Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull left me amazed for Harrison Ford. The aging, greying star looks wonderfully energetic, nimble and dashing in the lead role, obviously enjoying every minute of the roller-coaster ride of a film. Lending him able support is his flunky and long-lost son Mutt William (LaBeouf, who is utterly charming and tremendous fun on screen). The sweet, eccentric family picture gets completed by the delightfully kooky mom and Indiana Jones’s spirited ex, Marion Ravenwood (Allen). It’s the human touch of the reunited threesome that makes the film worth a view. Especially amusing is the scene where the mom and dad are saved from the quicksand by their son, using Indy’s pet hate, a snake, for a rope.
Otherwise, in the name of plot, all you get is a complete lack of logic and extreme predictability of twists and turns. Set in the 1950s, the film is about the adventures of Indy and Mutt as they go hunting for the Leeds friend Oxley who has disappeared with an artefact that KGB agent Spalko (suitably diabolical and cold and calculating Blanchett) is on the lookout for. After many chases, fights and escapes, they manage to get the crystal skull back atop the skeleton where it belongs. The film has more—Peruvian tribals, cannibal ants, swift waterfalls, secret caves, preserved mummies, cave paintings, UFOs, extra-terrestrials, even James Bond kind of Cold War politics with communists as the nasty villains.
Indiana Jones does offer endless thrills but they are more familiar and jaded than fresh and fun. Some of the action sequences, though, are a delight. However, these you can just count on your fingertips. I could not help chuckling at Indiana Jones being hijacked from the mobike into a car and how he wriggles out of the car window, back atop the mobike. Or the mobike crashing into the university library hall where a geek, unmindful of the chaos, still has a significant question to ask Prof Indy. These are the times when you feel a fondness and warmth for old-fashioned adventure yarn. It appeals more to the unquestioning kid in you than the thinking adult.
High Fives
Bollywood
1. Jannat
2. Indiana Jones (dubbed)
3. Bhoothnath
4. Woodstock Villa
5. Hastey Hastey
Hollywood
1. Sex and the City
2. Indiana Jones: Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
3. The Strangers
4. Iron Man
5. Narnia: Prince Caspian
Singles
1. We Rock (Camp Rock)
2. Lollipop/A Milli (Lil Wayne)
3. I’m Letting Go (Francesca Battistelli)
4. 4 Minutes (Madonna Feat)
5. Water Curses (Animal Collective)
Courtesy: Film Information
