INDIANA JONES & THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL
INDIANA JONES & THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL |
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Henry 'Indiana' Jones is roped into his foruth adventure when KGB agents try to unearth the powerful secret of a crystal skull. Meanwhile, an old flame arrives with a secret of her own. | score 3+ |
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| Cast Harrison Ford, Cate Blanchett, Shia LaBeouf, John Hurt, Ray Winstone, Karen Allen Director Steven Spielberg Screenwriter David Koep Country USA Rating / Running Time M / 123 minutes Australian Release May 2008 Official Site (c) moviereview
2006-2008
ABN 72 775 390 361 |
To
stay true to the intent of the original B-films that informed the
visual style of Indiana Jones, it’s said that director Steven
Spielberg unlearnt all that he’d learnt since Raiders of the Lost Ark.
It paid off, for Indi-4 looks every bit the child of a franchise that
last hit screens twenty years ago. It’s been a long time coming
and while it’s no surprise that some of the stars have aged, it
is surprising how well time has served them. Fortunately the story is
in on the joke – as Ford’s pensionable action hero quips
early, ‘this aint gonna be as easy as it used to”. Kingdom of the Crystal Skull follows the Jones’ handbook closely although Communists have now replaced Nazis. It’s 1957 and KGB agents led by the delightfully sneering Cate Blanchett are in Nevada and want something locked in a US military warehouse. Their mission plunges Jones into ancient tales of El Dorado and the jungles of Peru where he collects a young Brando-esque side-kick (Shia LaBeouf) and the side-kick’s mother – Raiders’ Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen). Together they must stop the Soviets from releasing the skull’s secret power. While there’s nothing particularly fresh or awe-inspiring about this fourth instalment – it can’t compete with Raiders’ rolling boulder, or a disaffected Indi shooting his assailant for instance – Crystal Skull revels in a gleeful energy. David Koep’s buoyant and occasionally inspired screenplay is peppered with in-jokes and passing nods; a glimpse of the Ark here, an unwelcome snake there. Add the sexual tension of Ravenwood’s return, evil dressed in Westwood, the spunk of Henry’s chip-off-the-old-block, Spielberg’s robust direction, superior cinematography, that hat and that music, and you’ve got a blazing blockbuster that was worth the wait. // COLIN FRASER |