Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)

This movie is for those craving old school filmmaking of the early 90s. If you can accept it as a parody that doesn't seem like it is ACTUALLY trying to be a parody, then this movie is for you. Loved the old Indiana Jones movies. This one is ridiculous in not a good way.

The frustrating part about Indiana Jones 4 is that it feels like it was written by someone who created a genius trifecta of revolutionary action classics that changed the course of film history, and then completely forgot what made people like them when it came time to do the next film. Was this written by George Lucas? Oh, it was (real surprise). He is credited as coming up with the story, and, yeah, the basic framework of the script really is the worst part. The original film was inspired by 30's adventure serials, and although it doesn't parody or satire them, it creates a world in which the events of the story can be taken with a grain of salt, so to speak. This world was successfully recreated in two masterful sequels, but the fourth movie had no idea how to do so. It results in an overly emotional and sentimental movie that occasionally devolves into self deprecation, making jokes about Harrison Ford's age. And the idea to base it off of 50's sci-fis while still retaining the 1930's action edge makes no sense. I mean, what? However, Spielberg, the other half of the duo of series creators, absolutely knows what he is doing. I imagine Lucas as Spielberg's drunk friend who makes dumb choices, and then Spielberg half-reluctantly supports him. If George is going to come up with a stupid story line, Steven is going to direct the sh*t out of it. He creates a visually appealing, tonally satisfying (even though the script tries not to be) experience, filled with fun performances, great dialogue and spectacular action. Janusz Kaminski is the perfect cinematographer for an action movie like this, because he is great at pulling off one of Spielberg's signatures: really long takes that seamlessly move from focal point to focal point without the use of cuts. The camera kind of floats around and is almost always moving, reminiscent of many Robert Zemeckis movies. The action is always striking, even the oft-panned fencing duel between Shia LaBoeuf and Cate Blanchett. I actually like that scene, and I think it would have totally fit in one of the originals. Another thing that I like about Kingdom that most don't is Shia himself. He gives a very natural and funny performance. I don't even have an "except" or "but" to counter that statement with. I just think he is great, and probably gives the best performance in the movie. I like his character a lot, actually, and his interactions with Indy, who is once again pure gold. The characters are all well developed, but the only one I can't stand is Mac. He is the most utterly confusing character I have ever bared witness to. He is revealed to be working for the Russians, and is a secondary villain for well over half the movie. Suddenly, after a short encounter with Jones, where he pathetically begs him for sympathy, he is allowed into their vehicle and completes the journey back on their side. What the heck? There is pretty much no reason for this to happen, and then he turns evil again at the end! He is then sucked into a vortex and Indy tries to save him (I don't know why), to which he says "I'm gonna be alright." What? No you're f*cking not! He then flies into the vortex, screaming, and dies. This is one of the most baffling characters in film history. He doesn't have an arc, he has more of a loop-de-loop. While on the topic of baffling, awful things in Kingdom, I should touch on the monkey sequence and the nuketown sequence. They are both completely pointless to the story, they both defy all logic, and one of them (the monkey one) is absolutely awful looking. I'm really ragging on this movie, but I don't hate it, not at all. I would actually recommend it, at least for Spielberg. There's a couple bad scenes, as well as a somewhat confusing story line. They don't ruin this extremely well directed, acted and put-together movie, although they certainly don't help.

*** This review may contain spoilers ***In the last 18 months we have been exposed to Re-treads at the box office. Old actors reprising old roles in new movies. We have had Rocky 6(a.k.a. Rocky Balboa), Die Hard 4(a.k.a. Live Free or Die Hard)Rambo 4 (a.k.a. RAMBO) and now Indiana Jones 4 (a.k.a Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls).It comes without say, that Indiana Jones 4 was the one of these 4 re-tread movies I had the highest expectations for, and Rambo 4 was the one that I had the least expectations for. - And Boy did I ever get it backwards.Rambo 4 was an action packed no holds barred thrill ride, with a great story. Full of Brutal action, great plot, all too realist battles scenes, and believable realistic characters.Harrison Ford wasn't as lucky as Sylvester Stallone, despite the fact that he had Steven Spielberg and George Lucas both in his corner and pulling all of the strings. Indiana Jones 4 was awful. I loved the original 3 movies with a passion and consider them among the greatest movies of all time. How could the dream team of Speilber, Lucas and Ford make a Indiana Jones movie that was actually bad. It doesn't seem fathomable - but they did.In this re-tread. Indy has a son who is a Fonzy wanna be(from Happy Days)...I was willing to except some silliness. I was excepted the Russians breaking into Area 51, and then Indy survives a Nuclear blast by hiding in a fridge. - Okay, I am willing to except that... But then this movie went into over the top in silly. Such as Indy's son and the villain sword fighting while standing on the hoods of moving cars, unbelievable acrobatics (the kind we saw in movies like MATRIX and Blade), then he got knocked off of the car, then he swang on vines like Tarzan until he caught up to the cars, then an army of Brazilian rain Forrest monkeys magically attack the Russians.... was this really written by adults. Then the grand finale of the film was the ancient Aztech pyramid that amazingly folds up into an alien flying saucer, then a magic earthquake comes and floods out the entire area, which Indy and his cohorts survive because the magical end up on top of a mountain after leaving the pyramid. >>> this movie was all about stunts, special effects without any relevance for reality.Indiana Jones 4 is not totally awful, its just silly -

Why all the hatred? Why so serious? Granted I'm not the most hardcore fan of the series but I don't think there's ever been an Indiana Jones' movie I didn't enjoy, and over-the-top isn't certainly a term I would use negatively to describe my experience with "Kingdom of the Crystal of Skull", that alliteration alone is worthy of praises, as the wonderful outcome of a long brainstorming between Spielberg and his buddy Lucas… if anything, this film is the work of two friends, not that it makes it better, but there's something that exudes friendship all through the film, even the nods to the previous films play like sympathetic winks to (I guess, unreceptive) fans.Now, of course the film has the kind of ludicrous premises that pay like the perfect tribute to old 50's B-movies but maybe not to the iconic flavor of the first film. Of course, the best parts of the film are those that pay tribute to "Raiders" and "Crusade", but does that make them any less enjoyable? We didn't see Ford embodying his most legendary character for two decades, watching him pick his feet with his iconic outfit would have been good enough. Seriously, every 'replay' is simply enjoyable on the basis of the 'rediscovery' effect, so why trying to wish for a more realistic plot, since when "Indiana Jones" is supposed to have substance? But that comes from someone who loved "Temple of Doom", so maybe I'm not the most objective as far as judgment goes.Well, forgive my sins, but I just love over-the-top and exaggerated (even to the point of silliness) Indiana Jones, the nuked fridge part, yeah that infamous moment was so crazy I actually admired the guts of Lucas and Spielberg, I guess it takes some moxy to risk such a crazy stunt at a time where Internet became like a real whip for the fans, where any little bit of silliness can go viral. So everyone buzzed on the infamous fridge moment, "South Park" illustrated the film with the delicate metaphor of the two bearded directors enjoying sexual intercourse, but of all the programs, "South Park" should have embraced it more jovially, the icons were iconoclasts, they didn't ruin the series, they might have destroyed the pedestal built by the fans on the basis that Indiana Jones isn't a series to be taken seriously, for all the Aztec Gods' sake! Seriously, it's not like they threw aliens in a 'James Bond' film, Indiana Jones has always been venturing in supernatural territories, and while Lucas was a sucker for sci-fi B movies and Spielberg didn't want to introduce a sequel to "ET" in his beloved franchises, the two found a fair balance inspired by the theories about pre-alien civilizations. Do I buy it? Well, in a universe where evil Nazis can melt and where the power of God is materialized, why shouldn't I admit that the Big Boss has his ways, and that maybe Aliens knew him before mankind or that they had achieved the ultimate knowledge, why shouldn't we accept that technology existed before. This is from the guy who made us believe that light-sabers existed a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away… why shouldn't "Indiana Jones" takes place in the same universe? And I accept it even more since it doesn't take most of the film, the rest is the classic adventure in the traditional format, with its share of goofy chase scenes and a buddy-duo with Mutt, a little runt disguised as Brando's Wild One, played by Shia Leboeuf and who's revealed to be Indy's son with Marion, in the most awkward moment. The interactions between the old man and his rebellious son, work for the most part, because you can tell there's some good chemistry between the actors who have obviously fun playing their parts, same for Karen Allen who makes a nice come-back as Mation. The rest of the cast involve scary Russians, with a scene-stealing performance by Cate Blanchett, to see an Oscar-nominated actress loosening up a little and going for a James Bond villain impersonation with the haircut of Mia Wallace is refreshing to say the least.And while everyone is busy spewing venom against the fridge scene, I will praise the best scene of all, the one with the red ants, a scene full of contrivances and over-the-top demises that I can't think of any reason to hate it, I kept one waiting for some gruesome death and I got it, my only regret is that after showing the body thrown into the ant hill, we didn't even have a glimpse on the aftermath, that was a missed opportunity for Spielberg, sure the close-up on the skulls are scary but the unknown never scares as much as the gruesome. Overall, this is a thrilling experience enhanced by the performance of John Hurt.Now, let me temper my enthusiasm, I'm not saying the film is perfect even on Indiana Jones' standards, surely there are a few little flaws, the CGI effects don't look always convincing and the film won't reach the same status as the previous ones, maybe in a few decades. Yet, it's still fun to see good old Ford on the road again, a bit rusty on the whip but still brave, adventurous and scared of snakes, but never leaving his hat. The film is about getting old and keeping the spirit, Spielberg and Lucas didn't lose theirs, at least, that's how I felt.