'Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull' - An Explosively Great Adventure
By: Tim - aurora - Dunn

A colleague of Jones in the new 'Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull' movie ponders with Jones, "How much of human life is lost waiting?" Well for a lot of us it has been almost 20 years. For those of us who grew up watching and playing Indiana Jones when younger its been a long wait. But as another saying goes 'The best things are worth waiting for.' Unlike Lucas's other major hit series, 'Star Wars' the relaunch of this series after such a long time is met with just as much excitement as before and then some. Jones may have reached the point in life where life stops giving and starts taking as he sits at his desk reminiscing over lost family and friends. But for Henry (Indiana) Jones Jr, he still has a lot to give us. I won't say that this latest adventure is the best as I'm still a die hard lover of the 'Raiders of the Lost Ark', it surely is better then the second (Temple of Doom) and at the least equal to the third (The Last Crusade).

 

 

I will not venture deeply into the story line as I fear saying anything will ruin the adventure and anybody reading this does not deserve that for this movie. What I will say is this is classic Indy from the first minutes to the passing of the hat (or is it) ending with nothing lacking. Well almost nothing. This time round we 20 years later for Jones as well and find ourselves in 1957 with World War II over and so are the Nazis. However in 1957 we faced another nightmarish threat to mind and body, the Soviet - U.S. Cold War. The physical horror of Nazis Germany was replaced by the physiological horror of communism which is the basis of the movie through and through and on several different levels.

 

 

Jones once again finds himself caught by our nations enemies during an archaeological dig. As par these new enemies need Jones help to find something of great worth and power which only Jones can find. After a series of escapes, one of which is literally impossible to believe but oh so much fun, we find Jones back at his old and favored post at the University teaching. Its not long before he is forced to leave the University and start off on his next great adventure. Thanks to a new young friend, Mutt Williams, (Shia LaBeouf), who needs Jones help to find both his mother and an old friend of Indys, Prof Oxley (John Hurt) the course of the adventure is set.

 

 

Professor Oxley, is not only a co-friend of Mutt and Jones but was also a class mate of Jones, who like Jones has a great love for archeology and not your normal lets go dig in Egypt love either. In fact Oxley's taste while may be pyramids, he favors those in Central and South America especial those dealing with thirteen crystal skulls and the mythical city of gold known as Eldorado. And here's where the adventure is left for you to explore for yourself.

 

 

This Indy outing is not only as sporting as the previous outings but also pays tribute to them as well. We see and hear all the good old things which made us fall so deeply in love with the Jones family saga. We get glimpses of Henry senior, tales of past adventures as well as glimpses of things thought lost forever to our sight. You know little things like the Ark of the Covenant. From the beginning we get these short little jibs to bring back all those great memories and feelings and to give today's youth a taste of true cinematic excitement at its funnest. The first sight of Jones is of him picking up his treasured fedora hat and placing it on his head as a shadow on a car and then out of the shadows of ages past we get our first sight of Indy in that great old school look which begins darwing up those forgotten feelings of excitement. The first crack of the whip releases adrenaline in the purest Pavlovian emotion. The dread of snakes, impending death on every turn, cob webs dense enough to be walls, restless natives and of course mystical powers all abound in true Jones style.

 

 

But this movie is not only a rebirth and homage to Indiana Jones but hints at paying homage to other great adventure movies from ages past. The first is more to Bill Murray then a single movie as its a warped twist on 'Caddy Shack' and 'GroundHog Day'. We have tags from both 'The Mummy' and 'The Mummy Returns', as well as 'Pirates of the Caribbean', 'Tarzan' and even 'The X-Files'. There's even a scene with Mutt that reminds you of a classic 'The Simpson's' episode with Homer attempting to ski. In fact there are so many little scene stealing minutes that it reminds you of all the fun of 'Shrek'. It makes me sad and excited that I found nothing from 'Shrek' itself the first time I watched this movie but I bet the next two or twenty two times I watch it I'll find a hidden 'Shrek' take out in it somewhere and look forward to that challenge.

 

 

As to whether these were intentionally part of the movie as they were in 'Shrek' or not, please don't think that this steals any attention, coherency, or fast flow from the movie. On the contrary in classic Indiana Jones style it all blends seamlessly into one fast passed exciting tale. That's thanks to having not only Harrision Ford back as Indy but the attention to detail brought by three of the greatest cinematic presences ever, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and the music by John Williams. Lets face it the music for an Indiana Jones movie is as much a Jones signature as the fedora hat and bull-whip.

 

 

As for the effects well when you have Spielberg and Lucas you automatically get ILM who has given us some of the best effects movies as we'll ever see and they don't disappoint here. Don't get me wrong in that I'm being overly excited about the effects. There are indeed a couple scenes that could have been done better. However, even though they 'could' have pushed some of the visuals and post comping work further I personally feel it was left the way it was intentionally as part of the movies style because its the classic Indy look and feel. Hey, this style is a proven winner so why fix something that is not thought of as broken. For me personally I say Thankee Sai for leaving a few scenes with that great old campy look and feel, that's what I expect from an Indiana Jones movie, that's what I paid for, and will pay for with the DVD, and that's what I got.

 

 

Thankfully though, most of the great effects were done with live action as the main stay of the individual scenes. True there are several CG furry friends through out the movie as well as other creepy crawlies. Some better then others but the jokes and laughs make them a nice blend-in regardless of the PR quality. Of great note is not the opening scenes with the prairie dogs, as cute and campy as they were, but with a huge pack of vine swinging monkeys. While you know at your core its all CG you loose that recognition as you watch them. Even with the first close-up, which is a mimic joke in and of itself, you know hes not real but never actually stop to think about that issue. Just another case in point of how far we have evolved over the past ten years and makes you seriously question where we will be in another ten years with great excitement.

 

 

Lately whats a great movie done by ILM without some great fluid effects? I have a friend that is boasting that the fluid effects done for HellBoy II will out do ILM's, if that's true then based on this latest fluid endeavor I can not wait to see him proven right come mid July. Regardless of the in-bred war between studios on who has the best fluid simulations, the near end scenes of 'Kingdom of the Crystal Skull' is a true work of dedicated fluid art. While simple in its content compared to the Maelstrom scene in 'At Worlds End' it is none the less breath taking to watch from a CG point of view. For me, a fellow fluid developer, those fluid scenes alone were worth the price of the ticket for me.

 

 

While I normally won't mention explosions as something to go see a movie for unless its something like a 'Die Hard' movie, there is one particularly spectacular explosion near the beginning of the movie that is well worth watching over and over once the DVD comes out. We have seen somewhat similar types of explosions many times but the shear scale and detail we see in this one drives home both the time period and sets the stage for the rest of the degree of love and devotion to detail you will find through out this adventure.

 

 

Conclusion:
'Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull' brings back the great story telling, action packed, fast passed adventure as well as a visual feast for mind and soul that we expect. While the ending is a bit different then you would at first expect it's none the less fitting into many of the mythologies of both Indys day as well as ours. Does it detract from the Indiana Jones saga? For me, personally, not one bit. Will I wait not the next great adventure with as much anticipation as I had for this one, yes and thanks to the brilliance of the last scene I do believe we will not have to wait another 20 years for that to happen.

Ratings:

IMDB Film User Rating: 8.1/10 (8065 votes)

- For a movie going experience I give it: 5 out of 5 stars.
This a classic Indiana Jones movie at its best and probably the best sequel in the saga thus far. While the ending might put a few off its none the less done in the pure Indy style.

- For a technical piece of CG and VFX work I give it: 5 out of 5 stars.
Granted a few scenes where campy with the post/comping process it does put it in the pure Indiana Jones style and thus there is nothing wrong with it at all. As major keynotes on the CG front there is a faboulus explosion up front, great fluids at the end and plenty of CG creatures to draw the CG fanatic in as much as the adveture itself does.

Credits:

Cast:
Indiana Jones - Harrison Ford
Irina Spalko - Cate Blanchett
Marion Ravenwood - Karen Allen
Mutt Williams - Shia LaBeouf
'Mac' George McHale - Ray Winstone
Professor Oxley - John Hurt
Dean Charles Stanforth - Jim Broadbent
Dovchenko - Igor Jijikine
General Ross - Alan Dale
Taylor - Joel Stoffer
Smith - Neil Flynn
Minister - V.J. Foster

Directed - Steven Spielberg

Writing Credits
Screenplay - David Koepp
Story - George Lucas, Jeff Nathanson
Characters - George Lucas, Philip Kaufman

Producets
Executive Producer - Kathleen Kennedy, George Lucas
Producer - Frank Marshall
Co-Producer - Denis L. Stewart

Original Music - John Williams

Cinematography - Janusz Kaminski(director of photography)

Film Editing - Michael Kahn

Visual Effects:
Asylum FX
Industrial Light & Magic
Stan Winston Studio

MPAA: Rated PG-13 for adventure violence and scary images.
Runtime: 124 min