Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
May 22nd, 2008 by Rosemary
Saw the latest movie, and I have to say — it’s great to have Indiana Jones back.
I caution you, if you read further, there will be spoilers — so if you don’t want to know, don’t read.
I loved this series as a kid (in fact, I wanted to be an archeologist) as a child. “Crystal Skull” doesn’t disappoint.
The Plot: The Soviets are trying to develop paranormal weapons for the Cold War. Indiana Jones gets tangled in their quest for finding alien artifacts. Just when he thinks he’s out of the equation, he receives a visit from a young punk named Mutt on a motorcyle (Shia LaBeouf channeling Marlon Brando in “The Wild One”). Mutt tells Indy his old friend, Professor “Ox” Oxley is in danger and needs his help. Indy and Mutt catch a plan to Peru, and there he tangles with Soviets, lead by Irina Spalko (Kate Blanchette channeling Natasha from “Rocky and Bullwinkle”). There Indy meets Mutt’s mother, his former flame Marion.
You can probably guess what happens from there.
While I generally liked “Crystal Skull” for the the adventure and the return of beloved characters — including Marion Ravenwood — I did have a few issues with the movie:
- While there were a lot of supernatural elements to Indiana Jones movies, having an alien presence in this movie was kind of weird. Having Indiana Jones get SciFi was just plain strange.
- It’s pretty clear, early on, that LaBeouf’s character is Indiana Jones’ son. But did his character really have to be named Mutt? I mean, come on. Everyone knows (well if they saw “Last Crusade”) that Jones’ real name is Henry — that Indiana was the name of his dog. But Mutt? Hit the audience over the head with a hammer, why don’t you.
- Finally, too many things got glossed over. Too many questions were left, the main one being: Why did Indiana call of his wedding to Marion? Then there are a host of other questions: Why did she easily forgive him. How does Mutt feel about his new found father and his mother, who didn’t tell him about his biological father?
- This movie could have easily been another hour long — and frankly, I would have been OK with that if it meant a little more character development.
to “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”
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1Ajay Holly said:
Geesh. What to do, what to do! I was listening to a “talk radio” show and the host and many callers TRASHED the movie! They were saying, if you must see it wait for the DVD. I hadn’t planned on buying a ticket but with such conflicticing opinions I’ll wait and BORROW a friends DVD. That’s why I seldom read reviews of books, movies etc. I tend to rely on my FEELINGS about such.
