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Harrison Ford brings his whip out of retirement |
Camden cinema | Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull | Steven Spielberg | Starring Harrison Ford and Cate Blanchett
INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL
Directed by Steven Spielberg
Certificate 12
THERE is a scene in the new Indiana Jones adventure that underlines the iconic status of the world’s greatest action hero. Our whip-toting, fedora-wearing, all-action archaeologist has just survived a nuclear blast by hiding in a fridge.
As he stands in the middle of the Nevada desert, a giant mushroom cloud appears on the horizon.
His silhouette sends a message: this is the atomic age, and heroes of Jones’s ilk don’t belong.
In his day, weapons of mass destruction were simply the dreams of megalomaniac baddies, instead of the reality of the American government. To make matters worse, Jones’s USA seem to have forgotten why they fought the Second World War in the first place. Authoritarian FBI agents grill him and McCarthyism raises its ugly head. It represents a fall from grace. It illustrates an age where the likes of Indy no longer belong.
Long-awaited, the intelligent beginning to the new Jones film promises much. Sadly, it does not always deliver. But if you remind yourself that this is meant to be a cinematic rendition of a comic book serial, then the clunky stunts and dialogue will not undermine your enjoyment.
It is, as you would expect with a Steven Spielberg-George Lucas collaboration, stylish.
One stunning action sequence contain a Jones trademark featuring a high-speed dust-up. In Raiders, he chased a Nazi lorry on horseback and then leapt on board. In Temple of Doom, it was a fight between miners’ carts; the Last Crusade had a punch-up on horseback and a tank. This time it’s an amphibious jeep and an armoured car – a grip-the-armrest moment.
But this has not got the story of Raiders, nor the performances and script of the Last Crusade. At times it is confusing – our hero is trying to return a Crystal Skull back to the place it came from.
As a quest, it lacks the gravitas of the ark of the covenant or the holy grail.
Spielberg has also let us down with a bevy of sidekicks, none of whom have much point. Ray Winstone’s Cockney spiv is under-developed, as is John Hurt’s Professor Oxley. Oxley jabbers nonsense throughout, supposedly sent ga-ga by staring into the skull.
Cate Blanchett’s Russian agent is out to find magic artefacts to further the cause of international communism. But we learn later she has a burning thirst for knowledge as opposed to bread for the workers.
We are given Mutt, a youngster with a chip on his shoulder, who follows Jones to the jungle and gives us some dramatic tension – to reveal why would be too much of a spoiler – and then there is Marion Ravenwood, a role reprised by Karen Allen from the first Jones film. She, along with Ford himself, is one of the few real successes of this outing. However, despite some creaks, the spectacular action and wisecracks mean it’s good to have Doctor Jones back. |
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