Movie and Television Reviews

For better or worse, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, deviates little from the series' essential elements which are:

1. Wisecracking, practical, noble, resourceful American hero.
2. Banana Republic wardrobe.
3. MacGuffin-driven plot.
4. Ideologically evil bad guys with the behavior to match.
5. "Thrilling" chases.
6. "Elaborate" escapes.

KCS references the Indiana Jones heritage several times throughout the film: Jones' fear of snakes. Age is an issue. Whips. Humble advice to a cinema master: Indy's fedora loses its effectiveness as a smile-inducing continuity device when used as such more than four times in the same movie.

The writers manage to wrap a serviceable plot around those old Jones bones. Soviets are in search of a crystal skull that they suspect can control minds (Think of a fifties version of MTV.). The chase starts in the Nevada desert in 1957. Soviet agent Irina Spalko (Kate Blanchett) takes Indy to an Army warehouse to find the body of an alien. Indiana Jones escapes from her and then from a nuclear blast through the clever use of a household appliances.

A "greaser" kid, Mutt Williams (Shia LaBeouf) finds Indy at a diner and shows him a map given to him by archaeologist Harold Oxley. Indiana Jones agrees to help Mutt rescue Oxley. They fly to Peru and things proceed as in the previous films.

KCS holds together pretty well. I don't know why humans would sleep in walls (Where are the women?), but the whole civilizational helping-hand from aliens, echoing Stargate, is interesting, if not especially deep as KCS deals with it; KCS leaves many questions unanswered which is better than trying to explain and failing, I suppose.

Stargate (Special Edition)

The riddles and clues are a little less mind-teasing than those in National Treasure, itself more TV Guide than New York Times.

National Treasure (Widescreen Edition)

There's a nicely unobtrusive, nostalgic love story.

The special effects are good, of course, but not mind-boggling. They don't look like CG. Instead, they seem like one big Disneyland ride. The action is too "spectacular" by half- completely unrealistic and over-the-edge. People sword fight while traipsing the Amazon in a jeep(!). A little reality-grounding would have been considerate.

Politics/ Message:

I suppose Indiana Jones is a very American hero because he's gruff and doesn't use witty quotes or dress well. He's an adventurous guy, no doubt.

It makes sense for an older 50s era Indiana Jones to fight Communists ( I can't wait for the Nation review)-we should be thankful that they weren't a renegade band of aging Nazis- and Indiana Jones even admits to spying on the Russians. But, it still makes me laugh that my Hollywood brothers and sisters can't seem to go all the way with Communist evil- that they feel compelled to point out that Americans were paranoid and over-the-top in their fifties anti-Communism. The Communists in KCS are evil and bent on world domination, and Americans can't be worried by that?

There's a pro-industrial arts (fixing motorcycles) message that's undercut later on by the truism that how one raises their children in fact is different from their stated philosophy.