Monday, July 21, 2008
Review: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Its been a while but Im back with a new review. This time is the new newest Indy movie.
Plot: During the Cold War, Soviet agents watch Professor Henry Jones when a young man brings him a coded message from an aged, demented colleague, Henry Oxley. Led by the brilliant Irina Spalko, the Soviets tail Jones and the young man, Mutt, to Peru. With Oxley's code, they find a legendary skull made of a single piece of quartz. If Jones can deliver the skull to its rightful place, all may be well; but if Irina takes it to its origin, she'll gain powers that could endanger the West. Aging professor and young buck join forces with a woman from Jones's past to face the dangers of the jungle, Russia, and the supernatural..
So the first time I heard anything about this movie was (as propebly most people thought) the age thing. Harrison is pushing 60 now and the last movie was 16 years ago. The other thing was that there was no real point of a remake. I loved the fact that Spielberg and Lucas would team up again. But as the last 10 years of remaking has shown, the genius of hollywood have completely washed out the original thought-provocing storys and makes the movie for a bigger and younger crowd. (Like Die hard-4, the Invasion, I am legend etc)
Well, luckely the age of Indy has not been tamperd with. Sure, Shia (mutt) takes over a lot of the jumpy/running action but Ford does his share as well and he does it well. And it was a treat to see. He gets a lot of beating and throws alot of punches which gave me a nostalgic feel, and its also just s treat to see Ford back with the whip and fedora.
The plot however is completly retarded. Im not going to spoil it but it revolves around aliens.. (yeah, thats right)
My biggest gripe with the movie was that there was never any real danger in this movie. Waterfalls, fireants, collapsing temple, russians. You never ever felt that the gang where in peril. They where just happy and getting along well. I mean Indy is all about exploring and danger! Even the chase across the cliff side was unbareble to watch since its so clearly fake. Dont get me wrong. The sequence is nicely done and all that, but it goes on way to long and is just completly over-the-top cg. Thats another thing about Indy four. Spielberg and Lucas repeatedly said that they where going back to "the old school" way of effect-making and whats the first thing you see on the big screen? A computer generated Gopher! It was only there for 10 seconds but that was enough for me to set the mood. The movie also gave me the feeling of being shoot at a soundstage. It had a green-screen feeling and was completely fake. The old ones was shot on location and hard manual labour. This one is to clean looking and just lacks realisme
Also Indy never tries to trick the enemy or throw them off (the russians in this case) Infact he leads them directly to the "treasure". It just totally destroyd the enemy arcs since Indy was best buds with them and helping them almost all the way. It just stripped the movie of all danger and interest. There is no character arcs at all. At the end. Indy is still Indy. Cutesy Marion is still cutesy Marion. "Greaser" Mutt is still "Greaser" Mutt, and Kate Blanchetts character is introduced as a powerhungry mindreader but it doesent go anywhere. Also the story is all over place and alot of characters where a waste such as Ray Winstone, John Hurt and Jim Broadbent. Such great actors in such small insignificant roles.
All in all. Indy is a fun movie, but the whole premise of the movie is completely bonkers. Its not nowhere near the standard of the old ones and there is no scenes that sticks out like they do in the old ones. Boat out of plane? Traps? Boulders? Casino shootout? Lavapit? Minecart racing? Monkey-brain soup?. I dont remember any scenes in the new one. Indy four feels more like fun reunion of old characters with a script that goes nowhere..
Im going back to see the old ones now...
4/10
Plot: During the Cold War, Soviet agents watch Professor Henry Jones when a young man brings him a coded message from an aged, demented colleague, Henry Oxley. Led by the brilliant Irina Spalko, the Soviets tail Jones and the young man, Mutt, to Peru. With Oxley's code, they find a legendary skull made of a single piece of quartz. If Jones can deliver the skull to its rightful place, all may be well; but if Irina takes it to its origin, she'll gain powers that could endanger the West. Aging professor and young buck join forces with a woman from Jones's past to face the dangers of the jungle, Russia, and the supernatural..
So the first time I heard anything about this movie was (as propebly most people thought) the age thing. Harrison is pushing 60 now and the last movie was 16 years ago. The other thing was that there was no real point of a remake. I loved the fact that Spielberg and Lucas would team up again. But as the last 10 years of remaking has shown, the genius of hollywood have completely washed out the original thought-provocing storys and makes the movie for a bigger and younger crowd. (Like Die hard-4, the Invasion, I am legend etc)
Well, luckely the age of Indy has not been tamperd with. Sure, Shia (mutt) takes over a lot of the jumpy/running action but Ford does his share as well and he does it well. And it was a treat to see. He gets a lot of beating and throws alot of punches which gave me a nostalgic feel, and its also just s treat to see Ford back with the whip and fedora.
The plot however is completly retarded. Im not going to spoil it but it revolves around aliens.. (yeah, thats right)
My biggest gripe with the movie was that there was never any real danger in this movie. Waterfalls, fireants, collapsing temple, russians. You never ever felt that the gang where in peril. They where just happy and getting along well. I mean Indy is all about exploring and danger! Even the chase across the cliff side was unbareble to watch since its so clearly fake. Dont get me wrong. The sequence is nicely done and all that, but it goes on way to long and is just completly over-the-top cg. Thats another thing about Indy four. Spielberg and Lucas repeatedly said that they where going back to "the old school" way of effect-making and whats the first thing you see on the big screen? A computer generated Gopher! It was only there for 10 seconds but that was enough for me to set the mood. The movie also gave me the feeling of being shoot at a soundstage. It had a green-screen feeling and was completely fake. The old ones was shot on location and hard manual labour. This one is to clean looking and just lacks realisme
Also Indy never tries to trick the enemy or throw them off (the russians in this case) Infact he leads them directly to the "treasure". It just totally destroyd the enemy arcs since Indy was best buds with them and helping them almost all the way. It just stripped the movie of all danger and interest. There is no character arcs at all. At the end. Indy is still Indy. Cutesy Marion is still cutesy Marion. "Greaser" Mutt is still "Greaser" Mutt, and Kate Blanchetts character is introduced as a powerhungry mindreader but it doesent go anywhere. Also the story is all over place and alot of characters where a waste such as Ray Winstone, John Hurt and Jim Broadbent. Such great actors in such small insignificant roles.
All in all. Indy is a fun movie, but the whole premise of the movie is completely bonkers. Its not nowhere near the standard of the old ones and there is no scenes that sticks out like they do in the old ones. Boat out of plane? Traps? Boulders? Casino shootout? Lavapit? Minecart racing? Monkey-brain soup?. I dont remember any scenes in the new one. Indy four feels more like fun reunion of old characters with a script that goes nowhere..
Im going back to see the old ones now...
4/10
Labels: movie review
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