I could watch an Indiana Jones movie everyday for the rest of my life.
For as an iconic a character as Indiana Jones, Lucasfilm sure had a lot on their plate once the public knew about the existence of a fourth Indy flick. Kenneth Turan of the LA Times said in his review that while Crystal Skull is no Raiders, it surely serves its place within the Indiana Jones canon. And it does so seemingly effortlessly.
Indy is an icon in my childhood and rearing as a cinephile. A fan since early teens, I became rabid and obsessive about anything and everything Indy, diving into the mature fandom, and devouring internet rumours on IndyFan.com 8+ years ago about a possible Indy 4. Tonight was the culmination of all that, a night I felt more ready for than I did Harry Potter's literary finale.
To the everyday moviegoer, Crystal Skull is a rousing night at the movies, a summer blockbuster crowd-pleaser that makes you forget, at times, just how epic it is. While Indy is always epic, never has there been such an array of locales, and Lucasfilm and company beautifully construct this 1950s world to leave you with the sense that absolutely, you were there right along with him. Everyone's favourite archaeologist really earns the title of globetrotter, here, with Crystal Skull taking you not just from country to country, but setting to setting, like Roswell, New Mexico, a 50s diner, Indy's apartment, South America, suburbia, and, of course, Marshall College. Though it is the job of the set designers to create locations that feel real, there is such tactile detail in everything as to make it feel not just fantasy-like, as Indy tends to be, but actual places that feel familiar.
By now, Spielberg is such a heavyweight Hollywood director that there should be little doubt as to the ways in which he handles the material. As a director, Spielberg is an undisputed genius; artistically, he has such a crowd-pleaser's sensibility that the film is sure to succeed at least as a fun night for most, leaving a feeling of mutual like rather than the like-it-or-hate-it mentality. Of course, for a superfan, there is no question. Crystal Skull is a movie worthy of the title character's legacy, full of throwbacks and references - both visual and written - sure to please even the dorkiest of fans. For everyone else, the film plays as a nostalgic piece, bringing you right back to the days when Indy was champion among the league of famous Hollywood characters. Indy's back, and damn, does it feel good to see that lopsided grin again.
Crystal Skull is certainly a modern chapter of the Indiana Jones chronicles. It's to be expected, given the team of technologically-obsessed Spielberg and Lucas. But what makes them and the movie different from other, less worthy epics is that Spielberg uses the technology as a way to tell the story, the technology does not become the story itself. Everything feels tactile, real, like it has a taste or feel or smell, and fits perfectly within the world. What will make more old-fashioned moviegoers cringe is technology's heavy hand in this particular epic, that this does not feel like an old-fashioned movie precisely because it is not. Those movies are extinct now, because the techniques used to get around things then are so much easier now. Spielberg seems to adore his extremely long takes, and the ability for the camera to follow the characters on motorcycles, weaving through buildings and weapons and other vehicles makes for an intense ride, perhaps akin to what people felt back when Temple of Doom first wowed audiences with its iconic mine cart chase.
There is so much old and new weaved together in this movie that one can only imagine the task as it was given to each department. Writer, director, actors, editors, wardrobe, set designers, choreographers, casting, prop makers. Indy's outfit is back as you last remember, but he sports drab green pants in one scene to depict his affiliation with the military. Original actors are back, but aged, and new ones seamlessly incorporated in. Fights are familiar and typical Indy, with a few new stunts thrown in. Anxiously, I waited for the stunts that I read Turan writing about, but they mostly came and went. While there were a few wonderful clap-worthy moments, nothing could offer the bang worthy of being called an Indy stunt.
Perhaps one of the biggest controversies (if it can be called that) is Indy's newest sidekick, rising star Shia LaBeouf, who does a fine job of keeping up with the Joneses. Hesitant fans needn't worry. Shia plays a great 50s greaser, a typical roughneck of the time period, but his role is graciously left on the backburners of Indy's quest. Mutt ends up as an interesting supporting character - it feels as though there is just enough of him to make him a good companion to the Indy/Marion duo and to make him interesting, but not enough that you are sick of him, or get the feeling he is at all there to upstage Harrison Ford. And really, who can, with a winning smile like that? Harrison Ford is back, and hasn't missed a beat. It takes about a minute into his first scene to slip back in, but once the boots are on, he's ready to go, with all of the enthusiasm of his facial expressions and the lope of his gait. Karen Allen is the much-welcome female addition, the very capable equal to Indy who is still boisterous and girly, despite all the time that has passed. Though as a character, she demands a lot of attention, her role and importance seems to have been downplayed. Perhaps even Marion can mellowed some by motherhood. John Hurt is a great addition to the seasoned cast, as well as the appearance of Jim Broadbent as Marshall College's newest dean.
Though not contrived, the story seems so long and sprawling that one has trouble realizing after the film that wait, we started in Roswell and ended up at what is, to all intents and purposes, the lost city of El Dorado. If anything, this is what feels so new and updated, what will be blatant to any audience member, and what was very certainly the biggest hurdle to overcome for a writer to pen. No longer a young man, they have placed Indy in the middle of the 50s Red Scare, pursued by pale, blue-eyed Russians. But the substitution of Russians for Nazis isn't what's weird about it. It's the goal, the particular treasure of this movie. The treasure is not, as Indy so wonderfully and campily admits to be knowledge, it's a Crystal Skull that has supernatural, paranormal powers. And it's not just any crystal skull, either, it's the actual skull of an alien, the source of unlimited knowledge, and the power of psychic abilities. And yes, aliens. Not an Indy theme, you say? Well, they are now.
As arguably the world's most recognizable movie theme, Indiana Jones sure does get to roll along with the score of master composer John Williams. Williams seems to abide by his rule of "less instances of the hero theme through the movies" (Raiders has the most, Crusade the least): the score here either seemed too much of background music, or drowned out by the superb sound editing of master Ben Burtt. Indy is propelled forward a little too early in the film by a rousing version of his theme, and it does not appear again in such force until later, when perhaps the crowd is too distracted by aliens and Communists to care about music. The score left a little to be desired, but perhaps upon listening to the isolated soundtrack, there could be more appreciation to be had.
What I always loved about Indy was that sometimes, it felt like such a cartoon. The action, the characters, reactions, expressions are so over-the-top and iconic that sometimes they're too much to be real. It's like a live-action cartoon, and this is, if anything, an enormous compliment. The casting plays in here, and wonderfully with Shia LaBeouf as a near-perfect replica of the spawn of Indy and Marion, with his mom's curly hair and jawline, and dad's profile. But what stands out are the Russians, who look so much like bad guys that the audience distrusts them even before they open their mouths or draw guns. They are all extremely pale, gaunt, almost, with piercing blue eyes and a menacing stare. Cate Blanchett is perfect as a Ukrainian swordfighter, and if anything, there was surely not enough screentime to devote to her complex and capable character. Her sad demise was, of course, inevitable, if not a little anticlimactic.
Spielberg again wows with pulling some great moments from his actors. Indy and Marion have an absolutely wonderful reunion scene, and anytime the two are together, you can't help but feel as though they are perfectly right for one another. Shia LaBeouf has some great moments as Mutt, getting a little watery-eyed once he sees the cell of his mentor, Oxley. And if the actors don't distract the audience, then it relies on Spielberg's superb and pitch-perfect directing to bring Indy's world to us through the letterbox. His shots are wonderfully composed, with strong and active compositions that offer variety, movement and depth. Even if a character is moving into our field of vision, he or she becomes a perfect element to the mise-en-scene of the shot. A character exiting or entering frame not only becomes motion, to keep the eye moving across the image, but it becomes an excuse to truck in, focus on facial expressions or other detail. The sets are lush and real and colourful, and all of the ruins are not just ruins, but they have chasms and pits and crevices and statues and such detail that it makes you wish there was an Indiana Jones theme park somewhere, complete with a 3-waterfall boatride. The pacing of the film leaves you clutching your seat at times, it is tense and taut, and also slow and easy, allowing the audience time to take in the strangeness of Indy's silhouette framed by the giant mushroom cloud of a nuclear blast. Say what you like about Spielberg, but he is a master that handles this 20 years old legacy of Indiana Jones with grace, skill, and enthusiasm. And there is no one better suited to continue the chronicles of Indy, for as long as they see fit. I, for one, would and will be returning to the theatres, eagerly waiting for more adventures of Indiana Jones.
I blame all typos and omissions of important topics on 5:30am. Good night and adieu.
