Movie Review - Indiana Jones & the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

It's been way too long for Indiana Jones to whiplash his way back to the silver screen and only Spielberg could bring alive the persona of Indiana Jones, hat, boots, bull whip and all. For the uninitiated let me first give a small history lesson. Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, two of the hottest talents of the seventies decided to come together to make a movie which at the time was promoted as "the return of high adventure". The movie, "Raiders of the Lost Ark" was directed by Spielberg & produced by Lucas, and went on to be one of the highest grosser of all time. Set in the time of 2nd World War, the pulsating story of the search for the Ark of the Covenant moved from US to Nepal and climaxed in Egypt.

It was followed by the not so good "Indiana Jones & the Temple of the Doom". Amrish Puri made a forgettable Hollywood debut but the romance of Indy's adventures remained alive. The third "Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade" is my second favorite because it had the unflappable Sean Connery who plays Indy's father. The search of the Holy Grail is one of my all time favorite yarns.
The common thread in all the above movies was the swash buckling, devil may care Indy Jones who got into and out of the most impossible situations with charm and panache. He plays a professor of archaeology who goes after the most difficult searches for old and forgotten relics, fights the bad guys, gets the girl and always has a happy ending.

The latest offering is all of the above but hey, Indy is twenty years older and yet hasn't seem to have lost his appetite of jumping over unjumpables and avoiding the million bullets that chase him. But then he has an illustrious contemporary in our own Rajnikant who can do all of this and more.
The movie is set in the mid fifties when US saw a commie behind every pole and the obsession of UFOs was coming of age. However Spielberg's obsession with aliens continues to be unrelenting as ever. So this time we have a sword brandishing Kate Blanchett, a protégé of Stalin, who with a little help of stoic faced hoodlums manages to get hold of Indy to guide them to the high security warehouse where the US Govt. stores all its rare, unexplainable artifacts. Those who have seen Raiders of the Lost Ark would remember the last scene where the Ark is being wheeled into this warehouse to its new and anonymous residence. The desired object this time is, well what else, a crystal skull which is the key to untold knowledge and unlimited power. Indy scores in round one and escapes, only to resume the chase later in the time honored tradition of the perennial adventurer.

Accompanying him this time is a John Dean look-alike teenager with an attitude. As it turns out he is Indy's son and from whom? Surprise, surprise, its Karen Allen, the vivacious, hard drinking, kick ass girl friend from the first edition of the series. Like Indy she has aged but the passion remains alive. It was great watching her all over again.

The end is predictable. The special effects from Lucas's factory Industrial Light & Magic are awesome, especially the aliens sequence at the end. And Indy decides to settle down with his old lady love and the new found progeny. I loved his reply when asked by Karen if there were other women in his life and why he didn't marry them. The man says"Yes there were some but all of them had the same problem. None of them was you". Here's a toast to old love and fairy tale endings. Cheers !

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Indiana Jones and the Fedora

The hat industry is buzzing, giddy in fact: "It's coming. It's coming." No, it's not the Russians or the Martians. It's the new Indiana Jones movie, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

These Indiana Jones movies - the first one was released in 1981 - have meant more to the hat business in the last half-century than any other event on the planet. The only thing that comes close is the relatively new realization that hats serve an enormous benefit in protecting people from the harmful effects of the sun. Imagine, the direct relevance of hats to one's health has had less impact on the hat industry than a series of movies!

Indy's hat is a modern-day icon. Its current influence on the hat buying public is nothing short of phenomenal. The current popularity of fedoras can be traced to the first Indiana Jones movie when Indy, played by Harrison Ford, wears a safari style fedora, where the medium-to-large brim is turned down in the front and the back. The hat has become emblematic of the man. After that, all fedora styles took off. Today's fashionistas like their fedoras with stingy (short) brims - very much on the other side of the fedora brim length continuum from Indy. Whether they know it or not, these young hipsters are the direct fashion descendents from Indiana Jones' Hat.

The newest installment is scheduled for release in May 2008. Harrison Ford was recently quoted, "I'm delighted to be back in business with my old friends. I don't know if the pants still fit but I know the hat will."

Fred Belinsky is the founder and president of The Village Hat Shop. The 4-store California chain is 28 years old. VillageHatShop.com launched in early 1997 and was the first online hat ecomerce site. Belinsky also runs Berets.com. Private label brands include Jaxon Hats, JaxonHats.com, and sur la tete. More of Belinsky's articles can be seen at his HAT BLOG: Everthing Hats. VillageHatShop.com also publishes THE COWBOY HAT, an ezine featuring short fiction, essays, and poetry about the American West and the Mexican-American Border.

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Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - How Does it Compare?

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is an exciting action packed thrill ride through dark caves, jungles, and familiar warehouses. As a movie on its own it carries the Indiana Jones legacy forward and seemingly has all the pieces needed to make it a great entry into the Indiana Jones trilogy. However, how does it really hold up when put toe to toe with the other movies in the series? Read on to find out.

The first introduction to Indiana Jones was the amazing and still the best movie in the trilogy Raiders of the Lost Ark. We first meet the professor in a jungle that quickly brings us to Indy running for his life in the now classic scene involving him and a giant boulder. This movie brought the magical world of the archeologist to life and was a hit because it was a change of pace from all the dark, seedy cop movies of the time. Like Star Wars before it Lucas gave audiences something different and made audiences everywhere want to become a teacher/obtainer of fine antiquities. Indy was an everyday guy who stood up for what was right and made sure the Ark of the Covenant did not fall into the hands of the Nazis. It is difficult to put into words what made Raiders of the Lost Ark so great but it seems to be a combination of great characters mixed with an interesting tale of treasure that peaked the curiosity of audiences everywhere while mixing just the right amount of action in for good measure.

Temple of Doom is largely seen as the black sheep of the Indiana Jones trilogy and with good reason; it took the semi-realism and treasure hunting of Raiders and instead put Indy up against a cult in India. Temple is set before Raiders and includes the lovable Short Round and the not as lovable Willie Scott. Luckily Indy still has his clever one-liners and his not thinking too far ahead attitude which still makes this a great entry into the series. Viewers needed to suspend their belief a little more than with Raiders with characters such as Mola Ram able to separate unbelievers from their heart while still keeping the victims alive. Despite the story being a little more "out there" Temple still has plenty of the Indiana Jones wit and action and largely is a great movie; better when not compared directly to Raiders.

The last of the classic trilogy is aptly named The Last Crusade. Indy is back in top form fighting against the Nazis and treasure hunting with Marcus Brody and Henry Jones Sr., expertly acted by Sean Connery. The Last Crusade is great on so many levels because it takes the character of Indiana Jones and fleshes him out; we are given insight into his childhood and he spends most of the movie simply trying to impress and be noticed by his father. We finally see why Indy has such a fear of snakes and how he got that scar on his chin. It is heartwarming and hilarious at the same time to see this amazing character succeed and fail at the same time. The scene in Last Crusade when Indy first rescues his father and then promptly has to give up the diary that his father worked so hard to get away is pure genius and sets the tone for the relationship between the two throughout the movie.

So with the original trilogy held in such high regard how does Crystal Skull stack up? Well on its own it is an entertaining movie but when compared to the rest of the trilogy it falls a little short. It still has the feel of an Indiana Jones movie and definitely has the same wit and humor but it tends to feel more like a typical action filled summer blockbuster than the rest of the movies. Also while the original three movies did force viewers to suspend their belief, Temple of Doom especially, Crystal Skull is over the top. Without going into any spoilers the big discovery in the movie does not seem to fit into the Indiana Jones "lore" of discoveries. Crystal Skull does nail the rest of the "lore," including things like Indy's fear of snakes and his ability to always put his trust into the completely wrong people. Fans of the series should welcome Crystal Skull with open arms but not expect to feel the same level of magic as the first time they saw Raiders.

Hi my name is Vince Payne and I enjoy writing about video games/movies/sports/history or pretty much anything that requires me to learn anything new. I love doing the research required to find new things. My website is http://www.vpwriting.com so check it out if you like my writing style and I can write for you as well!

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