Dan's Papers - May 30, 2008 - Flick Picks by Ian Stark

The phrase "Be careful what you wish for, you may get it," comes to mind as the kings of all-American fantasy and whimsy, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, have finally resurrected one of the silver screen's greatest heroes - tinged with a bit of silver himself - Dr. Henry "Indiana" Jones. Since the fantastic Last Crusade adventure in 1989, fans have clamored for his return. Unfortunately, that clamoring was much louder in 1990 than in 2008, so now that we have a new adventure, many moviegoers are wondering: how good can a 65-year-old Indy be? Luckily, it turns out, he's still very good...good, but flawed.

The last time Lucas was involved in bringing a franchise back, we got three new Star Wars movies that eschewed the magic of the original trilogy for a smothering layer of CGI effects and JarJar Binks. However, one of the most important parts of the original - and good - Star Wars flicks happens to be the heart of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - that being, Mr. Harrison Ford. In Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and, to a lesser extent, Return of the Jedi, his dashing, sarcastic bad boy/good guy Han Solo counterbalanced the Force mysticism of the Jedi - it's no surprise how doofy and flat the newer Star Wars films were without him. He did the same for the Indiana Jones saga, with a brash and roughneck attitude, always narrowly saving the innocent from bad guys, who always want to have the power they can't possibly wield. Wisely, the "Spielucas" couple has brought back the actor that made both of their trilogies worth attending (for now, more on that later).

It's sad how some actors are revered as highly skilled, while the work of Ford remains generally undervalued. His ability to play outsider heroes is singular. He's able to be smart enough for film snobs, while simple enough for casual movie-goers, and even in his mid-60s he still does some of his own stunts. Nonetheless, the man has aged, and the film has no choice but to work it in. However, the Soviet baddies (standing in for the usual Nazis) don't seem to think the grays are any reason not to tango with Indy in tracking down the item aforementioned in the film's title.

Joining Dr. Jones in his newest, fist-swinging, bullet-dodging, moving car-leaping quest is his dubious sidekick Mac (Ray Winstone, The Departed), his former flame from the original Raiders, Marion (Karen Allen) and scrappy '50s rebel Mutt (Shia LaBeouf, Transformers, Disturbia), in the race against the Reds, led by Russian Cold War stereotype Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett, The Good German, Notes on a Scandal). At this point, all details shall be withheld for the sake of surprise, but really, if you've seen an Indiana Jones story before, you know what's to come.

But that's no reason to not see this movie. The action is excellent, and Ford is fun, strong and shockingly vital. His supporting cast runs from feasible to solid (as opposed to the headache-inducing Kate Capshaw and Jonathan Ke Quan's utterly awful "Short Round" from Temple of Doom) and the use of Soviet thugs is a perfect swap for the since-destroyed Third Reich heavies. But once again, a George Lucas project (writer and executive producer on this) is smothered in cartoon-y CGI, something he seems doomed to employ in every movie he's connected to, and it always ends up creating phony, stupid and silly moments. And while Steven Spielberg is flat-out one of the greatest directors ever, he always manages to drop in childish moments in his adventure pieces that really annoy. This movie could easily end up in film class, under the lesson, "How Computer-Generated Effects and Pandering to Children Can Cripple Your Film," as the scenes with actors acting, and the action sequences that involve nothing but humans in motion totally outshine the animated fluff inserted elsewhere.

What's sadder yet? Seeing the great Harrison Ford in action one more time makes it ever-so-clear that this is just about the end of the line for Indiana. He's just young enough to pull this off, but one more attempt at an Indy could be a gut-wrenching tragedy to witness - and there are hints that another sequel could be in the works. But the ultimate insult? There are suggestions in the film (and in the press) that LaBeouf may take over as the hero in this venerable franchise! No offense, Shia, as you are a heck of an actor and a nice guy to boot, but do you really want to be known as the actor who killed off Indiana Jones? As Mr. Ford so famously said in Star Wars, "I've got a bad feeling about this."

Ian Stark is a frequent TV and radio commentator on the film industry, and consults with private organizations on their collections. He is widely published on film and other arts/culture topics.