The story follows good’ol Indy who is still the lovable, geeky university professor who is aging in peace. When along comes the Russians who kidnap him in search of the mysterious Crystal Skull. Why you may ask? Set in ‘57 midst the cold war, of course… ‘power’! Thus the adventure begins.
The screenplay was done adequately but failed to create much interest. Indiana Jones films are full of corny but funny lines and moments. Those moments were replaced by a few jokes and slapstick that didn’t quite tickle. The characters were average and didn’t have any real charisma. They were not allowed to develop at all, but simply kept them at a 2 dimensional level to give time for all the ‘fun’.
The plot was simple and usually needs to be in adventure movies. But this was pretty weak. I don’t know if a lot of people will enjoy the twist of the plot(as there is a turn in the second act), but I for one thought it was alright. The Crystal Skull itself was a true Macguffin, not serving a real purpose. There was not enough exploration to each of the elements introduced, it simply announced the idea and just kept going.
The acting of Harrison Ford was as usual up to par. He truly was an aged Indy, but was not hiding the fact at all which worked well. The Shia Labeouf character (looking like Marlon Brando in THE WILD ONE) playing the side kick was good but never really matched the rest of the cast. He seemed to have walked off the GREASE reunion set by accident. John Hurt, one of the best British method actors was clearly underused. Ray Winstone who is known for his tough characters was also miscast. The only proven talent that matched was Cate Blanchet, giving a great over the top, icy, fun villain(with a delicious accent).
The Cinematography was good at times. The Amazonian locations were quite breath taking, and so were the first few chase/fight scenes. But the rest of the time it was substituted for standard quality CGI, which did not reflect well.
The directing was surprisingly average. There was nothing special about anything in this film. I felt Spielberg & Lucas were having so much fun making this film, they didn’t put their heart and soul. Harrison Ford is literally winking at the camera! There were many scenes where you are ‘supposed’ to feel amazed or excited…but just aren’t! They cut too many financial corners with CGI instead of stunts. That is what transforms an ‘adventure’ movie to an ‘action’ movie. There was so much CGI it ended up looking like THE MUMMY RETURNS!
If I had walked into an unknown adventure movie called THE CRYSTAL SKULL, without any prior knowledge of INDIANA JONES, I would have found this movie very satisfying and extremely enjoyable. But it's a series that's grossed more than 600 million, spawned a cult following, created cartoons, video games and memorabilia. As an avid fan I was disappointed.
The movie was fun and there is no one technical element that was lacking. But it is more of a spiritual aspect that only veterans like Spielberg & Lucas can bring. It’s that little thing called ‘magic’, which this movie had none of!
RATING: 3 COCONUTS
Pieries
TEASER
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