Film Review - Indiana Jones and and the Crystal Skull (12A)
May 29 2008
By Emma Ray
122 mins. Action/Drama/Comedy/Romance. Harrison Ford, Shia LaBeouf, Cate Blanchett, Ray Winstone, Karen Allen, John Hurt, Jim Broadbent. Director: Steven Spielberg.
Nailing my battered brown leather jacket to the mast right now, I'm going to say I'm a huge Indiana Jones fan.
There's nothing quite like that B-movie adventure style, complete with implausibly complicated ruin puzzles and impossibly escapable scrapes.
I've had Lego Indiana Jones on order for months and Temple of Doom would make it into my top 10 favourite films.
So there was no shortage of anticipation when I eagerly turned up to catch the latest instalment.
Unfortunately, it disappeared faster than a grizzled adventurer sinking into a pit of quick sand.
For a start, Harrison Ford, I'm afraid to say, just ain't up to it anymore.
Sure, he puts his best fedora forward, but the middle-age spread kind of spoils the effect.
He doesn't move with lithe and manly grace like he used to. It's more of a loveable dad kind of stumble.
Where before he epitomised the rollicking derring do of the original tomb raider, now he's become like the stunts in Spielberg's latest offering - leaden-footed, uninspiring and a little bit too flabby round the middle.
No-one expects realistic plots or high-brow ideas, or if they do they're watching the wrong genre. Certainly with the crackpot plot in this film.
But a pre-requisite for any Indy film is good old-fashioned adventure and action.
Sadly, it's where it all goes wrong. It felt like there was something of the old magic and spark missing - something you'd expect Spielberg to give you in spades.
Even the theme tune wasn't as stirring as it once was.
Crystal Skull was like seeing a legend slowly withering away before your eyes. You don't want to watch, but you have to just to prove to yourself it really is over.
And boy, is this one movie franchise that really should be dust.
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