May 27th, 2008
by Michael Swanberg
The 4th installment of the Indiana Jones series has arrived, and the thralls rejoice! Is it all it’s been hyped up to be?
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Of course not. These days, movies that large are never able to live up to the hype. If there’s one thing we’ve all learned from a Grecian urn, it’s that the human mind can always conjur ideas that far surpass what human hands can actually produce. And that is sad. But then, no movie can be all things to all people.
From the trailers, we can see that Indy is back… and he’s old. I had a grand fear that this movie was going to be one long joke at the expense of Indy’s age. Well, allay those fears, folks. There are a few comments about his age, but it’s not an issue for our intrepid hero. In fact, he doesn’t even seem slowed by it.
It’s also evident that Karen Allen is back, reprising her role as Marion Ravenwood from the first Indiana Jones movie. It’s a welcome circle-of-life kind of thing.
But the movie is good. Not great, just good. It seems to suffer from the same problem that all sequels/series do: each has to outdo the last. Raiders of the Lost Ark was full of off-the-hook, over-the-top action. But the great thing is that it never seems totally implausible. Kingdom, on the other hand, has to outdo the 3 movies before it. It goes back to some of the old shticks that made the series great, like fights on a moving convoy of vehicles. But where Raiders got that right, Kingdom drops the ball. Do we really believe that two characters are going to have a fencing match between two moving vehicles? As well, do we really believe one of the characters can instinctively do a Tarzan vine-to-vine swing through a jungle? Puh-lease.
In any case, the usual formula is there, big as ever. The bad guys — Russians, this time, since the movie takes place in 1957, after the Nazi regime has ended — are after relics of unspeakable psychic and occult-like power. In steps Indiana Jones to save the day by beating the bad guys to the artifacts. But Indy’s lost a step. He doesn’t think things through and formulate plans so much anymore; he seems to just fly by the seat of his pants, relying on the idea that he’s the action hero, and the bad guys should just get used to losing.
The biggest takeaway from this movie, however, were the several mentions to Indy’s dealings during the war. The first three Indiana Jones movies were set before WWII, and this one is after, so that period was skipped. Well, we learn that Indy is/was a Colonel and was in the OSS (the predecessor organization to the CIA). Apparently, Indy did some war-time spying on the Nazis, even to the point of being a double-agent while in Berlin. This is, to me, far more interesting than Indy’s archaeological exploits, and I would love to see a series of movies depicting what all he did. This could get bigger than Bond, bigger than Jack Ryan, bigger than Batman. Well, maybe not Batman. Unfortunately, it would probably be difficult to keep Harrison Ford doing these films much longer. No offense, but Mr. Ford, turning 66 this year, isn’t a Spring Chicken anymore, and Indy would be in his 40s during WWII.
So who could fill those shoes? It would probably have to be an actor in his mid-30s, so that he could reprise the role for at least 3 or 4 movies. I, personally, would love to see an actor like George Clooney take this on, although even he is 47 now.
In any case, Indy fans will see this movie whether they want to or not; it’s pretty much required. Those that aren’t true Indy fans won’t feel slighted, so go ahead and see it. Truly, it is a good movie. But it won’t be my vote for the top movie of this Summer Movie Season.
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