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


Okay, this film has some serious drawbacks for many different kinds of fans. And the people involved in making it. It sees Henry Jones, Jr. older, facing the logical aftermath of one of his failed relationships, and allows a resolution satisfying to some of us in the aging fanbase. In that aspect, this film is well-grounded. As I am frequently a liberal buzz-kill for many a dudebro power-fantasy franchise, I liked it. I want to see more of that, and yes, Marion's character can change that much in the intervening years. I've changed more than that in the last three months.

Indiana Jones is dragged into his cold-war anti-russian shenanigans by a greaser and prep-school dropout (Shia LeBeouf, whose acting I do not dislike as much as the internet tells me I should), and goes continent hopping to the nostalgic sounds of your childhood. This film tones down the "native savages as interfering goons" trope, but is still marred by the three or four scenes of it that remain. I suppose nobody has argued that the franchise ISN'T white-Western-centric.

*spoiler alert* It's aliens. The whole thing is big-skulled, trans-dimensional . . . oh hells. Why do I bother? It's like people who talk about this film can't say anything else. And then they rant about how aliens is a betrayal of the IJ fantasy/magic aesthetic. . .

Nonsense. There's nothing wrong with having the secret of the skull be aliens. I also don't see that there's much else to grouse about except that the villain's telepathic skills should have been much more deeply explored, and not made a throwaway. Also, stop making your hero immune to telepathy. It didn't work in Twilight either.

And for those of you complaining about how he survived by being thrown out of a nuclear blast inside a refrigerator. . . I totally wasn't watching, but I have no real objections to a bit of suspension-of-disbelief-pushing silliness. It's all silly. YOU'RE ALL JUST A PACK OF CARDS.

But the thing that broke my heart about this film, and let the annoyed boycotting begin, was John Hurt. I love him so much and I miss him, and my heart hurts and my eyes are getting foggy and from Alien (1979) to Whistle and I'll Come to You (2010) and every Doctor Who appearance, his presence IS magic, and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull did that exactly right. Resquescat In Pacem.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Lost in Austen

Image
My co-worker warned me about Lost in Austen . She said it was cheesy, and from the few clips forced on me by a very fanatically-inclined little sister, I would have completely agreed. In context, though, I think it all sort of fit, although it's not exactly Emmy material. I really liked what they did to this story, but my reasoning is a bit complex. I have read Pride and Prejudice perhaps seven times. The only books I have read more often are Heart of Darkness (8) and The Book of Mormon (?). That doesn't mean that I like the work, just that my professors did. I admit, I liked the book very well the first three times. The romance was classic and endearing, and the language was fluid and fun. Then came Austenmania, and I jumped ship. Jane Austen wrote some enjoyable stories, but I wouldn't rank her any higher than Georgette Heyer (this coming from the same person who ranks Shakespeare with Steven Spielberg). And at this point, having seen every version of P&P ever fil
Read more

The Fountain

Image
This film should only be watched once. As a second-time viewer, I knew approximately how it ended, and how the three epic stories tied together, but it wasn't pleasant to watch. It wasn't pleasant the first time, but at least the images were striking, and felt like some kind of voyage of discovery. Watching this again was a bit like watching The Sixth Sense for the fourth time. The impact had disappeared. For most of the film, the camera moved toward those truly frustrating close-up, poser shots that so irritated me about Master and Commander . I understand that these are pretty people, and they earn the money, and so they get close-ups, but when it doesn't enhance the plot or the artistic composition as a whole - when it doesn't create unity, then it has no place. Actors should understand that, and have a serious heart-to-heart with their directors about it. I usually enjoy watching Rachel Weisz, but in this film she seemed flat, passive, and enervated. To be fa
Read more

Salt

Image
This film had all the elements of a classic cold-war spy thriller in much the same way State of Play reprised journalism drama. Both Liev Schreiber and Angelina Jolie played very well, especially off each-other, and although this film must essentially showcase stunts and physical effects, the plot and ending work quite well too, without becoming too belabored or falling into too many cliche traps. Salt is ultimately exciting and fun, but don't try to wrangle a classic out of it.
Read more