May 24, 2008 01:21

Zheng Han

Before going on with this review, I must shamefully admit that I have not seen any of the Indiana Jones movies. I also want to note that as I’m writing this review I actually have Raiders of the Lost Ark playing in the VCR. Having said this, I have to say the new Indiana Jones movie set itself up extremely well and I was never lost. I’m sure there were at least a few references I must’ve missed but the overall experience held. Trust me, this is an important feature for a sequel nearly two decades after its last installment.

I’m sure Indiana Jones at some point was like the James Bond of America, constantly subjugating other races and matching his ability to collect artifacts with his ability to collect women. However, this new Indiana Jones is older, mainly because Harrison Ford is older, and more mature. Not to fear, Henry Jones still has his impregnable composure in the face of danger and his ability to dodge automatic gun fire from an entire brigade of enemy soldiers. More importantly, he still acts as a successful medium for bringing elaborate adventure stories to the common man. Without him, these stories might be come off as too complicated and implausible.

Looking up at the television, I am roughly an hour into the Raiders of the Lost Ark. One thing that is evident is the lighter amount of computer graphics used. The quality of these graphics, except near the end, was extremely high and many of the scenes left you wondering how they shot it before even realizing they were computer graphics. Whether this is more impressive than the way they filmed in the originals is up to you. However, it did allow Mayan technology to be even more unrealistically fantastic in this film than the original. George Lucas made his presence clear with cutting edge special effects, as well as some of his craziness. There’s a scene where a pack of monkeys help Indiana Jones, and for a second resembles what the Ewoks did on Endor. Other special effects include having the whole movie have that aged film look (sepia?) with a noticeable yet subtle color filter.

I cannot give enough credit to the directing for this film. A plot as crazy as this can easily be overdone, but the Steven Spielberg does an excellent job does an excellent job keeping things from clogging up due to cheese overload. However, there was one point near the end where the film seemed like the film would fall into that forbidden zone, the zone responsible for Jarjar Binks. Luckily, that part was short and did not directly affect any of the main characters. The film came to an ending that was not spectacular but satisfying. So, does this Indiana Jones live up to expectations? Or does it share fates with The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones? Personally, I feel like this fourth film is a successful modern sequel of the originals, even though I have only seen Raiders of the Lost Ark (just finished). The action scenes are busier, more intense and wilder thanks to heavy use of computer graphics. One thing that wasn’t so great was the distribution of action scenes, which were heavy at the beginning and end but missing in the middle. The skull that featured in the movie’s title has inconsistent levels of magnetism ranging anywhere from robot killing levels to kitchen magnet. Then again, if you’re nit picking at this movie, you really shouldn’t be watching any Indiana Jones movie.

Despite this, I’m sure there are many Indiana Jones enthusiasts who will complain about how it “just isn’t the same.” Well it’s not the same, movies today are different from how they were twenty years ago. We’ve been desensitized by all those Hollywood explosions and for any action adventure to succeed, they will need to step it up when it comes to intensity and graphics. This movie lived up to my expectations of it and included swordfights, gun fights, man versus man, man versus nature, man versus communist and even kung fu pygmies. Really, what’s not to like?

Rating: 4/5