2008 Woodie Awards
New Indy not the best, not that bad
Luke Soin
Issue date: 5/19/08 Section: Features
"It's good to have you back Dr. Jones." These were the words in my head as soon as Indy was dragged out of the back of a trunk and thrown onto the tarmac at a secret military base in the American southwest. The smile I had didn't leave my face until after I walked out of the theater.
This movie has been surrounded by questions ever since it was finally green lit. Is that the giant room full of boxes at the end of "Raiders of the Lost Ark?" Will we see said Ark again? Are there aliens? Is Shia the new "Junior?" I'm not going to answer any of this but "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" will. If you really love the series you will have a great time.
This time we find Indy (Harrison Ford) almost 20 years after "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" and yes he's old but he still kicks ass. Within the first 10 minutes he's fighting the Soviet bad guys and swinging around via the trademark whip.
The Soviets are led by Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett) who is after the titular crystal skull. The skull is said to grant special powers to whoever brings it back to the mythological jungle city of Akator. The Russians want it to gain an upper hand in the cold war and Indy is tasked with stopping them.
He is joined by his old war buddy Mac McHale (Ray Winstone), a greaser kid named Mutt Williams (Shia LaBeouf), Indy's old flame Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen), and a crazed old professor friend (John Hurt). Together they journey to the city and try to return the skull before the Russians take it and do it themselves.
I don't care that Harrison Ford is 65 years old. The man is a living legend. He is so Indiana Jones that it doesn't matter if he's 80 or 20 I still believe he could take 20 Nazis or Soviets all by himself. It's just like Bruce Willis in "Live Free or Die Hard," he will never not be able to play the role; unless he's in a hospital bed and he's so wrinkly that you can't tell where his eyes are.
I don't know why everyone has it in for Shia LaBeouf either. He is a pretty good actor. He never once comes off as annoying or Hayden Christensen-like. He does look kind of ridiculous in his greaser outfit, but that's not his fault.
The one sort of glaring problem with the film is the overabundance of visual effects. Usually it isn't a problem. But there are a couple scenes where I grimaced because of the ridiculousness of the effects. In one scene Shia swings on vines with a bunch of monkeys who help him attack the Russians. Since when do monkeys suddenly help someone who lands in a tree? Steven Spielberg must have had to appease producer George Lucas or something. But as the director he needs to be willing to just say no sometimes.
That being said, there's always something people have a problem with in an Indiana Jones movie.
The first, "Raiders," is largely recognized as a perfect film. So it's extremely difficult to follow that. "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" is branded as too scary and intense what with all the ripped out hearts and child slavery stuff. And people think "The Last Crusade" has a weak ending and is too light-hearted. But really that's just being nit-picky. They're all great movies, and you can't expect them to be better than the original. They're going to be their own movies and they're still a lot of fun.
"Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" is not the best Indy movie, but it is certainly not a bad one. You definitely need to see this movie as soon as you can. You will only be disappointed if you let yourself. It's freaking Indiana Jones! It can't be bad.
Luke Soin can be reached at lsoin@statehornet.com
This movie has been surrounded by questions ever since it was finally green lit. Is that the giant room full of boxes at the end of "Raiders of the Lost Ark?" Will we see said Ark again? Are there aliens? Is Shia the new "Junior?" I'm not going to answer any of this but "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" will. If you really love the series you will have a great time.
This time we find Indy (Harrison Ford) almost 20 years after "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" and yes he's old but he still kicks ass. Within the first 10 minutes he's fighting the Soviet bad guys and swinging around via the trademark whip.
The Soviets are led by Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett) who is after the titular crystal skull. The skull is said to grant special powers to whoever brings it back to the mythological jungle city of Akator. The Russians want it to gain an upper hand in the cold war and Indy is tasked with stopping them.
He is joined by his old war buddy Mac McHale (Ray Winstone), a greaser kid named Mutt Williams (Shia LaBeouf), Indy's old flame Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen), and a crazed old professor friend (John Hurt). Together they journey to the city and try to return the skull before the Russians take it and do it themselves.
I don't care that Harrison Ford is 65 years old. The man is a living legend. He is so Indiana Jones that it doesn't matter if he's 80 or 20 I still believe he could take 20 Nazis or Soviets all by himself. It's just like Bruce Willis in "Live Free or Die Hard," he will never not be able to play the role; unless he's in a hospital bed and he's so wrinkly that you can't tell where his eyes are.
I don't know why everyone has it in for Shia LaBeouf either. He is a pretty good actor. He never once comes off as annoying or Hayden Christensen-like. He does look kind of ridiculous in his greaser outfit, but that's not his fault.
The one sort of glaring problem with the film is the overabundance of visual effects. Usually it isn't a problem. But there are a couple scenes where I grimaced because of the ridiculousness of the effects. In one scene Shia swings on vines with a bunch of monkeys who help him attack the Russians. Since when do monkeys suddenly help someone who lands in a tree? Steven Spielberg must have had to appease producer George Lucas or something. But as the director he needs to be willing to just say no sometimes.
That being said, there's always something people have a problem with in an Indiana Jones movie.
The first, "Raiders," is largely recognized as a perfect film. So it's extremely difficult to follow that. "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" is branded as too scary and intense what with all the ripped out hearts and child slavery stuff. And people think "The Last Crusade" has a weak ending and is too light-hearted. But really that's just being nit-picky. They're all great movies, and you can't expect them to be better than the original. They're going to be their own movies and they're still a lot of fun.
"Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" is not the best Indy movie, but it is certainly not a bad one. You definitely need to see this movie as soon as you can. You will only be disappointed if you let yourself. It's freaking Indiana Jones! It can't be bad.
Luke Soin can be reached at lsoin@statehornet.com
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