geezer cinema: indiana jones and the kingdom of the crystal skull (steven spielberg, 2008)

We were going to see the new Indiana Jones movie, but the theater was crowded (yes, we still worry about that), and I'd never seen the fourth installment, so we checked out Kingdom of the Crystal Skull instead.

I'm reminded of the "non-canonical" James Bond movie Never Say Never Again, where Sean Connery returned to the role after 12 years. The movie isn't much (although Klaus Maria Brandauer is the best-ever Bond villain), but it's fun to see Connery in his early-50s giving us an idea of what an aging 007 might be like. (Ironically, the "canonical" Octopussy, released in the same year, had Roger Moore, who was three years older than Connery.)

Kingdom of the Crystal Skull comes 19 years after the previous entry, The Last Crusade, made when Harrison Ford was 47. Ford isn't Tom Cruise, doing stunts no one else thinks of doing, but he did well (Wikipedia says "Harrison Ford has kept himself in such good shape over the years that his costume measurements for this movie had not changed from those in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989). He performed many of his own stunts, because stunt technology had become safer since 1989. He also felt it improved his performance."). You might expect things to be a bit tired after all these years (I'll have to wait and see how the subsequent 15 years before the next one changes things), but Ford is enjoying himself, and Steven Spielberg hasn't forgotten how to do great action set pieces. A long jungle chase is the equal of anything in the Indiana Jones series ... if Raiders of the Lost Ark played like an early movie serial, this jungle chase plays more like a silent comedy.

And the return of Karen Allen as Marion is a welcome bit of nostalgia that actually works, reminding us that she was always the best woman character in the series. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is not the best movie in the series ... that will always be Raiders of the Lost Ark. But it's at least as good as The Last Crusade, and that's plenty good enough.

Comments

[Robin]

You know it's the stories I like, not just the episodes.