Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
So, I’ll be forward: I loved this movie. You can choose to stop reading now, or you can continue and find out why, it’s up to you. But just know that this is going to be a positive review of a movie that’s been getting a fairly even number of reviews from both end of the spectrum.
Keep in mind that this movie follows (quite well) the trend of the first three - that is to say, it is over the top in terms of action, and one is required to suspend one’s disbelief with something tensile and strong. If you have no problem doing this, or more appropriately if you had no problem doing this with the first three, you should be fine. Because I will say it right now - these movies are not meant to be taken seriously. I’ve always felt more like the Indiana Jones movies were like thrill rides. They throw a few twists at you, but you know it’s just a ride, so you smile all the way through.
To its credit, KotCS does not require one to have seen the first three movies. Not in the traditional sense, anyway. It certainly helps - both so that you know what kind of movies the Indiana Jones series is comprised of, and so that you can catch the throwbacks. I was relieved to find that a sizable chunk of the audience was comprised of true Indy fans when they applauded as these throwbacks came on screen. But much like the other three were separate stories with the same hero and a few consistent characters, so is KotCS a movie that is not meant to be a continuation, but rather simply another installment in the series.
This is where I, and many others, were afraid. Harrison Ford is, I believe somewhere around the age of 60. For a whip-cracking hero that spends a lot of his time running, jumping, rolling around, and getting beaten up by men twice his size, 60’s not exactly the ripest age at which to do so. However, with the exception of a few more lines on his face and eyes that one can tell have seen a lot, Ford is in as good a shape as he’s ever been. He’s still got the humor, too, which for me was very important. I can never stop smiling when I’m watching any of the Indy movies, and this was no exception.
The plot is where it falls apart for some people. Without giving too much away, this plot does differ greatly in that not only does it take place in the Cold War era (rather than World War II, so we’re now dealing with KGB instead of Nazis), the ultimate mystery that Indy unravels is a bit more science fiction-y in nature, and less religion-themed. Once again, though, all four of the movies are built on the premise that any of these fabled artifacts that Indy’s after are real, as are the legends behind them. Now, I’m somewhat biased, being interested already in what the plot has to offer, and the crystal skulls themselves have some basis in history (although its been said the real skulls were discredited as being made in the 19th century, rather than much earlier as the legend assumes), but in contrast to the nay-sayers who found the plot too ridiculous, I thought it fit the Indy theme quite well.
Naturally I had a few gripes with the movie, but then again, I don’t recall ever seeing a perfect movie. This is totally off the topic of suspending disbelief, by the way - these gripes are more like “well that was kind of unnecessary,” rather than “well that would never happen.” Shia LeBouf played his role as sort of a wanna-be badass quite well, always either a comb or switchblade in hand even in the face of death. His acting was not an issue. However, his screentime, while plentiful, was in some cases sort of superfluous. There is a scene where he’s swinging through the jungle alongside monkies on vines. Now, this isn’t a totally ridiculous notion: anyone of decent strength, a concept of momentum (or someone who’s seen Tarzan), and some luck could probably pull this off. I mean it happens in real life, monkeys do it, it’s not that outrageous. The fact that it was part of the movie, though, is sort of the main issue. It was clearly intended to add some comic relief, which it did, but mainly because it was just such a silly way out of a situation. Lucas could’ve written that part a little better, I think, or perhaps not written it at all.
The other main gripe is at the end. Again, I won’t spoil the ending, but it’s mostly CGI-related. George Lucas, as most Star Wars fans know, as well as Steven Spielberg, are avid users of CGI in their movies, to the point where it’s almost annoying. I’m eternally grateful that the use of CGI was not obscenely overdone in KotCS - everything seemed to fit pretty well with the other movies in terms of the use of real props and sets and perhaps even on-location shooting rather than green screens. The end, however, is sort of where Lucas and Spielberg decided to pull out all the stops and kind of go nuts. If you see the movie, perhaps you’ll agree that there wasn’t much choice in doing the ending any other way other than CGI, but certainly they could have used less, which would’ve been fine.
There’s also a scene with a refrigerator and a nuke - you’ll know it when you see it - that was a bit hard to take seriously, but I did enjoy the comic value it added and laughed with it, where the monkey scene just kind of had me laughing at it.
Overall, though, I thought it was excellent. The Indy movies were written for the sake of entertainment. There aren’t many heroes like Indiana Jones anymore - these days it’s all about grit and realism, blood and violence and death. I loved this movie for its ability to simply be watched and enjoyed, an ability shared with the other three. The plot works, the acting was great (in my personal opinion), Harrison Ford’s definitely still got it, the music gave it the same feel as the others, and I smiled the whole way through - and for me, that last part was crucial.
In short, if you’re a fan of the Indy series and the style of the movies, you will enjoy Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. If you go in expecting a modernized Indy movie, with more grit and realism and less comedy, I think you will be a bit disappointed. So, my recommendation is to go watch it with purely entertainment in mind, perhaps brush up on the series by watching the other three first (I did; it’s nothing you won’t mind doing), and suspend your disbelief for the sake of fun and excitement, and you will get your money’s worth. Do I understand the negative reviews? Sure. Some people were expecting something a little less “ridiculous,” as it were. But as that’s the way the first three were, that’s exactly how I expected this to be, and my expectations were met. We’re so accustomed to movies that force realism and complex story lines on us that many of us have forgotten what it’s like to go and just have fun at the movies.
I’ll abstain from rating movies, since it’s hard to do that fairly and accurately, so I’ll just say I highly recommend it.
I’m out.
Later.