Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Indiana Jones is one of my favorite movie franchises. It's a fantastic mix of adventure, world travel and great stunt work. Which makes it such a shame that the newest addition to the series is not that great. Kingdom of the Crystal Skull falls into the same trap as so many other sequels; in the process of trying to recapture what made the original so great, they used the old formula instead of breaking new ground.
The credit sequence for Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was very encouraging. Featuring an entertaining driving sequence with creative cinematography, I was really looking forward to what was in store. Despite this interesting start, the movie immediately shows us just how silly it really is. Any time the plot was explained during this film I wanted to vomit. The story can best be described as a combination of Stargate and Alien vs. Predator. At various times Indy is required to figure out where the clues are trying to point them; in true National Treasure fashion, he works it out in seconds with no explanation or logic.
The acting in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is decent with the exception of Cate Blanchett's terrible Russian accent. Shia Lebouf is fine as Indy's sidekick, but his role is reduced once they join up with Karen Allen, John Hurt, and Ray Winstone. This brings me to another major problem I have with this movie, there's far too many characters. Raiders of the Lost Ark was so good for among other reasons how spare it was. While Indy was rarely alone, the side characters came and went and Indy is left to do what he has to do. Here, Indy has a couple of people with him constantly and the filmmakers feel the need to fill the silence with inane dialog.
The action in the first half of Kingdom of the Crystal Skull leads you to believe that we're in for some old school stuntwork with a touch of CGI to polish the rough edges. The motorcycle chase sequence is particularly good. Like so many other films, however, the plot gets in the way of the fun. The second half of the movie gets so over-the-top that I could have well been watching a superhero movie.
Another thing that bothered me about this movie is the overall look of the film. This movie has been digitally graded to hell and back resulting in a bizarre smoothness. It's just too crisp and almost looks airbrushed. A throwback movie like this should have a throwback look, which means film grain, not super slick digital alteration.
While Indiana Jones has never pretended to be a documentary, it still maintained a level of realism. Kingdom of the Crystal Skull on the other hand is in its own universe. The level of sci-fi has been raised past the point of no return at the expense of genuine storytelling and the compelling adventure that made the old movies so great has been replaced with heavy handed computer graphics. 2/5
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