Indiana Jones and the kingdom of the crystal skull

Sat, May 31 03:35 AM

Cast: Harrison Ford, Cate Blanchett, Shia Labeouf, Ray Winstone

Director: Steven Spielberg

AGEING gracefully is a difficult art. So, hats off to Harrison Ford and Spielberg for showing that when 20 years pass by - unless you live in a soap opera - two decades do pass by.

The archaeologist-adventurer made famous by George Lucas, Spielberg and Ford returns as an older, wiser and a little slower Indiana Jones, who remains as fallible and as likable as in his first outing in 1981. "We aren't what we used to be," he and colleague-turned-foe Mac (Winstone) make it clear right at the beginning.

Jones's archrival in the film is a study in contrast: a humourless, martially fit, resolutely young, mid-30s woman scientist, Dr Spalko (Blanchett). She hopes to win the war for Communism, specifically Stalin, through psychological warfare. The story is set in the end 1950s, at the height of Communist phobia in the US.

However, after he has survived a nuclear blast inside a lead-lined refrigerator, with his hat on, the film settles down to what Jones does best: solve a puzzle that involves a crystal skull and a mythical city of gold. The task at hand: a) find the skull b) find the city of gold c) restore the skull to its original place in the city d) receive the greatest power in the world.

Spielberg insisted that the special effects would be kept to a minimum in keeping with both the spirit of the three previous Indiana Jones films and the period in which The Kingdom of the Skull is set, and this does give the film an old-worldly, hands-on feel missing in similar adventures shot now like, say, National Treasure. This includes a sword-fight between two people balanced on two parallel racing jeeps.

Still, sometimes it's better to adopt a little change. The Kingdom of the Skull moves at a desultory pace and its storyline has few surprises. And then, suddenly in the end, it takes off in a direction that bears the special touch of Lucas and Spielberg. What's also surprising is how many parallels it has with National Treasure 2, released just earlier this year - from mythical cities to estranged families. Sure, there is a new character being introduced, in the shape of the young flavour of the season Shia LaBeouf. But even with the Marlon Brando get-up, he looks like he has been plonked in the film from sometime else.

In Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones famously told an old flame (and it wasn't Dharmendra who said it first in Johnny Gadaar): "It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage." Sure, one can't find a better vehicle for a 20-year-old franchise than Ford, but sometimes when that much time has passed, some milestones may have just moved.

shalini.langer@expressindia.com

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