Movie Rewind - Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
May 28th 2008 10:02
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is a 2008 adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg, from a story co-written by executive producer George Lucas. Set in 1957, the fourth film in the Indiana Jones film series pits an older and wiser Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) against agents of the Soviet Union, led by Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett), in the search for a crystal skull. Indy is aided by his former lover Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen), the greaser 'Mutt' Williams (Shia LaBeouf), and fellow adventurer Mac (Ray Winstone). John Hurt and Jim Broadbent also play fellow academics.
The film was in development since the 1989 release of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, because Spielberg and Ford initially disagreed over Lucas' choice of the skull as the plot device. Screenwriters Jeb Stuart, Jeffrey Boam, M. Night Shyamalan, Frank Darabont, and Jeff Nathanson wrote drafts, before David Koepp's script satisfied all three men. Shooting finally began on June 18, 2007, and took place in New Mexico; New Haven, Connecticut; Hawaii; Fresno, California; and soundstages in Los Angeles. In order to keep aesthetic continuity with the previous films, the crew relied on traditional stuntwork instead of computer-generated stunt doubles, and cinematographer Janusz Kamiński studied Douglas Slocombe's style from the previous films. (net sourced)
After an absence of 19 years, Indy is back for another adventure and this time its the Russians who are the bad guys. Trying not to get drawn into the hype machine, I bought my ticket and settled down in anticipation of the movie. Harrison Ford still has that charm and Indy smile that still makes him appealing and at 65 years old, does pretty well returning to such a physical role. The supporting cast is okay too although it didn't pay to be one of the nameless henchmen as in this movie more of them seem to come to various bad ends than in the other three movies.
Ford still has the quick quip and he doesn't pretend to be any younger than he is which plays well into the film although the whole crystal skull idea , not too sure about that one.
Overall the movie wasn't too bad but it sort of felt like an old 80's band being wheeled out for a charity concert and with the Lucas, Spielberg and Ford involved, I would have thought the movie would have been better. At times the movie appeared a bit disjointed so it would be fair to assume that there will be a directors cut released in the future with extra footage added etc.
One of the group I went with fell asleep during the movie although wasn't too sure if it was the film or fatigue but gives you an idea. Okay but by the numbers moviemaking and the ending was rather daft with average effects. This movie could have been so much more so kiwiauthor rating 5/10
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