DIRECTOR: Steven Spielberg
CAST:
Harrison Ford, Shia LaBeouf, Cate Blanchett, Karen Allen, Ray Winstone,
John Hurt, Jim Broadbent
REVIEW:
My opinion of Indy IV is much the same as Terminator 3
. Both are entries in a mega-popular, successful series made long after the last installment, and both received the most mixed reviews, with many accusations that they had “ruined the franchise” and were not worthy of the name. In my opinion, both, and especially Crystal Skull, were placed in the unenviable position of trying to live up to fan expectations that had years and years to ascend to high, perhaps unreasonable levels. George Lucas himself, no stranger to fan backlashes after his Star Wars prequel trilogy (to which all of this could equally apply), tried to appeal to reasonable expectations with comments leading up to release that “it’s just a movie”, but even he must have known his words had little effect. As sky-high as the nineteen-year buildup of expectations and anticipation reached, so crushing was the disappointment when Crystal Skull, unsurprisingly and perhaps inevitably, did not satisfy them for many fans. Terminator 3 and Indy IV do not approach the high points of their respective series, but neither are they the disastrous train wrecks besmirching their very name that some have claimed, largely because they did not live up to their expectations, which had built for years, even decades, to heights no film could realistically live up to. Crystal Skull is inferior to Raiders of the Lost Ark
and The Last Crusade
, but is arguably more entertaining than “Temple of Doom", if not necessarily better.
We start with the requisite Indy prologue in 1957 Nevada, where Soviet KGB agents led by Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett, sporting a tight Soviet uniform, her hair in a black bob cut, an icy expression, and a Russian accent; she never tells Indy “ve have vays to make you talk”, but she always seems like she’s about to) have dragged a kidnapped Dr. Jones (Harrison Ford) and his latest sidekick, the unreliable Mac (Ray Winstone), to a secret US army warehouse (the same warehouse where the Ark of the Covenant was stashed away at the end of Raiders). There is something there Spalko wants, and she intends on forcing Indy to find it for her. The item in question turns out to be the legendary Crystal Skull, which she believes has paranormal powers. Apparently Spalko was Stalin’s foremost expert on paranormal studies and believes the skull can be a weapon to tip the scales of the Cold War in the Soviet Union’s favor. Of course this scene ends with a daring Indy escape, and one of the movie’s most clever bits. Indy, on the run from the pursuing Russians, blunders into a town in the middle of the desert, only to find that it’s eerily populated entirely by mannequins, and as the siren begins to wail, realizes to his horror that it is an artificial town built to study the effects of an atomic bomb blast. Making an unlikely but creative escape from seemingly certain doom with the help of what has to be the sturdiest refrigerator on the face of the earth, Indy eventually manages to make it back to his teaching duties at Marshall College (the first shot of Indy’s university, which looks exactly the same, brings back nostalgic memories). But his troubles are a long way from over. In the climate of 1950s anti-Communist paranoia, Indy’s “collaboration”, however unwilling, with Soviet spies, has the FBI taking “great interest” in him, and the sympathetic dean (Jim Broadbent, basically filling in a couple scenes that in the 1980s would have been played by the late Denholm Elliott) has been pressured to show him the door. Indy packs his bags, but no sooner has he boarded the train than he’s approached by a motorcycle-riding young punk called “Mutt” Williams (Shia LaBeouf), who looks and acts like a Marlon Brando/James Dean wannabe and has come for Indy’s help in finding his mother, who went missing in Peru while herself searching for Professor Oxley (John Hurt), an old colleague of Indy’s, who went mad while obsessively seeking the Crystal Skull. Indy isn’t sure exactly what any of this has to do with him…until he finds out the boy’s missing mother is none other than his old flame Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen). With Mutt as his self-appointed latest sidekick, Indy sets off on a new adventure that will take him to the depths of the Peruvian jungle, and finds himself in a race against the Soviets led by Spalko to find the legendary Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
When it comes to the action sequences, Crystal Skull delivers. It’s in between that it’s on somewhat less sure ground, with a tendency to get long-winded about things the others wisely kept simple. The Crystal Skull (or skulls, as it turns out) is given the most convoluted and complicated backstory of any of the series’ “MacGuffins”- the requisite legendary object that drives the plot, with both Indy and Spalko delivering substantial chunks of exposition about it. The old movies had the right idea; a quick summary and move on. After all, the joy of any Indiana Jones film is not the destination, it’s the journey. The Crystal Skull, like the Ark of the Covenant, the Sankara stones, and the Holy Grail, is a plot device to move us from point A to point B and string the action sequences together. Also, while they’re an obvious choice for the bad guys given the Cold War 1950s setting, the Soviets are somewhat weaker villains than the Nazis. Even Steven Spielberg himself noted once that Nazis are so easy to use as villains because they are a virtually universal symbol of evil; the Soviets just don’t generate the same “boo hiss” effect. Spalko’s motives are a little murky; a bunch of vague rambling about “psychic warfare”, using the supposed vast combined mind-controlling power of the reunited skulls to take over the US without firing a shot (“we will change you”, she says, “and the best part is, you won’t even know it’s happening”). The old movies kept the bad guys’ motives simple…power, world domination, eternal life. Spalko’s seem both underdeveloped and over explained.
Despite the nineteen years that have passed since he last donned the fedora, Harrison Ford slips back into Indiana Jones’ outfit and persona like an old, well-worn, comfortable shoe. Of course Ford is much older than in The Last Crusade, and the filmmakers don’t ignore the obvious fact that he is no longer a young man. Indy is a little more weary than we left him. He’s mourning the recent losses of Marcus Brody and his father, feeling the years advance on him and like he’s becoming a relic like those he’s spent his life discovering. But we soon see that a new mystery to solve, a new artifact to discover, and the uncovering of trails of clues can bring back the old boyish excitement. Indiana Jones has always been the role Ford seems the most perfectly at home in, and he does an admirable job of slipping back into a character he last played in 1989. It’s telling of Ford’s enjoyment of the role that after a string of bored, autopilot performances in recent roles, he seems easily the most invigorated and enthusiastic here that he’s been at least since 1997’s Air Force One. He’s helped by a screenplay that acknowledges the gap of time and the actor/character’s age. Indy is skilled and daring, but he’s never been a superman, and the filmmakers don’t pretend he’s twenty-five-years-old. Indy is still in the thick of the action, but the number of extreme stunts (at least those performed by Ford) has been scaled back a few notches, and he’s backed up by the largest group of sidekicks he’s ever had. This time the filmmakers allow Indy to acknowledge that he’s not a young man, and to be a little more of a team player.
Shia LaBeouf is effective sidekick material. For the very busy young actor, this isn’t the kind of role that’s going to win him acting accolades, but like last year’s Transformers, it’s a further stepping stone toward stardom, and if nothing else LaBeouf, known so far as geeky boy-next-door types, shows that he can venture more into action hero territory without seeming ridiculous. Mutt compliments Indy well, mainly because he’s almost certainly the closest any sidekick has come to being an equal. He’s certainly a lot more appealing and a lot less irritating than Willie Scott or Short Round, and he can take care of himself in a scrape. It’s nice to see a familiar face other than Ford in the form of Karen Allen’s Marion (generally considered his worthiest love interest), but while Allen is throughout the second half of the film, and seems to be having fun returning to the series, she isn’t given much to do besides take the wheel during the lengthiest car chase, and resume her bickering with Indy for a short time before they get mushy like long-lost loves. It’s a bit disappointing that we don’t get any kind of smackdown between Marion and Spalko; in fact, the two women in the cast interact only fleetingly, and Marion doesn’t get to throw a punch. The supporting cast is talent-heavy with highly-regarded character actors- Cate Blanchett, Ray Winstone, John Hurt, Jim Broadbent- none of whom are given anything challenging. Cate Blanchett is fine, but besides stalking around looking stern, providing exposition about the Crystal Skull, threatening various characters with her rapier, and chasing Indy and company around the jungle, she doesn’t have that much to do, and is nowhere near Ronald Lacey’s Toht’s or Amrish Puri’s Mola Ram’s levels of nastiness. Spalko is more like Paul Freeman’s Belloq, Julian Glover’s Donovan, and Allison Doody’s Elsa; she’s not evil, per se, just craving knowledge as obsessively as some crave gold, and determined to get what she wants no matter what. Ray Winstone doesn’t have much to work with. Mac seems little more than a plot device, who switches allegiances whenever the script needs another twist. John Hurt is even more wasted, given nothing to do but wander around looking vacant and muttering unintelligibly. Even when he finally becomes lucid again, it’s too late for him to make an impression, and even then his utterances are less than profound; when Indy asks if the skulls’ owners have returned to outer space, Oxley replies “not space, but the space between spaces”. Huh? Part of what sometimes drags Crystal Skull down is the excess of supporting characters; what makes it worse is that Mac and Oxley in particular are so undeveloped.
The only thing belying that Ford’s not as light on his feet as he used to be is the noticeably reduced number of major stunts he performs. That’s not to say he doesn’t do any, they’re just not the steady series he performed in previous outings. Ford’s best stunt work (if it’s all actually Ford, and it appears to be), is in the first third, especially during his warehouse escape, where he whips guns out of the bad guys’ hands, scrambles around over mountains of crates, swings from the rafters onto moving cars, and basically establishes that Indy is still Indy. It’s good that he gets this showcase, because after that Indy spends most of his time on the ground. There’s two memorable car chases, and a fistfight, but not much swinging around (at least not by Indy). The next big action scene is a chase with Indy and Mutt on Mutt’s motorcycle tearing around and through Marshall College with Russkies in hot pursuit that ends up in the library. Maybe the movie’s most memorable action bit comes during this sequence, in which Indy is pulled off Mutt’s motorcycle and into the Russians’ car, and manages to fight his way out the other window and back onto the motorcycle. It combines nifty stunt work and clever action-comedy in the best tradition of Indiana Jones. Two other amusing bits in this chase are when they plow through an anti-Communist campus rally and the Soviets get their windshield covered by a “better dead than Red” banner, and Marcus Brody helping Indy from beyond the grave (you’ll know what I mean when you see it). The movie is low on action for a while after that, and we spend time on Indy and Mutt trekking around Peru and too much talking about the Crystal Skull. But then the pace gets going again with the most extended and memorable action sequence in the movie, and the one that goes the longest way toward creating an adrenaline rush, a lengthy, complex car chase through the jungle with Indy, Mutt, Marion, Oxley, and Mac in a stolen Russian military vehicle pursued by Spalko and the Russians (and sometimes the other way around). While Ford stays in the jeep, Shia LaBeouf gamely takes over the reins as far as the major stunt work in this sequence goes, with the highlight being Mutt and Spalko fencing while balancing precariously on the hoods of two racing jeeps. Is it over-the-top? Gleefully. Is it silly? Probably. Is it any more so than half the action sequences in other Indiana Jones movies? Despite what some critics had to say, in my opinion no, or at least not by much. Is it wildly entertaining? You betcha.
Spielberg and Lucas pull out all the stops to make this “feel” like an Indiana Jones movie, relying in large part on the nostalgia many viewers will have for the original trilogy. There’s the old-fashioned Paramount mountain opening logo (one wonders if it’s a Lucas in-joke about lowering expectations when it turns into a prairie dog hill). We see pictures of Marcus Brody and Henry Jones Sr. Marshall College looks exactly the same. We revisit the same warehouse we saw at the end of Raiders, and the Ark of the Covenant makes a brief “cameo”. There’s the opening prologue action sequence featuring a tight spot and a daring Indy escape (although unlike the others, this one actually ties directly in with the main plot). There’s a hilarious bit in which Indy would seemingly rather drown in quicksand than touch the giant snake brought to pull him out. There’s Indy’s fistfight with a hulking henchman, with Igor Jijikine filling in for the late Pat Roach. There’s also the obligatory “creepy crawlies gross out moment”, this time involving voracious red ants and borrowing a page from the man-eating beetles in The Mummy. The plot, while sometimes unnecessarily convoluted, very much follows the same blueprint as the others, particularly Raiders and Last Crusade: “evil” enemy military power seeks legendary object to tip scales in its favor, Indy and assorted sidekicks travel to remote regions racing against the baddies using clues in old legends and artifacts. Crystal Skull fits comfortably into the established Indy formula, even if it occasionally makes things predictable because it’s ground we’ve already gone over several times before. Those who recall the “be careful what you wish for” fates of the bad guys in Raiders and Last Crusade can easily guess the gist of what lies in store for Spalko. There’s a “surprise revelation” about a character that is unlikely to come as much of a shock for anyone who hasn’t been living under a rock for the past few months. The filmmakers also take advantage of the 1950s setting, starting right out with the opening, as Elvis Presley’s “You Ain’t Nothing But a Hound Dog” blasts from radios, Howdy Doody is glimpsed on black-and-white television sets, Indy wanders onto atomic bomb test sites, his comeback when Spalko asks if he has any defiant last words is “I like Ike” (this might go over some younger viewers’ heads, but some of the older audience members I attended with got a laugh out of it), and Mutt is introduced riding his Harley onto the screen dressed exactly like Marlon Brando in 1953’s The Wild One, down to the cap perched at a jauntily crooked angle.
One disappointing aspect of Crystal Skull is that the frantic second half never slows down long enough to allow any more than the most perfunctory character interactions. It’s not that we come to Indiana Jones movies looking for depth and complexity, but in particular, just a few more minutes devoted to a little Indy-Mutt bonding could have fleshed out their relationship a little. Ford and LaBeouf make a fine pair, and early scenes establish some nice give-and-take; Mutt pokes fun at Indy’s age- “what are you, eighty?”-, but once they’re on the adventure trail Mutt unsurprisingly doesn’t turn out to be quite the ultra-cool badass he thinks he is and comes to respect Indy’s experience, but not enough is done with this. There’s a missed opportunity to develop Indy and Mutt’s relationship into something beyond perfunctory buddy action-comedy, especially considering how key it turns out to be (another drawback of the excess of characters; it dilutes the focus on the key relationship between Indy, Mutt, and Marion). Likewise, there’s still chemistry between Ford and Karen Allen, but their renewed relationship is given only the most perfunctory attention. One minute they’re bickering as though Raiders never ended, the next they’re getting mushy and giving each other adoring looks in between action sequences, which barely slow down long enough for them to catch a breath. This makes the epilogue in particular feel out of left field. It will undoubtedly provide satisfying closure for some Indy-Marion fans, but it doesn’t have enough leading up to it, and ends the movie on a somewhat ho-hum note. Spielberg and Lucas use CGI too liberally, throwing in some silly bits like reaction shots from animated prairie dogs (what, they couldn’t find any real prairie dogs?), and Mutt aping Tarzan (accompanied, as if the scene isn’t already goofy enough, by a small army of CGI monkies) at the lowest point of the otherwise wildly entertaining jungle chase sequence. Indiana Jones movies have always been relatively tongue-in-cheek and not taken themselves terribly seriously, but these moments cross the line into too over-the-top attempts at comic relief. Thankfully, they’re brief, few, and far between.
Kingdom of the Crystal Skull isn’t two hours of unmitigated success, but far more works than doesn’t work, and it contains enough classically “Indiana Jones” moments to feel of a piece with its predecessors. Harrison Ford still wears the fedora well, an underused Marion is better than no Marion, Shia LaBeouf is a welcome addition, and while the jungle chase gets a little carried away with CGI, the motorcycle chase has a nicely old-fashioned, no frills feel, and would have fit perfectly at home in any of the previous films. Kingdom of the Crystal Skull isn’t likely to be anyone’s favorite Indiana Jones installment, but it’s a worthy entry in the series.
***
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