It sparkles.By John DeSando, WCBE's It's Movie Time
"Legend says that a crystal skull was stolen from a mythical lost city in the Amazon, supposedly built out of solid gold, guarded by the living dead. Whoever returns the skull to the city temple will be given control over its power." Indiana Jones
Clear your head of all the clich?-ridden warnings that sequels are inferior: The new Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, a faithful addition to the intrepid Professor Henry Jones, Jr.'s archeological adventures, sparkles like its crystal skulls with wit and good-old races/escapes without serious computer graphics, throwing us back to the adolescent fun of serials and adventure movies of the '50's.
The biggest challenge of this adventure for esteemed director Steven Spielberg is casting the aging Harrison Ford as the titular hero one more time. (Mac: "This ain't gonna be easy." Indiana Jones: "Not as easy as it used to be."). Besides sculpting a hero who still has romance in his heart and limbs, not the dust accumulating around tenured professors, Spielberg smartly showcases a younger version in Shia LaBeouf as Mutt Williams, a 50's motorcycling hair comber with Jones's superior intelligence also hidden from view. Writer David Koepp has wisely prepared us for this young man to take over from Indy by having them work side-by-side and showing Mutt's inexperience but also resourcefulness that looks as if he were Jones's son.
Smart as well is bringing back Karen Allen's Marion Ravenwood for romance and some eye-popping news for Indy. Ray Winstone's "Mac" is a Brit triple-dealing spy-adventurer who supplies intrigue and surprise with a few ironic asides. And everyone else is right, not to forget Cate Blanchette's Cold-War Russian troublemaker Irena Spalko, outfitted in a black pageboy hair and pants suit to make Stalin proud.
Spielberg is a pre-eminent director because he always weaves substantial themes under the excitement. The crystal skulls, MacGuffins to make Hitch delighted, represent some intellectually superior race, be it from outer space or another dimension, for which knowledge is the leading commodity. Jones, berating Mutt for not finishing school, is a nagger about education. It is highly probable that Mutt will go on in his education, perhaps at Jones's own Marshall College. Throughout the film Jones is the prime intellectual mover, just as it was for Homer's Odysseus, that author of the Trojan horse and not much of a stay-at-home guy either.
With the superiority of Indiana Jones and Iron Man already, who gives a damn about Hellboy and Hulk? So get your skull in summer gear, rev your romantic engines, and race to Indiana Jones and his crystal skullduggery.
"Archaeology ? is the peeping Tom of the sciences. It is the sandbox of men who care not where they are going; they merely want to know where everyone else has been." Jim Bishop, "Sifting the Seas for Time's Treasures."
John DeSando teaches film at Franklin University and co-hosts WCBE 90.5's It's Movie Time, which can be heard streaming at www.wcbe.org Fridays at 3:01 pm and 8:01 pm and on demand anytime. Contact him at JDeSando@Columbus.RR.com