INDIANA JONES IV - MK's review!

Steven Spielberg Written by: David Koepp (screenplay), George Lucas (story) Staring: Harrison Ford, Cate Blanchett, Shia LaBeouf, Karen Allen, Ray Winstone, John Hurt,Jim Broadbent, Igor Jijikine, Alan Dale, Andrew Divoff Distributed by Paramount Pictures Film is released worldwide on May 22nd 2008 Review by Michael Kaminski

rating: 3.5

Here€™s the good news: INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL does not suck. Forget the poor reviews€”this is far from a poor film. Here€™s the bad news: it€™s not a great film. If that disappoints you then the jokes on you because you expect too much€”the trilogy was lightning in a bottle and can never be re-captured. But this film comes close, and that€™s mighty impressive. I won€™t go over the details of the plot here except to say Indiana Jones is on the hunt for an artifact once again, this time racing against Soviets and this time taking him to meso-America. That€™s really all you need to know. It involves crystal skulls and the paranormal but that€™s all kind of incidental to the main point of this film: a wild adventure ride. And what a ride it is. The fourth Indiana Jones film is a helluva fun time€”the action is awesome, the characters are sharp, and the movie has that same sense of joyous energy that we've come to know and love about the series. Re-capturing that is the hardest feat the film had to achieve, and while it does not do so entirely, it does so well enough to carry us away on a rollicking, humorous, even sometimes awe-inspiring adventure What this film has that many imitators lack is character. Harrison Ford returns with all the wise-cracking warmth of the original films, and gives the character a delightful spin as an older, wiser version of the one we left off with. The best scenes in the film are by far the ones about the characters: banter between Shia LaBeouf and Harrison Ford that will leave you with a stupid grin on your face, snappy arguments with a still-vibrant Karen Allen that crackle with the energy sorely missed in films these days, clever humor and amusing period touches and scenes where Harrison Ford effortlessly carries the entire film all alone on his still-strong shoulders. This is why you should see the film; any movie can give us death-defying stunts with the standard $100 million superhero films we see every week between May and September€”character, this is stuff that can€™t be created by a computer. But it€™s not all golden. The film is not without its flaws, and this is easily the most far-fetched Indy outing yet. Lawrence Kasdan is probably shaking his head to see how far his down-to-earth original screenplay has deviated€”the touch of George Lucas is felt all the more strongly in this film, with many unrealistic thrills and over-the-top embellishments. TEMPLE OF DOOM was like a comic book but the gritty reality of the way it was filmed balanced things out nicely and gave it credibility€”here, there are two or three moments that push things into un-reality a little too far. Also quite strange is that many of the action scenes are uninteresting€”the film starts off with a bang with a great opening sequence, but the chases in the Amazon are a little€meh. Spielberg€™s done much better. The magic of the previous films is just never fully recreated. Also, and I should warn viewers now, this film is worlds away from RAIDERS and CRUSADE, no pun intended. No Nazi€™s, no holy relics€”and I must say, the film is all the stronger for it. But for some reason people don€™t like that. One of the reasons that TEMPLE OF DOOM is still my favourite Indiana Jones movie, and one of my favourite films of all time, is because it is unique, it ventures off into bold and exciting territory, and as a horror fan I loved the dark occultism and thrill-ride terror of the film. Somehow, there got to be this weird belief that Indiana Jones meant fighting Hitler and searching for Christian relics, but that€™s just because LAST CRUSADE chickened out and remade RAIDERS to stymie the criticism TEMPLE OF DOOM received. TEMPLE OF DOOM is by far a closer companion to this film€”its much more over the top, set in the jungle, involves hypnotism and things of such off-kilter nature, and veers into other genres (TEMPLE OF DOOM sourced horror films, and this one€well, you€™ve all probably heard about it by now, but I€™ll refrain from spelling it out. I will say, gladly, that they are not as blatant as TEMPLE OF DOOM's horror themes, and actually dovetail nicely with the supernatural themes of the previous films). But now I€™m getting off track. I€™ll just close this review by saying INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL is a terrific, fun adventure, and that€™s all that matters. You really don€™t have to analyze it any further than that. It has Harrison Ford back in the saddle and he absolutely pulls it off€”seeing him in the role again is itself such a treat, but we€™re graced with a film that delivers on its promise to entertain. It€™s not a great movie, and it might not even be the best movie you see this summer. It€™s probably€”I€™m not going to say worst, because that€™s not the right word€”but it€™s easily the least-great of the four films. But we ought to have expected that. What it does have is terrific thrills, terrific characters and it keeps your ass in your seat for all of its 122 minutes. That€™s an accomplishment. Welcome back, Indiana.