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 (053008)
It's been 19 years since we last saw
Indiana Jones, the famed ark-finding, sacred-stone-returning,
Hitler's-autograph-collecting archeologist played by Harrison Ford
in three 1980s films. A commensurate amount of time has passed in
the new adventure, "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal
Skull," but Indy hasn't lost his touch. Nor, it would seem, has
Steven Spielberg, who directs "Crystal Skull" with the same boyish
enthusiasm and love of a good story that he brought to the previous
trilogy.
"Crystal Skull" follows the same beloved pattern as "Raiders of the
Lost Ark" and "The Last Crusade" (and, to a lesser extent, "Temple
of Doom"). There are several spectacular action sequences, including
a three-car chase through a jungle. Indy swings from ropes, gets
punched a lot, and remains insouciant in the face of peril. The
story revolves around an old mentor going missing while searching
for an artifact, and it ends with bad guys being destroyed by their
own greed and their insistence on meddling with powers they do not
understand. There are snakes. Actually one large snake, in one of
the films funniest scenes. There are also millions of something else
creepy. This is every inch an Indiana Jones Movie.
The temptation would have been to cobble together a story full of
weak imitations of the previous films and call it a day, but almost
every familiar element here feels like it belongs, not like it was
forced in out of obligation. Were it not for the 19-year gap and the
noticeably grayer and craggier Dr. Jones, you'd assume "Crystal
Skull" was made a few years after the last one, right on schedule,
the next logical chapter in the saga.
But time has passed, of course. It's 1957 now, and Cold War paranoia
is at its peak. Indy's enemies now are the Communists, for whom he
holds nearly as much contempt as he did the Nazis. And the Soviets,
for their part, are as interested in obtaining priceless artifacts
for their own evil purposes as the Third Reich was.
The items in question this time are a collection of crystal skulls
with unusual magnetic properties, believed to hold the key to
yada-yada if you something-something. (I don't want to spoil
anything, and it doesn't matter anyway.) The Russians want them, and
whatever they plan to do with them, it can't be good for America or
Decency or Justice. The Soviets' efforts are led by top Commie
scientist Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett), a severe-looking villainess
whose dominatrix demeanor and over-the-top Russian accent
practically guarantee her status as a new kitsch icon. I must ask.
Is there nothing this actress can't do? Blanchett shows the kind of
range that only actresses of the golden age possessed.
Indy gets involved thanks to Mutt Williams (Shia LaBeouf), a
motorcycle-riding greaser punk whose father figure and actual mother
have been kidnapped by the Commies and are being forced to help find
the skulls. This surrogate father is Professor Oxley (John Hurt), a
former mentor of Indy's; Mutt's mother is named Marion, and Mutt
says she used to know Indy. Indy says he knew a lot of Marion's. I
suspect he's not thinking very hard. His surprise upon discovering
that it's Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen), from "Raiders of the Lost
Ark," is his alone. The rest of us figured it out the minute Mutt
said "Marion" (or, for that matter, the minute we saw Karen Allen's
name in the opening credits).
And so it's off to the Amazonian jungles for Indy and Mutt. The
interaction between Ford and LaBeouf is breezy and comical and
nicely played; Ford doesn't seem outpaced by the kid 42 years his
junior, and LaBeouf doesn't freeze in the presence of a legendary
actor the way some newbie's would. Over the course of the film,
Indy's relationship with Mutt goes from wary adult supervisor to
older brother to friendly uncle to father figure -- and that's a lot
more progression than we've ever seen with any of Indy's other
relationships.
Later, when Marion Ravenwood appears, the interpersonal dynamics
become even more fiery. I admire the way the screenplay -- credited
to David Koepp ("Jurassic Park," "Spider-Man"), with elements from
prior drafts by Jeff Nathanson and input from George Lucas -- mixes
the relationship bickering with the mechanics of the plot, so that
the action never needs to stop just so people can talk about their
feelings. In the world of Indiana Jones, ex-lovers can argue over
who wronged whom 20 years ago even as both are sinking in quicksand.
Having Karen Allen return for this outing just adds to the movies
sense of slipping on an old comfy pair of jeans.
Indy seems to have been born around the turn of the last century (he
was about 14 in the 1912-set prologue in "Last Crusade"), which
means he's pushing 60 in "Crystal Skull." The film wisely addresses
his advancing age, deploys some humor to the situation -- and then
gleefully quits worrying about it. Indiana's bones may be getting a
little creakier, and he is slowly turning into his father (even
using the elder Jones' favorite exclamation -- "Intolerable!" -- to
describe a predicament that Mutt has gotten them into), but he's
still the same Indy. He can perform impossible feats of derring-do
one minute, then wince over his injuries the next. He's always been
that way, even when he was young. It's part of what makes us like
him so much: His adventures are the stuff of fantasy, his
smart-aleck one-liners are clever, but his human fallibility makes
him seem like a Regular Guy. And as a wise man once said, it's not
the years, honey, it's the mileage.
I re-watched the other three Indy films a few days before seeing
this one, and having them fresh in my mind helped me notice subtle
elements of "Crystal Skull" that make it feel like part of the same
collection. Some have to do with the story structure, as when we see
a bow-tied Dr. Jones teaching at his university, just as we did in
"Raiders" and "Last Crusade." Other familiar elements are in the
dialogue: Indy urging a group of archeology students to get out of
the library can only be a response to his line in "Last Crusade"
about how "70 percent of archeology is done in the library."
More important, though, are the film's intangibles. The look, the
feel, the attitude, the mix of humor and adventure, it all lines up
with the "Indiana Jones" aesthetic. George Lucas' philosophy has
been to move forward with technology -- hence, his "Star Wars"
prequels were mostly CGI and looked vastly different from the first
trilogy. Steven Spielberg has embraced technology too (his "Jurassic
Park" dinosaurs represented a giant leap forward), but he doesn't do
it just for the sake of doing it. He remembers that these films were
conceived as a tribute to the cliffhanger serials of the 1940s, and
that a slick, digitized film would be stylistically inappropriate.
So CGI is kept to a minimum (less than you'd expect for a movie made
in 2008, anyway) in favor of good old-fashioned rear-projection,
stuntmen, and enormously constructed sets, just as in the other
three films. The series original cinematographer, Douglas Slocombe
has long retired. Spielberg, here uses his his recent Director of
Photography Januscz Kaminski to literally recreate the look and
visual feel of the original three films.
Going in, I was prepared to defend the finale's supernatural
elements by pointing out that the finales of this series have always
ultimately relied on the paranormal (God melting the Nazis' faces;
rocks that light up when you collect them; the Holy Grail's healing
powers). This films finale falls in line with the others. .
One minor complaint: Things get a little crowded at times, what with
Indy, Mutt, Marion, Oxley, and Indy's old pal Mac (Ray Winstone) all
dashing through the Peruvian jungles together. It feels more natural
for Indy to have one or two companions on these excursions, not
four, and the film can't always find something useful for all of
them to do.
Oh, but everything else makes me forgive the film's slight defects.
Those who say Spielberg is sleep-walking through this one are taking
for granted how good a director he is. Unlike the Bruckheimers and
Bays, Spielberg knows how to construct an action scene. He
understands that its all about build...build...build the
anticipation...then release!! So many of today's directors just know
how to pummel an audience. Spielberg finesses the action scenes and
the film is more effective because of it. Even a halfhearted
Spielberg effort will have more complicated shots, more mirthful
sight gags, and more elaborate stunts than the best effort from
nearly any other director currently working. And I don't think this
is a halfhearted effort anyway. To me, it feels as lively and
buoyant, as effortlessly entertaining, as you could realistically
want in an Indiana Jones flick. There is a moment in the final
effects sequence involving a flying vessel in a valley that is as
gorgeous an effects scene as this reviewer has ever seen. So many
special effects in films today come across as "cool". But very few
have a visual beauty as to instill a sense of wonder. This film has
such a sequence.
Movie geeks who worship the original Indy films and are demanding
that this one be a life-changing, soul-magnifying movie to surpass
all other cinematic experiences will, of course, be disappointed, as
they generally are in these situations. The rest of us can just sit
back and enjoy. My jaw hurt after this movie ended. It was because I
spent the entire duration grinning like a kid. I love this movie.
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