Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - Video Review

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Director: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Harrison Ford, Shia LaBeouf, Cate Blanchett, Karen Allen


I decided to do a video review this time around instead of a typed one; gotta keep you guys on your toes and shake things up around here every once in a while. Anyway, it turned into about 15 minutes of me ranting, so I apologize for the way it turned out, but Tim Turner added some original artwork to the mix that make it more entertaining than it should be. In the future I'll keep the time down to something reasonable on these, but in my defense there were a lot of things to say about this film. Check it out. Until next time...

Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

As much as I don't want to interrupt the "Indy" flow we've got going on here, I'd be remiss if I didn't give you my thoughts on the newest fantasy adventure flick out right now, Prince Caspian. Directed by Andrew Adamson (Shrek, The Lion, the Witch, & the Wardrobe), the newest addition to the Chronicles of Narnia is, as the trailer indicated, much darker and much more battle-heavy than the first one. The surprising thing was that the rest of the movie was pretty solid as well.

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
Director: Andrew Adamson
Starring: Ben Barnes, Anna Popplewell, Georgie Henley, Skandar Keynes, William Moseley


It's been a year since the kids have been back to Narnia, but when they finally return, 1300 years have passed in their beloved world and everyone they knew (except Aslan, of course) is gone. This plot point was in the book and shouldn't be credited to the screenwriters, but it was cool to see that translated on screen. That was my favorite aspect of the plot; the time shift between the two worlds.


The acting was something I had a little trouble believing in the first movie, and its something that always rears its ugly head when you're dealing with children. In this film, though, the kids seemed much more comfortable with their environment and really acted like a family, allowing the audience to breathe a little easier instead of cringing at cheesy moments and forced emotions. The actors portraying the kids in Prince Caspian really fell into their roles in this one and surprised me by their sophisticated acting for their ages. Peter's character was dealing with some really legitimate issues, and I thought they should have concentrated more on his personal struggle with being a king in Narnia for years and then returning to life as a normal kid being bullied in school. They really had something there, but kind of blew it by not honing in on that more in the script.


Dropping famous actor James McAvoy as Mr. Tumnus, Caspian picked up the equally-famous Peter Dinklage this go-around, who is a pretty solid addition to the cast as Trumpkin, one of the old Narnians thought to be extinct. Thanks to a lackluster effort on the writers' parts, the filmmakers couldn't utilize Dinklage's character to its full potential so unfortunately he wasn't up to par in this one. Newcomer stud Ben Barnes rounded out the main cast as the titular Prince, and the ladies will surely be swooning over him in sequels and on DVD for years to come. He's actually been recently cast as the lead role in a film adaptation of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray (which I only know about from League of Extraordinary Gentlemen), and sounds like he'd be really good in the role from what I understand. He did that Spanish accent pretty well; so well, in fact, that it caught me off guard when I learned he was British. It's cool though; there was some eye-candy for the guys as well in Anna Popplewell (Susan Pevensie), who, as in the books, unfortunately won't be returning to Narnia in the sequels.

Computer generated effects were utilized more for large battle sequences than for talking animals in this sequel, which I thought was a definite plus. I heard some ridiculous quote about the movie only making its deadline by 48 hours (which is cutting it a little close in the movie world) and I can see why because of all the special effects shots that they had to complete for it. The battles were far superior to the first film and, while impractical as some aspects were (the falling battlefield, anyone?), the battles were generally pretty fun to watch.

Speaking of battle scenes, the one-on-one battle between Peter and King Miraz was beautifully shot. There were times it took my breath away because of how gorgeous it was - the cinematographer should be given some kind of award for that. Absolutely stunning from a technical point of view. The camera was so close to the two fighters, it must have been hit by errant swords in bloopers or something; I don't know how they did that.

As far as the rest of the movie goes, it stole WAY too much from other fantasy storylines (AHEM - Lord of the Rings - AHEM); so much so that they didn't even try to hide the differences and instead let the audience sit there and ask "did they really just do that? Haven't I seen this before?" Just a couple instances of this were the birds carrying people up to the dark castle towers and the freakin' trees during the ending battle. I'm surprised that there weren't little hobbits bouncing around in the leaves, because it was like those trees walked straight from LOTR onto the movie screen and were like, "WTF are we doing HERE?" That one-on-one scene I mentioned? A little too Troy if you ask me. Hey! I've never seen those masks before on the villains. Oh wait - 300 came out last year, so I guess I have. And I'm so glad they went with the original gag of having Edmund look over the edge of the tower and fall off backwards to escape capture, only to fly up on the back of a large bird and "trick" the audience. Never seen THAT one before. Luckily, they actually didn't use the "everything you know is about to change" line that is so frequent in the trailer (well, Aslan didn't say it, but some other character did). That was ripped almost straight out of Rise of the Silver Surfer. Freakin' A.

As much as I'm complaining about it, the movie was a lot better than the first one and not quite as preachy, which was a good thing in my mind. The solid moral values found in The Lion, the Witch, & the Wardrobe are still present and accounted for here in Prince Caspian, but the plot points in the film work better on two levels than the first movie's obvious recreation of Jesus' death and resurrection. The storyline for this film allowed for those types of religious undertones and metaphors to play a key role but not scream in your face about it at the same time.


A good example is when Peter and the kids don't listen to Lucy because they didn't see Aslan and go their own way instead, leading them to a dead end and ultimately forcing them to return to the route they knew in their hearts they should have taken in the first place. Another is when Lucy finally speaks to Aslan and he asks her why she didn't come to him even though she saw him when the others didn't. The best one, though, was when Peter cost the lives of hundreds of soldiers by selfishly going into battle without thinking about Aslan first. There were a few cool double-meaning-type moments like that in the script that I thought were well-placed, so keep a look out for them if you haven't seen it yet.

Next up, we've got The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, which was always my favorite of the series as a kid. They're getting a new director for that one, so we'll see if the new guy can compare to the sweeping epic shots that Adamson has made this series famous with. Until next time...

Indiana Jones Series Review: The Last Crusade

Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade
Director: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Harrison Ford, Denholm Elliot, John Rhys-Davies


Topped only by Raiders of the Lost Ark (in my opinion), Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade is a spectacular return to form for a series that dropped into dangerous waters with a mediocre second attempt. Last Crusade takes all the things we loved about the first Indy film - great supporting characters, biblical artifacts grounded in myths familiar to the public, Nazi villains - and added Sean Connery to the mix as Indy's father, Dr. Henry Jones, Sr.


The storyline for this film might even be slightly better than Raiders - Indy is recruited by Walter Donovan (weak - get Belloq back!) to find Henry Jones, Sr. who was the team leader on the worldwide search for the Holy Grail. Arthurian legend is something that I've always been fond of, so this movie has a special place in my heart because of its MacGuffin. The search for the grail has been something that Indy's father has obsessed over for his entire life, and it takes reconnection with his son to finally accomplish his lifelong goal. Connery's appearance doesn't come until about 45 minutes in, which is fine because we don't really need to see him until that point.

Interestingly enough, Spielberg mirrors my own feelings toward Temple of Doom, and he freakin' directed it! In this 1988 article from Premiere magazine, he says "I wasn't happy with the second film at all. It was too dark, too subterranean, and much too horrific. There's not an ounce of my own personal feeling in Temple of Doom." And the reason he made Last Crusade? "To apologize for the second one." If there wasn't any of Spielberg's feeling in TOD, and LC was his return to the tone of Raiders, then let's all hope that pattern doesn't continue. That would mean the upcoming sequel will have Lucas' hands all over it, and not enough of Spielberg to shine through. The rumor is that the supposed alien/Area 51 aspect was all Lucas' idea, so fans can only hope that Spielberg and Harrison Ford had enough power to overturn as many of those decisions as possible.


Back to the Last Crusade. The introduction is outstanding, and as Branz said in his review for Temple of Doom, almost Bondian in nature. It's one of my favorite parts of the film, featuring a young Indiana Jones (not to be confused with the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles TV series) who gets caught up in quite the adventure and explains the origin of his hatred for snakes, how he got that small scar on his chin, how the whip became his go-to weapon, where he got that sweet hat, and gives us a small peek into his home life with his father (who isn't shown on screen at this point). It also shows his love for archeology and his sense of justice when he finds the Cross of Coronado, which he believes "belongs in a museum" and after it's removed from him, the movie catches up to the present time (1938) and Indy is once again on the search for Coronado's Cross, this time narrowly escaping a boat explosion and coming away with the item he's been searching for his whole life (a microcosm of the movie about to unfold before our eyes). [How are they gonna top THAT intro in the next movie?]

The action and suspense in Last Crusade are so good that it's easy to confuse scenes in this film with ones in Raiders. Tank chases, motorcycle chases, breaking out of a German castle, boat chases, blimp chases - all top notch. The music is classic Johnny Williams at his best, and features a really awesome motif for whenever the Holy Grail is mentioned to go along with probably the best theme song ever.

Say goodbye (and good riddance) to the most annoying duo in the franchise, Willie Scott and Short Round from Temple of Doom, and welcome back your old pals Marcus Brody and Sallah with open arms. I know I did. After painfully sitting through TOD and feeling sorry for Indy for not having an intellectual equal within 3000 miles, in this installment his comrade Marcus Brody accompanies our hero to Italy in search for his father and the grail. The interaction of Brody and Connery's Dr. Jones provides much of the humor for the movie, and Sallah's comedic timing is right on the money as usual. (My favorite comedic part is when Indy goes off on the Nazis about how Marcus Brody speaks all these languages and how much he'll blend in, how he's probably got the grail already, etc. and then it cuts to Brody wildly wandering through a crowd desperate for someone who speaks English.)


Even with the inclusion of some ethically questionable plot points (father and son sleeping with the same woman?), Last Crusade concentrates heavily on the relationship between Indy and his father. Strained growing up, they are now thrust together to stop the Nazis from using the Grail's unthinkable power to take over the world, or some other such nonsense. The whole movie is a search for a father's approval and a son's love, both of which are fulfilled at the end in glorious Spielberg fashion (that dude loves him some characterization).

One aspect I didn't enjoy as much as the other films was the requisite "creepy critter" scene, using rats instead of snakes or insects like the first two, which seemed like a downgrade to me. This also leads me to wonder what kind of creature will be featured in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull when it opens next week; they've taken all of the biggies, so what are they going to use this time? Branz suggested spiders since it appears they'll be in South America for a portion, according to the trailer. Geographically, I'm inclined to agree with him (I'm sure they're monstrous in that part of the world), but then again, they already used tarantulas in the opening of Raiders, so I don't know if they'd recycle that idea.


The ending of Last Crusade squeezes by as my favorite of the three - even though I love the very last shot of Raiders with the Ark in the warehouse, the entire last 30 minutes of this movie are perfect in my mind. Henry Jones, Sr. on the brink of death, living vicariously through his son who is searching for the only thing that can save him in time, going through thousand-year-old trials and traps that Henry spent his life researching - the two characters are so meticulously linked here on so many levels, and it's beautiful to watch. Not to mention the special effects of the Leap of Faith cavern are still exceptional, even comparing them to today's standards. The final credits shot, preceded by Brody trying to be a cowboy and nearly falling off his horse, is a nice throwback to the cowboy films that influenced this series from the beginning. The four horsemen riding into the sunset was gorgeous on screen, and must have been Spielberg's "sigh of relief" as the filming came to an end.

Little did he know that 19 years later, a new Indy film would be coming to theaters. Check back in a week or so to get my thoughts on the highly-anticipated Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. To tide you over, here's a high quality YouTube video of just the music of the ending credits for Last Crusade. Until next time...

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)

Evening readers. Taking the helm today is your friendly neighbor Sentinel editor Tyler Branz. You’re probably all expecting some outrageous science fiction movie review, but today is not your day. Today, we have a treat! Ben has asked me to review the 2nd installment of the Indiana Jones series, The Temple of Doom.

Many of you may not be a fan of this chapter, but you have to give it a break. TOD had to try to fill the shoes of its predecessor, Raiders of the Lost Ark, so they placed Indy on t’other side of the world in eastern Asia, a place of mass danger and intrigue. But I digress; let’s get to the movie.

It begins with a bow to the James Bond openings of old as Indy makes a dangerous trade with Chinese crime-lord Lao Che; but while things are looking good for our favorite archaeologist, they immediately start to take a turn for the worst. We soon find that not only is Indy lost in the mountains of India, he has been accompanied by the annoying Willie Scott and the extremely unnecessary character of Short Round. I watched the entire movie, and Short Round’s presence could have been completely removed and the movie would NOT have suffered.

Characters
As far as character development goes, Indiana faces his primitive human emotions: the greed and lust of fortune and glory versus helping a poor and starving Indian village. Not only is he met with internal struggles, but TOD pushes Indy to the physical edge as well. Almost every scene contains Jones bashing skulls, drinking the blood of the Thugee, voodoo torture, large bearded guards on a rock-flattening belt, and much, much more. Indiana is faced with the usual physical feats in every film, but I think this one takes the cake.

Willie Scott, the singer and girlfriend of Lao Che, just serves as eye-candy, because whenever she opens her voice, I immediately want to put a gun to my chest. Team STFU has nothing against her. Seriously, Spielberg, you dated this braud? You must have the patience of a rock. In any case, she followed this role with Susanna McKaskel in the made-for-TV movie The Quick and the Dead (1987) opposite Sam Elliott, where she was more eye-candy for the traveling, woman-stealing, all-around bad ass Con Vallien. Check it out.

Although the natives of India were sometimes hard to understand, their emotional and life-like acting made the movie all the more real for me. I actually started to wonder if these were actors or real people dying of hunger and sorrow. It makes you think that out there somewhere things are really like this, and that only these small acts of help (i.e. Indy bringing back the Sankara stone) can bring these people hope and happiness.

Storyline
I felt the storyline was very good and solid, except for a couple of snags. I haven’t researched it, but I’ve never heard of the Sankara stones, but I have heard of Kali and the Thugee cult, so this dark and dangerous road that Indiana traveled is quite a change from the Nazi bashing films that would follow and precede this one. But that's just me; I think perhaps that this movie isn't the favorite is because ALOT of people have never heard of these mythological Indian aspects, and therefore don't want to watch it*.

I also enjoy the involvement of the dying British Empire, which was a very historical event around the 1930s. Britain had colonized the world over for the pass couple centuries, and they were now growing smaller and smaller as their colonies rebelled and gained independence. I just thought it was an interesting aspect of the film.

I also like that this movie takes place chronologically before the first film. Periodically, Indy can’t fly a plane in this one, but by 1938 in The Last Crusade, he can. Maybe that death-defying trip across the mountains of Asia pushed him to take a flying class for adults at the local community college.

In any case, the overall film was pretty solid, and any Indiana Jones fan needs to watch this chapter as many times as they watch the other two. Why? Because like your children, you can’t love one more than the other; it’s just not right.

So get pumped for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, because the whip-cracking adventurer is back with a rag-tag team of misfits, but his legacy lives on. I hope this review gets you out to rent this before the new movie, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, premieres. Check Ben’s Movie Reviews soon for the third installment of the Indiana Jones series as Ben captains the ship into port in preparation for what may be the greatest film this summer. Also, if you are interested, a Top 5 Greatest Literary Indiana Jones Adventures is making its way to a Solar Sentinel near you, so check that out as well.

Safe journey, Indy lovers, wherever you are…

*Research for your Enjoyment

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adi_Shankara


2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shiva
   
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kali


4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thuggee