For over 2-&-a-half decades, the Indiana Jones series has been one of Hollywood’s most popular movie franchises, alongside the likes of James Bond, Rambo, Rocky, The Terminator, etc [there are a few others I have omitted to mention]. The first 3 films in the series had all released within a few years of each other in the 1980s, the last one, Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade, sharing audience attention with Batman & Licensed To Kill in summer 1989.
Having heard rave reviews about Indiana Jones & his adventures from friends but not having seen any of them, I was determined to catch the just-released 4th installment, Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull, & did so at the newly-opened PVR multiplex close to my pad last weekend. I was expecting a lot of fireworks, & the evergreen Harrison Ford as Prof. Henry Jones did not disappoint.
The plot premise is not quite novel. Jones must return a rare crystal skull to the jungles of Peru. The skull is believed to be one of several & possesses tremendous supra-normal powers. A team of Nazi officers, who have kidnapped Jones’s old friends Marion Ravenwood & Prof. Oxley, are also looking for the skull, as they believe the skull will pass on its powers to whoever possesses it. It’s something like National Treasure minus Nicolas Cage meets The Phantom minus The Ghost Who Walks meets Lara Croft – Tomb Raider minus Angelina Jolie meets E.T. minus the alien meets The Mummy minus the evil undead meets King Kong minus the gorilla. There are shades of Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow as well. All this, however, does not lessen the entertainment. Most of the scenes are mounted on a spectacular level. Worthy of special mention is the long-drawn car-chase sequence thru the forest & along the edge of a cliff along a stretch of giant ant-infested land & the bike-chase sequence soon after Jones meets Mutt Williams. The opening sequence, which introduces the Soviets & Jones, is almost Bond-esque in its breakneck pace.
If friends who’ve watched this one & the previous films [or at least one or two of them] & reviews on IMDB are to be trusted, this is the weakest film in the entire series. Although I’ve not seen any of the earlier films, I have a feeling that this is true. Ford himself is in rip-roaring form & is ably supported by Shia LaBeouf & the feisty Karen Allen, but as already mentioned above, there’s nothing much that has not been done or seen earlier. The KGB angle, though as hackneyed as Hitler’s Nazis in 2 of the earlier films, can be excused as the story itself belongs to that period, i.e. the late 1950s. What is a big let-downer, however, is the absence of a formidable, awe-inspiring villain; Cate Blanchett as the psychically-inclined KGB officer Spalko is just not good enough.
Ford is one of those actors I’d pay to watch any time; his villainous turn opposite Michelle Pfeiffer in What Lies Beneath was chilling. That was eight years ago, and the edge has not dimmed at all. This is what I like most in actors like Ford, Sean Connery [the ultimate 007?? Probably not, but pretty close to it], Sly Stallone, & GOD [spelt A-M-I-T-A-B-H B-A-C-H-C-H-A-N].
My James Bond collection on video is nearly complete but for the steely Daniel Craig’s Casino Royale. Maybe in some time I shall include Indiana Jones in that collection as well. For someone going backwards, the 4th film was a good beginning, all said & done. Would I recommend it? I already have. Go watch it.
Having heard rave reviews about Indiana Jones & his adventures from friends but not having seen any of them, I was determined to catch the just-released 4th installment, Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull, & did so at the newly-opened PVR multiplex close to my pad last weekend. I was expecting a lot of fireworks, & the evergreen Harrison Ford as Prof. Henry Jones did not disappoint.
The plot premise is not quite novel. Jones must return a rare crystal skull to the jungles of Peru. The skull is believed to be one of several & possesses tremendous supra-normal powers. A team of Nazi officers, who have kidnapped Jones’s old friends Marion Ravenwood & Prof. Oxley, are also looking for the skull, as they believe the skull will pass on its powers to whoever possesses it. It’s something like National Treasure minus Nicolas Cage meets The Phantom minus The Ghost Who Walks meets Lara Croft – Tomb Raider minus Angelina Jolie meets E.T. minus the alien meets The Mummy minus the evil undead meets King Kong minus the gorilla. There are shades of Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow as well. All this, however, does not lessen the entertainment. Most of the scenes are mounted on a spectacular level. Worthy of special mention is the long-drawn car-chase sequence thru the forest & along the edge of a cliff along a stretch of giant ant-infested land & the bike-chase sequence soon after Jones meets Mutt Williams. The opening sequence, which introduces the Soviets & Jones, is almost Bond-esque in its breakneck pace.
If friends who’ve watched this one & the previous films [or at least one or two of them] & reviews on IMDB are to be trusted, this is the weakest film in the entire series. Although I’ve not seen any of the earlier films, I have a feeling that this is true. Ford himself is in rip-roaring form & is ably supported by Shia LaBeouf & the feisty Karen Allen, but as already mentioned above, there’s nothing much that has not been done or seen earlier. The KGB angle, though as hackneyed as Hitler’s Nazis in 2 of the earlier films, can be excused as the story itself belongs to that period, i.e. the late 1950s. What is a big let-downer, however, is the absence of a formidable, awe-inspiring villain; Cate Blanchett as the psychically-inclined KGB officer Spalko is just not good enough.
Ford is one of those actors I’d pay to watch any time; his villainous turn opposite Michelle Pfeiffer in What Lies Beneath was chilling. That was eight years ago, and the edge has not dimmed at all. This is what I like most in actors like Ford, Sean Connery [the ultimate 007?? Probably not, but pretty close to it], Sly Stallone, & GOD [spelt A-M-I-T-A-B-H B-A-C-H-C-H-A-N].
My James Bond collection on video is nearly complete but for the steely Daniel Craig’s Casino Royale. Maybe in some time I shall include Indiana Jones in that collection as well. For someone going backwards, the 4th film was a good beginning, all said & done. Would I recommend it? I already have. Go watch it.
i am quite sure that Oxley and Henry's wife were kidnapped by the Soviets.Cate Blanchett was playing the role of Statin's favourite scientist.
ReplyDeleteHi Mad Hatter,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment. You are correct, it was the KGB, the Secret Service wing of the Russian govt., that had kidnapped Henry's friends Oxley & Marion. Marion was Henry's girlfriend & the mother of his son; the two don't get married till the end of the film. Oxley was Marion & Henry's son Mutt's godfather.
As for KGB Officer Spalko, played by Cate Blanchett, she was "Stalin's favourite scientist" only to the extent that she had thrice received Stalin's gold medal & had been given a free hand by the leader in heading the KGB's psychic research wing; the "Stalin's favourite scientist" bit need not, I'm sure, be taken literally :-)
Do keep writing.