The Earth-Toned Pill

Last night, several of us went and saw a special advance screening of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull at the Regal 20 at Waterford Lakes, thanks to Catie's luck in obtaining the passes for us all from someone where she works! There were at least 600+ people there with special passes to the event, and the line to get into the theaters was insanely long. Tons of fanboys & normals, young and old were there to see it first, and there was a definite air of excitement around us that served as a reminder that we were playing our part in a popular culture phenomenon that spans decades.

And let me be the first to tell you, Harrison Ford still has the magic. Seriously.

*** BE WARNED, SERIOUS SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT ***

The Plot

The movie opens with a group of Russians disguised as US soldiers raiding Area 51 with a kidnapped Indiana Jones and his new sidekick buddy Mac, played by Ray Winstone. The Russians use Indy to help him find one of the alien carcasses secretly held by the government from the Roswell incident in 1947. The Russians are led by the deadly sexy Soviet psychic Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett) and her 2nd in command Dovchenko, played in excellent villanous fashion by Igor Jijikine, who reminded me very much of the Oberst Vogel character from Last Crusade, albeit younger and tougher. During this sequence in the giant 'Lost Ark' warehouse, Indy discovers that Mac is a traitor but escapes from the clutches of the soviets in a thrilling chase scene through the warehouse climaxes in a fight with Dovchenko on a jet engine-powered rocket sled that dumps them both in the middle of the Nevada desert, where he is able to escape away from his Soviet pursuers into a mockup of a 'typical US town', also known as Doom Town, which Indy discovers is about to be blown up as part of the US military's nuclear testing program! He luckily hides in a lead-walled refrigerator just in time to keep him alive while the town is totally destroyed by the nuclear bomb.

After his lucky escape, Indy is debriefed by the FBI and army, and we discover here that Indy was actually a member of the OSS during the Second World War, and won many medals and awards for his actions on the European continent. In the McCarthy-era anti-Communist climate of the 50s, however, Indy is accused by the FBI of conspiring with the soviets and as a result loses his job at the college where he teaches. On his way out of town, he is stopped at the last second by a young, motorcycle-riding greaser named Mutt, who goes with Indy to a stereotypical 50s diner where he tells Indy that he was sent by his mother to help her and another archaeologist named Oxley (played by Englishman John Hurt), who have both been kidnapped by Spalko and her goons. Mutt informs Indy that 'Ox' was looking for a fabled crystal skull from the lost city of gold, and has apparently gone mad in the process. As Mutt gives Indy a map drawn by Ox, two Russian agents try to capture them but are foiled in an excellent fight scene, which is followed by a motorcycle chase that proves to be one of the film's most memorable, and highlights Ford's still-impressive athleticism.

The two then journey on to South America in search of Mutt's mother, Ox and the crystal skull. They first locate the crystal skull, but are then captured by Spalko. It is at this point that we learn that Mutt's mother is none other than Marion Ravenwood from Raiders, and that Indy is actually Mutt's father, whose real name is Henry Jones III!! The movie then features several excellent chase scenes through the South American jungle, one of which ended up in a gigantic ant nest that eventually (literally) consumed Dovchenko after a knock-down fight between him and Indy.

The group of Indy, Marion, Mutt, Ox and Mac (who is now a supposed double agent), then escape the soviets again to arrive at a temple that they eventually get inside. In the temple's depths, they discover evidence of artifacts accross all times and locations throughout human history, indicating that the temple was home to a kind of alien archeologist species. Mac was in fact helping the soviets all along though, and let Spalko and her remaining soviet goons to Indy, at which point they discover that the temple houses several alien skeletal remains. They reunite the crystal skull with its body, triggering the temple to transform and reveal its true form as an alien saucer ship. Indy, Marion, Ox and Mutt escape as the spacecraft begins to launch, while Mac is killed and Spalko is driven mad and incinerated by the alien mind she sought to gain control of.

This part of the film ends with an amazing sequence where the group escapes the ship and watches it take off and dissapear, with Ox describing the aliens as 'trans-dimensional beings' that disappeared to the 'space between space'.

Yep...

And so the movie then cuts to Indy and Marion's wedding, ending with a hint that Shia LeBouf's character may in fact be the beginning of a new series of adventures.

What I Thought

Overall, it was a great movie that was very much in the mold of the previous films. Everything from the stuntwork to the cinematography all came together to bring me right back to the series, almost like putting back on your favorite T-shirt after a two month hiatus... Except this time around, we've been waiting 19 years.

Was it too long a wait? Yes, I do still think so after having seen it. Although Ford still does have the magic, the plain truth is that he's just plain old and it was very fortunate for Spielberg and company that he was able to do his own stunts, keep Indy's humor and personality intact, and avert a cultural disaster, all despite his age.

The action sequences were excellent, the chases thrilling, and the way the loose ends were tied up will be enough to satisfy most of the series fanboys and die-hards out there. While I expect that a lot of people will be put off by the alien-centric plot, if you look at it for what it is (which is an homage to 50s scifi B-movies), then you won't be let down or dissapointed.

Overall, I give my standing ovation to Spielberg, Ford & Co. and give this film a solid 3 stars!

So here in the Walters household, there's a serious air of anticipation surrounding the premier of the 4th Indiana Jones film this week. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull made its initial debut at the Cannes film festival yesterday, supposedly to a lukewarm response by critics who generally called it 'more of the same' (in a good way, I'm assuming?) and 'a bit creaky', as Harrison Ford is visibly quite old and they don't make much effort at hiding that. All this aside, I'm still extremely excited about seeing the film and I plan on wearing a fedora to the premier in true movie geek style. The only thing that is really turning me off at all, and actually kind of ruining the mood for me, is the way George Lucas is handling himself as we get closer to the US premier on Thursday.

George Lucas was never a really great director, and he has said as much himself. I would go a step further and say that he is a mediocre director at best, and a weak writer. The latter point is particularly painful for me, as Lucas co-wrote the story for the 4th Indy movie, which he originally wanted to name Indiana Jones and the Saucer Men From Mars. Saucer men from Mars?!? What the hell was he initially thinking? I understand that he wanted to originally do a 4th Indy movie that was a tribute to 1950's sci-fi 'B' movies, but didn't the world already have more than enough of this when Mars Attacks! raped our eyes and minds back in 1996? And really, is an homage to 'B' movies how you want to remember Harrison Ford and Co. after all the dust settles? I think not, and thank god Steven Spielberg agreed and told Lucas to 'go back to the drawing board' and come back with a real movie.

I was pushed further down the path of the 'Lucas Haters' after I read this recent snippet, describing a conversation between Lucas and Spielberg regarding the hype surrounding this kind of film:

"I explained to Steven when we sat down on this, I said ... when you do a film that's this anticipated, people have a tendency to believe it's going to be the second coming and no matter what you give them they're going to be disappointed. We're all going to get people throwing tomatoes at us. But it's a fun movie to make. We love it."

Well, George, did you ever think that all your Star Wars fans were actually expecting good films when you instead handed them three pieces (ep 1-3) of forgettable schlock? I think most would agree that George Lucas choosing to write and direct the Star Wars prequels was a huge mistake, and when combined with poor casting choices for central characters like Anakin, the result is without a doubt going to sour a lot of fans' stomachs. I'm sorry, but this film will be the second coming if it is written well, cast well, and directed well, while also respecting the spirit of the previous installments in the series.

My sense of annoyance and dismay with George Lucas just continued to grow following this interview with him, Shia LeBouf, Harrison Ford, Steven Spielberg:

When Diane Sawyer asks the question around 2:55 into it about their 'favorite scene or quote', Lucas' answer made me want to punish my TV. He may have been genuinely trying to be funny, but there is definitely (at the very least) a touch of seriousness to it. Plugging a new DVD set? Are you serious??? Whatever. To me, the interview on the whole was kind of uncomfortable to watch, but plugging a DVD set like that wasn't exactly appropriate. Besides, doesn't he have enough Star Wars money to last him well into the afterlife?

I guess in the end I shouldn't worry too much about Lucas, because at least in this case he has the sanity of Steven Spielberg to balance out his faults. And in the end, I think the movie will depend more on Harrison Ford than on any other person in the cast or crew.

Lets just hope Harrison Ford still has the magic...