The main problem with comeback summer blockbusters is the massive expectation they are saddled with. And most of the time these money-making behemoths fail to deliver. Take The Phantom Menace for example: yes, it found a large audience eagerly waiting for it on opening day, but was the end product the successful follow-up everyone was hoping for? Ask the legions of enraged fans. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull sadly falls into this category.
The film does start off promisingly. Respecting the tradition begun in the series’ first movie, Crystal Skull opens with the third act of a hypothetical Indy adventure we will never see, this time taking place in Area 51, swapping the nefarious Nazis for snarling Soviets headed by Cate Blanchett’s Irina Spalko. It’s a good scene which quickly reveals new characters and grabs the audience’s attention with some old school action, but most importantly it re-introduces us to an older, gruffer Dr Jones. Harrison Ford may be 65 but he still plays his protagonist with all the resilience and self-deprecation the role requires. He is also given a young sparring partner in the form of Mutt Williams (Shia LaBeouf) and the scenes in which the two are either bickering over Mutt’s schooling or escaping villains on a moving vehicle are the film’s finest moments.The strengths however stop there. Many characters are automatically sidelined once they make their entrance. Jim Broadbent, John Hurt and Ray Winstone are all reduced to extended cameos but it is Karen Allen’s Marion Ravenwood who suffers the most. Her presence serves solely to explain Mutt’s origins, so why bother bringing her back as a rounded character? The script has been reportedly subject to numerous rewrites and it shows on screen: the plot doesn’t so much get thicker throughout the running time – it becomes near impenetrable. Chunks of dialogue consist exclusively of un-engaging exposition, plot-holes permeate all over the film (is it possible the Soviets encounter just four American soldiers in the whole of Area 51?) and when all focus is suddenly shifted towards a bunch of aliens and their flying saucer one begins to wonder whether Spielberg is actually making an unofficial sequel to Close Encounters of the Third Kind. However what is Crystal Skull’s most distinctive flaw is the abundance of CGI. The first three films were enjoyable because Indy would throw punches and ride tanks for real. Crystal Skull has him fly out of a nuclear explosion in a fridge (don’t ask). Indiana Jones may represent pure cinematic escapism but there is a limit to which disbelief can be suspended.
Spielberg did admit prior to the film’s release that he made this film purely for the fans, hinting that had he not been persuaded by popular demand he probably wouldn’t have made Indy 4 in the first place. He maybe should not have listened to the fans, as he would have avoided delivering them an experience comparable to The Phantom Menace.
2/5
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