slip into an abyss - works so damn well because he
makes us want to grab onto our seats yet we still don't know who this guy is or
why we should root for him to survive. In "Crystal Skull" we expect
to root for him. He has a priceless close-up when he exits the fried,
blacked-out fridge, exasperated and exhausted and shown in a dusty silhouette
against a mushroom cloud. This is pure Indy, despite not having a scratch or a
broken bone, and pure indication of being ushered into a new era. It isn't
meant to be seen as an indestructible Indy but a formidable hero who can
withstand an atomic blast but still suffers bruises and a bloody lip when fighting
a hulking Soviet agent. Once again, none of this is meant to be an evocation of
a real life.
II. Evolution of Indy's
character - oh, no, he doesn't shoot anyone!
Another complaint from
fans was the fact that Indiana Jones in "Crystal Skull" never fires
his gun. In one scene at a Peruvian cemetery, Indy almost fires his gun at one
of the guards (though he does an old Bugs Bunny trick by blowing into the
opposite end of a blowgun and kills a guard). In the Area 51 prologue, Indy is
not seen with a gun or a holster, only his trusty bullwhip that had been
confiscated by the Soviets. Though he carries a gun for the rest of the film,
he never has to use it or feel the need to. He uses his fists, his wits and his
lethal whip when necessary, and he threatens Spalko with a rifle - this makes
him tougher. He also uses an RPG on a jungle cutter with great aim (not unlike
the finale of "Raiders," where Indy threatens to blow up the Ark with
a bazooka). Why? I don't think it is just Spielberg and Lucas resorting to the
revisions of their own iconic films, most damagingly 2002's alternate and
bizarre cut of Spielberg's "E.T" with federal agents carrying
walkie-talkies instead of guns, and Lucas's own character reversal of Han
shooting Greedo first in 1997's revision of "Star Wars." Perhaps it
is more likely that Spielberg and Lucas have thought very closely about the end
of "Last Crusade." If you recall, Indy and his father, Dr. Henry
Jones, Sr. (Sean Connery), are inside the Grail temple where the Holy Grail is
held and guarded by that 700-year-old knight. The grail's removal from the
temple prevents immortality from those seeking it. The Grail is almost lost
until Indy practically has it in his hand. His father tells him to "let it
go." So a family unit is more important than a treasure that is not meant
for human hands (The late film critic Gene Siskel astutely mentioned this
fact). Earlier in the film, Senior Jones tries to use a machine gun and fails,
succeeds in using a tank gun, and cleverly quotes the monarch Charlemagne when
using an umbrella to make the geese fly in the direction of a Nazi warplane. So
why are people upset when the inevitable solution for a fourth film would be
that Indy would adopt his father's behavior in battling villainy, expect to be
named "Henry," and settle down with Marion and berate Mutt for
not finishing school. This foolhardy notion that Indy is a bloodthirsty,
jingoistic hero along the lines of John Rambo is to forget that he did not fire
his pistol as often as people think in this series (Don't forget that
"Temple of Doom" had Indy with no gun aside from the opening teaser).
Indy is cinematically closer to the heroes of 50's B-movies, such as "The
Secret of the Incas," 'Valley of the Kings" or "The Naked
Jungle" where firing a gun was not always a necessity in proving a hero's
worth.
Indy has evolved, though
he is still a master of the whip and with his fists ("You're pretty
good in a fight," quips Mutt). Indy's got jungle smarts, except when
sinking in a quicksand pit, is still deathly afraid of snakes but he can
decipher clues, hieroglyphics and symbols with ease. In a visual nod to the
Howard Hawks epic "Land of the Pharaohs," Indy and company use rocks
to burst the insides of an obelisk with sand poring out of its holes. The man
has still got it. Yes, he is part of a team (Marion, Mutt and Oxley) and
although older and wiser, he is still too trusting of greedy sidekicks such as
Mac who are in it only for the money, depending on who has the green. The
boozing Mac (Ray Winstone) is not a man of principle or political ideology and,
though he has fought the Reds with Indy on many missions, he just wants the
gold. It is sort of a twist on what Indiana Jones used to be except that in
"Raiders," he wanted the gold fertility idol but only to place it in
a museum (same with the Ark of the Covenant). In "Temple of Doom"
(set one year before "Raiders"), he is a different kind of Indy, one
who barters the ashes of a dead emperor in exchange for a precious diamond. At
the end of that film, he returns the Sankara Stones to restore life to an
Indian village. In "Last Crusade," he manages to obtain an artifact
for once, the Cross of Coronado, the one he pursued in his very first adventure
as a Boy Scout. It is placed in a museum but the Holy Grail looks like any
carpenter cup that is not meant to be taken to any university. So with
"Crystal Skull," Indy has found other artifacts that decorate his
classroom and his illustrious home but he doesn't seem to be in the business of
locating relics anymore (there is some ambiguous business about "digging
in the dirt in Mexico" revealing to be pieces of pottery or whatever).
Surely he could have helped himself to the skull itself or any of the treasures
in the alien throne room of Akator, but he is not the same Indy he once was. As
in "Temple of Doom" and technically "Last Crusade," he
returns the crystal skull to Akator which is placed on the headless body of a
crystal skeleton by Spalko ("I want to know everything!"). What
Indiana Jones has accomplished in this 4-part saga is in restoring his
topsy-turvy relationship to Marion, gaining a son he never knew he had, and
developing a mutual respect for his bookworm of a father. As Indy made claim in
"Last Crusade":
"I didn't come for the cup of Christ, I came to find my
father."
Indy no longer has
aspirations of taking treasures from third-world countries or other foreign
lands to put in a museum or sell them to the highest bidder - he is a
responsible archaeologist. Well, to a point, when you consider he ruins rather
than preserves sacred grounds, or carelessly tosses bones from skeletons in
catacombs to make a torch as he does in "Last Crusade."
III. A mildly flawed
effort, like the others
Let's be clear: there
are minor flaws in "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal
Skull." Though I speak humbly as both an Indiana Jones movie fan (not of
the numerous books or Young Indy TV series) and as a film critic, I have to
make clear there are minor disturbances in the Indy Crystal Skull Force.
Exhibit A: Marion
Ravenwood's relationship to Indy is a little undernourished.
With the first film, we
understood she was keen on Indy, hated snakes, was deflowered by the fedora man
when she was young, and her father (Abner Ravenwood) had hated Indy as much as
she did. We also observed a woman who can drink any man under the table, and
she could own her own bar in the frozen tundra of Nepal. With "Crystal
Skull," we know she has a son, Mutt, who is also Indy's son. She also got
involved in some business with Oxley in Peru, though why she put herself in
danger for Ox is tough to say considering there is no presumed romantic
entanglement between Ox and Marion. Did Marion feel she had the smarts for being
in the field to help Ox considering her past experience with Indy? Possibly,
but this plot thread is left hanging a bit. Though Indy feels connected to
Marion and they have a mutual understanding that doesn't need dialogue,
Marion's past between 1936 and 1957 is far too unclear (we learn that she
married an RAF pilot who had passed on). And do consider an odd moment in the
wedding finale with Indy and Marion exchanging vows. When Indy and Marion kiss
(Marion gives the bouquet to the minister before the smooch - a nice Spielberg
touch), Mutt looks a little disturbed and the look is not followed through in
the master shots of the chapel room. Hmmm.
Exhibit B: The mad Oxley
in "Apocalypse Now" mode.
We do learn that Oxley
used to read archaeological info about the Crystal Skull to Mutt when Mutt was
a tot, and it put Mutt to sleep. We also learn Oxley and Indy were once
friends. But this is a character that could've been left to the imagination,
not unlike the unseen Abner Ravenwood in "Raiders." John Hurt is a
titanic presence on screen but he is not used well by Spielberg, which is
surprising considering how well Spielberg adapted the equally titanic Sean
Connery to "Last Crusade." When Oxley is seen dancing and laughing by
the fire with the Russians, it looks fake. Something about this character
frustrates me and John Hurt is never given a chance to shine (perhaps so he
wouldn't upstage Ford or LaBeouf).
Exhibit C: "They
are a hive mind, of separate bodies but of a single mentality."
The damn crystal skull(s).
I think this makes for a great MacGuffin but the mythology behind the 13 skulls
leaves me befuddled. One is missing, which Oxley does find and hides, but then
it doesn't mean there are thirteen aliens. All thirteen merge after the missing
head is re-attached, forming one alien being (interdimensional being, in point
of fact). And the one that crash landed and died at Area 51 had bones made of
crystal, but is he the one that got away and is he part of the 13 crystal
skeletons? Actually, no, it seems when Spalko points out that two other aliens
crashed in the Soviet Union. I don't look for logic in an Indiana Jones flick
(I always thought all three Sankara stones in "Temple of Doom" were
needed to restore life to a village when apparently one was enough) but this
mythology does give one pause. Supposedly, the legend has it that the aliens
taught the Ughba tribe about irrigation, farming and so on. Okay but if all
that is true, why on earth does Irina Spalko need that dead alien at Area 51
(and how does she get it past customs to bring it all the way to Peru?) The
mind boggles.
(When the skeletons of
the Inter-Dimensional beings are coming together as one, only 11 of the
skeletons are shown combining with the first. This makes 12; in previous scenes
it is stated that there are 13 of these creatures, these crystal skeletons.
Which thus, leaves us all to ponder the question: What happened to the 13th
alien?)
IV: Why is "Crystal
Skull" close to being the best sequel in the series (equal to the Last Crusade)
And now for the reasons
why I love "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull."
Spielberg is an expert at making images leap off the screen, and stages
physical action more elegantly and intensely than any other film director. The
opening car chase scenes in the warehouse that lead to the rocket sled firing
off at nerve-wracking speeds while a countdown display is shown is Spielberg at
his most escapist. Though there is clearly CGI in the jungle chase between the
DUKW vehicle and numerous other jeeps, it still makes one's jaw drop. There are
a lot of characters jumping in and out of same vehicles like a Buster Keaton
chase, culminating in Shia's Mutt accidentally grabbing a vine as he is lifted
a few hundred feet up in the trees with monkeys. The references, from
"Naked Jungle's" creepy fire, flesh-eating ants to a swinging Tarzan,
are a pure delight and make one "giddy as a schoolboy." Almost
as good is the motorcycle and car chase through university streets (a first for
the series in that Indy often travels abroad before getting into trouble - this
time, it starts on his home turf), which begins with a malt shop for greasers
and punching "Joe College" and ends inside a library where a
student (Chester Hanks, Tom Hanks' son) asks Indy a question (this is after
Indy has already been dismissed by the university for alleged ties to the Reds
but, again, I don't look for logic in these movies). This scene mimics the
genial tone of "Last Crusade," minus the slapstick. Though the movie
is technically shorter on the action quotient than previous entries, it is still
enough for me to be satisfied. Spielberg already slowed down the action in
"Last Crusade" by making it more personal with the father-son reunion
- if you want the ghoulish and goosebump intensity of "Raiders" or
"Temple of Doom," you won't find as much of it in "Last
Crusade" or "Crystal Skull." Still, "Crystal Skull" is
entertaining enough without resorting to one last-minute hairbreadth escape or
action sequence after another. Spielberg has already proven he could do that
and Indy's character has gone through some changes since "Last
Crusade." Escapism defines the series and Indy gets into enough trouble
for a man in his late fifties than most other action-adventure heroes in the
past. Most of the central action is centered on the opening teaser prologue (the
longest in the series) to a chase before Indy and Mutt go packing to Peru, to
the jeeps and DUKW vehicles chases before entering the temple in the last
third.
Spielberg is also a
master at sublime restraint, particularly the conversation inside Indy's
mansion between Indy and Dean Stanforth (Jim Broadbent). I've noticed that
using champagne and/or wine glasses in his films delivers the subtlety and
grace that his scenes need to breathe and sparkle (1997's "The Lost
World" begins with champagne being poured into glasses as well, and
"Last Crusade" has a fitting moment as well between Indy and the
introduction of the traitorous millionaire, Walter Donovan). Spielberg also has
his jollies with a bit of unrestraint, particularly Marion and Indy's banter in
the Soviet truck where even the tough-as-nails Soviet soldier Dovchenko (Igor
Jijikine) tells them, "Oh, for the love of God! Shut the hell up!" Some of this is quite similar to the argument between Indy and his father over the diary while having Nazis aiming guns at them.
"Crystal
Skull" has got all the hallmarks of the classic Indy adventures. It has a
forbidden treasure (the skull); witty chase scenes on motorbike, jeep and DUKW
vehicles; a superb villain, Irina Spalko, who wants to know everything at any
cost, even her own life; a lot more emphasis on archaeological backgrounds;
feisty cemetery guards with skull masks; a Peruvian warrior tribe armed with
dangerous slingshots; a grand finish where a pyramid and obelisk crumble; pesky
fire ants and big scorpions are the new creepy crawlies (prairie dogs simply
show up and are amazed at a rocket sled zooming past them). What is new in the
Indy universe is that the film ends with a wedding; has sci-fi elements like a
UFO ship and aliens; an opening prologue that does not reference a different,
unrelated quest; Indy having won several unseen war medals; a chase scene on
university grounds; a more emphasized political climate centering around
Communism where Indy is accused of being a Communist and loses his job; Indy in
a coffee shop; an atomic blast; a refrigerator; blood of insects, water
droplets and dusty bowls splatter on the camera lens, and Indy is made Dean of
Students at the end. Also, the villains are more sinister. Consider the opening
Area 51 sequence where Indy is held by Soviet guards while interrogated by
Spalko - if you listen closely, you can hear machine gun fire in the
background. These Soviets practically kill every Army official on base. This is
repeated with a later scene in Peru where the Ughba tribal warriors are all
killed by Spalko's men. These Soviets mean business and I do not recall
anything as sinister or insidiously evil in the past Indy flicks. We did have
threatening Nazis in "Raiders" and "Last Crusade," though
the most violent scene where Nazis shoot to kill was in "Last
Crusade" where they engage in a mountainous shoot-out with the Brothers of
the Cruciform Sword. Still, we never did see a landscape with littered,
bullet-riddled corpses in previous Indy entries.
As a film critic, I
can't help but notice that "Crystal Skull" is full of the expected
loopholes, plot incongruities and lapses in proper geographical backgrounds,
but so were the previous entries. They are hardly enough to deter from the
crowd-pleasing spectacle itself. Ford is in fine form delivering terrific
humorous lines with aplomb - he hasn't lost the twinkle in his eye as Indy nor
has he lost the rapport with his finest leading lady ever, Marion. Speaking of
Marion (sans smoking and drinking in this installment), Karen Allen is also in
good form and her giddiness (her smile at Indy's dismissal of past flames -
"They weren't you, honey") is effectively nostalgic and
romantic at the same time (you do get the feeling that this pair need to be
together). Shia LaBeouf is a boyish, tough-minded little guy who possesses the
resourcefulness of his father and is impressed with Indy's demeanor ("You're
a teacher?") - he is a likable presence on screen despite the ridicule
of his casting by so many fans. Cate Blanchett is deliciously good as Stalin's fair-haired soldier
and colonel, and her final scenes where she is fascinated and startled by the
crystal skeletons and their power is exceedingly scary and eerie to watch.
There is also a nice reflective touch from the film's opening atomic bomb
sirens - when the skull is re-attached, we hear ominous, similar-sounding
sirens in another most forbidden place.
"Raiders" was
a darkly humorous action-adventure movie with the most intense escapist
cliffhangers in history - it was a new kind of action-adventure film that
possessed the Spielberg intensity of "Jaws." "Temple of
Doom" was a giddy funhouse horror flick with just as many cliffhangers,
though the accent was on graphic violence and voodoo magic - it is possibly the
most exhausting action-adventure film ever made with one witty, imaginative
cliffhanger after another. "Last Crusade" was an innocent redux of
"Raiders" disguised as a personal, humanized story of Indy
rediscovering his father and finding himself. "Crystal Skull" is a
sinister, occasionally solemn film with many bright, awesomely staged Buster
Keaton-ish stunts and action scenes washed in political paranoia. Don't forget
that the film was released in 2008 when George Bush, Jr. was still President of
the U.S. and so it can't be an accident that writer David Koepp gives the
1950's FBI agents a dose of Bush paranoia:
"Don't throw your war record at us, we all served."
Indy's
rebuttal: "Really? What side were you on?"
For the first time in
the series, Indiana Jones' character and past affiliations are put under a
microscope. The fact that he is made Dean of Students at the end and settles
down with Marion and Mutt doesn't mean the FBI will not continue keeping a
close eye on him. The fans missed a lot. They expected just another glorious
Indiana Jones adventure with great exotic locales, lots of eye-popping,
escapist cliffhanger stunts and a cool artifact, completely forgetting the
evolution of Indy's character. Clearly, there is more to "Indiana Jones
and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" than those crystal skull eyes.
Marion: "Look, Indy. Look at those eyes" (a nice reversal of
"Raiders" finale where she was told not to look). Look deeper.
