Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
The best way of summing up this is simply to say … they do make ‘em like they used to afterall. Having refreshed myself with the first three movies this week, I (along with I’m sure dozens others in the audience) got a nostalgic thrill simply from the familiar opening credits style to John Williams’ imminent strings (the Paramount logo, I won’t go into; nor the catalog of other spoilers I could let slip – normally I don’t care about such things, but this is one that would be too cruel to spoil … I won’t even add certain tags to this post until a few months time). We’re taken to a familiar location – familiar to us, but not to Jones, who appears in those iconic fragments you’ve seen in the trailer. This opening sequence ultimately leads to a classic Indy escape involving, of all things, a refridgerator. Oh, and a gopher.
Sure, the plot at times beggars belief: even when you’ve suspended your disbelief sufficiently as to enjoy these movies (watching the original trilogy in preparation is definitely recommended). In fact, I found it quite strange that even Jones – having witnessed the wrath of God, a man’s heart removed by supernatural means, and the Holy Grail in previous installments – is found saying such things as, “That’s just a legend!” in skeptical tones … maybe it’s an age thing.
But for all of its flaws – and there are plenty – as a sequel, this has everything even demanding moi hoped/expected. There are creepy crawlies (an eye-watering, itch-fit-inducing amount, beware!), waterfalls (count ‘em), car chases, quicksand, vineswinging, snakes (of course), skeletons, cobwebbed caves, and more. There’s a little old-age lamenting, Last Crusade themes slipping into John Williams’ score, which is admittedly the least original of the whole series, and the ending owes something to that unforgettable face-melting finale to Raiders (I must admit, I wish this had been a bit more graphic). You even get a little peak of something in that familiar location at the start (I’ve probably said too much now – oh well). I’m not sure if that shot was slight overkill. I’m not sure if a lot of it was overkill, lol.
All told, however, I couldn’t take the inner child grin off my wide-eyed face for the duration. The visual effects are at once nostalgic in their rear-projected glory, but startling in their modern sensibility. There’s a moment with Shia LaBeouf astride two speeding vehicles that literally took my breath away. Janusz Kaminski apparently studied the work of the earlier movies’ cinematographer Douglas Slocombe, and it paid off, from those wonderful opening credits on it really looks like an Indy movie, but again, there’s the modern touch, Kaminski’s visceral jittercam slipping in where it’s needed. It’s like everything else about the movie – it’s all the best parts of all that came before and then something extra. It’s bound to please fans and newcomers, in the fans’ case no matter what their favourite installment has been to date, but I don’t think it will displace that fave in most cases. Likewise, as expected, it’s the best film I’ve seen so far this year; though I would hope it doesn’t stay that way. All in all, it’s a helluva ride if you’re prepared to go with it.