INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL (2008) *** I liked this movie even before it started, not from the hype (I'm anti) but due to the fact that the Russian Communist party was calling for its boycott. If there's anyone on the planet who deserves to be disturbed (there are), it has to be any political grouping that counts the Stalin era as a cornerstone of its heritage. Fact is, if anything the film overplays its hand of impartiality, making the American government look just about as absurd as the Soviets. The McCarthy era was disgusting, yes, but it was "better" than Stalin by a measure of several thousand (lives ruined due to paranoiacs) to several million (murdered by murderers). Fortunately, in the traditional style of Indy flicks, they get the heavy thinking out of the way early: politics, aliens at Roswell , stuff like that. With the backdrop set it gets down to the quasi-serious business of being what it is: the best Indy flick ever. The action sequences are staggeringly ridiculous and superb, the one-liners clever and perfectly delivered, the pacing and production seamless, the special effects brilliant, and the metaphysical pretensions simple but provocative. Oh, if you want to think about stuff you can. Indy's job, for example, he "rode with Pancho Villa," (as a hostage) and was one of 20 scientists examining something at Roswell that none of them were allowed to consider in its entirety.if Indiana Jones isn't doing better than this, well then who is? Who gets to see everything and make all of his own decisions? But you don't have to think, and doing so in this context strikes me as something of a waste of time. Others make the point better, and Indy brings the action. Harrison Ford looks exactly like he should. Older. They haven't dyed his hair chestnut or anything. He references his age early on (set the backdrop, then deliver), but still looks like someone you don't want to mess with. Not because he looks like he's spent the last decade alternating between the gym and steroid salon, but because he moves like a jaguar. And-here's a part that really helps make it I think-for the first time he has a worthy leading lady. Karen Allen has aged just as gracefully, and to the extent that she has no difficulty holding up her half of the screen this time. Her eyes twinkle, she smiles that smile she's always had, she guns off her lines, it's easy to see why any superhero might fall for her. As if that isn't enough, you get Cate Blanchett as the Soviet super-agent. She's a great actress, she can be whatever she wants to be, and here she's scary. I expect she might intimidate.small children and such. John Hurt is just as effective as the nutty professor, just a tremendous cast all around. There is a thinly veiled threat to hand off the franchise to Shia LaBeouf, which I don't know is to be taken seriously. This film's worked so well that I'm not entirely against it. On the other hand, get real, there's only one Indiana Jones. I imagine I would have voted for Adlai but, you know, I like Ike too. I love the idea of ancient temples with levers and pulleys and secret traps and sand thresholds and all that other great stuff, and I don't care if it's real or if there was ever a culture that thought it up and did it because I know of one. Hollywood ! Hooray!
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