Indiana Jones: The original tomb raider is back

By Alex Villafania
INQUIRER.net

AFTER several nostalgic attempts to bring back old actors as the characters that made them superstars (think Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone), here comes Harrison Ford out to reclaim his title as the eponymous Indiana Jones with a new movie, still armed with his trademark bullwhip, revolver and indomitable fedora.

His latest adventure, “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” is largely George Lucas and Steven Spielberg’s remake of the same good old fashioned 80s-era action-adventure to satisfy the cravings of a nostalgic thirtysomething crowd and see if the same moviemaking formula of the early 80s would work with a new audience.

This review may contain some spoilers, so stop reading if you don’t want the movie spoiled for you.

Sure, maybe the movie is an attempt to cash in on a once-popular franchise that made both Lucas and Spielberg among the biggest icons in moviemaking history. “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” is an action-adventure movie that throws Henry Walton “Indiana” Jones Jr. more than 20 years into the future since his first adventure in “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” which was set in 1936. This puts Indy face to face with Russian communists and spies during the 50s cold war. It’s clear that Indy has aged through the years and tends to drop middle-aged gripes over curled brows compared to his smart smiling sarcasm when he was younger.

Cate Blanchett plays Irina Spalko, a cold-hearted yet less-than-scary Russian parapsychologist. She and her group of Red soldiers kidnap Indy and his sidekick Mac (Ray Winstone) to find a missing alien artifact that she claims holds the key to ultimate power. As in previous Indiana movies, Indy gets to escape while taking down half of Irina’s group.

Later, Indiana meets up with motorcycle-riding Mutt Williams (Shia LaBouf) to help find his foster dad, and Indy’s close friend, Harold Oxley (John Hurt), who left a message to Indy indicating that he has found a crystal skull that could point the way to a mythical kingdom of vast wealth. Incidentally, it is the same place where Irina and her ilk are searching, but her reasons for finding the lost city are more nefarious than just stripping it of its treasure.

For those who watched the first three films in the early 80s, there’s some sense of reminiscing on the days when Spielberg and Lucas would both use some sort of analog technology to get the desired visual effect in their film. These were mostly blue screens that put characters in a scene, which are actually small set productions. In those days (and I have fond memories of watching such movies) the special effects put the viewer in the middle of the scene along with the protagonist of the film. The special effects were barely noticeable, as though a scene was seamless from start to finish. People would then wonder how the effect was made or if it was an effect at all (an example is the famous rolling boulder scene in “Raiders of the Lost Ark”). However, moviegoers are far less excited with special effects now than they were a decade ago, as computer graphics have made almost anything possible on the silver screen.

“Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” used just about every computer-made special effect technique in the arsenal of Industrial Light and Magic. “Blue screened” scenes were quite obvious, digital rotoscoping was employed and there were spots where Ford’s face was digitally plastered to an actor’s body to make it look like he was doing the action. The action scenes can still be appreciated but knowing that the same digital visual effects from Lucas and Spielberg’s works have been used in the latest Indy film make it less exciting.

The acting is somewhat contrived for some of the characters and the build-up of their profiles, especially the new ones, is weak. Of course, Ford as Indiana Jones remains as effective a hero as he was 27 years ago but a few of the other actors are less than supportive. Case in point is Blanchett’s characterization of a Soviet dominatrix. Stone cold as she may seem, there is little character development that would have put a lot more emphasis on her demeanor. Her use of a rapier would have given ample backstory characterization but audiences are left to wonder how she really came to be and only her intentions are known.

Meanwhile Mac and Oxley’s characters are neither given some thought as to how they should be integrated into the story but that’s passable considering they play smaller parts in the story: Mac constantly buggers Indy with his greed and Oxley just keeps giving Indy small clues that Indy himself would have solved himself.

LaBouf’s characterization of Mutt Williams is nothing spectacular but remains passable as it gives the viewer, old and new alike, a sense of things to come. You’ll find out what I mean when you watch the movie. Still, LaBouf should shed off some of his angst-ridden onscreen persona as it’s become pretty much his forte in his previous films.

For all its problems, the same action-adventure formula works for the latest Indiana Jones franchise. The action is intense; the staple of deadly animals and acrobatic tribesmen, as well as lots of gunfights and car chases, will still make nostalgic older audiences find their way back to the days when they wanted to roam the world looking for some adventure.

Meanwhile, younger generations of moviegoers will find it amazing to see that Ford can still hang on to his bullwhip while swinging around, dodging bullets, and remaining cool about it.

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