Dir. Steven
Spielberg, US, 2008, 124 mins
Cast: Harrison Ford, Cate Blanchett, Karen Allen, Shia LaBeouf,
Ray Winstone, John Hurt
Review by Matthew Rodger
The man in the hat is back!! The fedora is
slightly worn and it shades features beaten
by time into the wrinkled face of a familiar
hero, this time facing his biggest challenge
of all, 19 years of unrealistic hype and
a curse greater than that of the ark and
one that struck down the majority of the
Star Wars prequels...a George Lucas script.
Let’s crack the whip straight away.
Being the fourth best Indiana Jones film
is not a downbeat reaction to this mine
cart paced ride into misty nostalgia. In
the time since Ford, Connery (sadly opting
to retire to the golf course rather than
reprise his wonderful turn in Crusade)
and Rhys-Davis rode off into the sunset
at the trilogy's end, we have had endless
rumours, script re-writes (most famously
from Shawshank helmer Frank Darabont) and
enough pretenders to the throne – The
Mummy, National Treasure – to dilute
the appeal and anticipation for the return
of Spielberg’s Saturday morning matinee
homage.
Stuffier critics
will no doubt claim that familiarity
breeds contempt and will shout to the
roof of the multiplex that they’ve
seen it all before, but isn’t that
what we’ve waited 19 years to see?
Harrison Ford chasing a mystical maguffin – here
read The Crystal Skull - through an ancient
civilisation pursued by Nazi’s and
angry tribes – replaced here with
Russians. If the answer is yes, then cue
John Williams rousing score.
Spielberg has stated
that after years of making films that
were cathartic for him “this one is for the fans”,
and has made sure he backs up that statement
by bringing back Raiders muse Karen Allen
as Marion Ravenwood and sitting down with
regular cinematographer Janusz Kaminski
to study the original trilogy in an attempt
to capture the look of days gone by. It's
a trick that works on both counts, but
only just. Allen is wonderful and doesn’t
seem to have aged a day since first planting
a right hook on Jones’ face in the
Raven Bar, their initial meeting and subsequent
banter is a highlight. The problem with
the look of the film is that Spielberg
peppers his solid visuals with some decidedly
dodgy CGI (the killer ants are straight
from the Steven Sommers school of moviemaking).
Maybe Lucas twisted his arm, but CGI is
a technique that’s absence benefited
the original movies. The director hasn’t
been this lazy since barely lifting the
megaphone during The Lost World, and relies
on the showreel, set-pieces of a high speed
jungle pursuit, river boat ride, and ironically
enough crystal maze style finale to paper
over the cracks.
What of Henry Jones
Jnr. Himself? Well if this isn’t
the final outing for Indy you can rest
assured that Ford will still be able
to cut it as the rugged relic hunter
for years to come. With a free buss pass
in his artefact bag he seems to get younger
as the movie rumbles on, subsequently
having more fun that permeates into the
audience. An impending doom in sinking
sand is comedy genius that is only one
of many nods to the original classics.
Of the newcomers,
Blanchett proves a redundant villain
and only adds to the lack of threat permeating
the script, Indy IV is quite a tension
free movie; there is no hat under the
door moment to gasp at. Ray Winstone
is, erm, Ray Winstone and suffers from
being a tool by which to propel the plot
between action sequences. It’s Shia
LaBeouf that continues to ascend the rungs
as the unfortunately named Mutt, cocksure
and headstrong, he is the perfect foil
for Fords “been there, done that” icon.
And finally there is the Lucas influence
that necessitates the need for the Sci-Fi
angle in the story, and so we get an infinitely
far fetched finale that threatens to throw
Kingdom of the Crystal Skull to the snake
pit. Rather than the grandiose understated
realism of the search for the cup of Christ
we get an ending lifted from The Mummy
Returns by way of A.I.
Do not look at the 3-star ratings and
feel that this is a disappointing movie;
the rating is awarded on the unique Indiana
Jones scale of quality and Raiders set
a precedent all those years ago. Embrace
it like an old friend, but take heed that
things are never going to be how you remember
them.
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