The Return of Indy
By Amna Khalique | Arts & Culture | Movies | Published 16 years ago
Considering the fact that Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is, after all, an action movie that is simply meant to entertain audiences, one shouldn’t expect a mind-blowing story line. That being said, the viewer doesn’t literally expect a plot that doesn’t flow smoothly, skims over scenes that needed more attention and certainly not a Roswell connection.
With names like Steven Spielberg and George Lucas attached to the film, one expected it to be a tightly-packed adventure flick without long-winded dialogue and definitely not an outer space connection to the mysterious crystal skull, which is supposedly the fountain of power and knowledge.
Set in 1957, the villains this time around aren’t the Nazis but the Reds, led by the Soviet military scientist, Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett), who sports a severe bob and a strong accent. The film kicks off with Indy (Harrison Ford) being picked up in Nevada by the Soviets to help them find a magnetic crystal skull, because of which he is subsequently interrogated by the FBI. But that’s not really the beginning. Indy’s adventures truly begin when Mutt (Shia LaBeouf) shows up with a coded message from an ex-colleague, Oxley (John Hurt), which leads him and Mutt on a quest to Peru.
However, not all is bad with the movie. Ford looks all of his 65 years, and the film-makers haven’t overlooked that fact. There are several innuendos and punch lines about the aging professor. LaBeouf is great as the greasy-haired motorcycle rebel who joins in on the hunt. The stunt work throughout the film is superior and definitely has the Spielberg touch; the three-tiered waterfall that keeps the audiences on the edge of their seats, the scene where an army of man-eating ants makes everyone scramble for their lives and, of course, the duel between Mutt and Irina on two separate speeding trucks. The famous Indiana Jones theme music plays throughout the film, which makes the viewers nostalgic and makes you want to cheer Indy on his globetrotting adventures.
The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is a movie that entertains, but lacks the charm of its predecessors that would make fans want to watch it over and over again.