by Ray Keating
Review
DisneyBizJournal.com
June 26, 2023
Like a book, a film deserves to be reviewed on its own. But that, of course, gets more difficult when a book or a movie is part of a series. When it comes to the fifth movie in the Indiana Jones series – Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny – landing this week, the challenge is particularly daunting.
After all, James Mangold is stepping in to direct the fifth Indiana Jones movie, with the first four films helmed by one of Hollywood’s greatest directors, Steven Spielberg. Oh, yeah, and Indiana Jones ranks as one of the most iconic characters in movie history. For good measure, Dial of Destiny is Harrison Ford’s final bow as Indy.
Given this give-and-take between individual movies as parts of a series, I decided that part of my Indy adventure was to re-watch and write new quick reviews of the first four movies, that is, Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008).
So, Sunday was Indiana Jones day in the Keating household. First, we enjoyed various Indiana Jones-related food and drinks. How about the Blood of Kali Ma Cocktail, which features white rum, blood orange soda, lime juice and mint leaves? And then there’s the Nasty Mummy, a mix of tequila, passion fruit juice, fresh lime juice, fresh orange juice, simple syrup, and cayenne pepper. However, we shied away from delicacies like snake surprise, chilled monkey brains, and bad dates. Although, we did have stuffed dates, which were quite tasty.
Comfortable seats were chosen. Blu-rays were loaded, and the cinematic adventure began…
Raiders of the Lost Ark
★★★★★
Is there anything to not like about Raiders of the Lost Ark? Upon another re-watch, I failed to find any real faults.
From the iconic opening in South America in 1936 – including Indiana Jones running from a giant, rolling, booby-trap ball – to the ending when the Nazis open the Ark of the Covenant with frightening, face-melting results, moviegoers in 1981 and today are thrown into a film featuring breathtaking adventure, unrelenting suspense and danger, humor, snappy dialogue, twists and turns, puzzles, mysteries, fisticuffs, and more.
And the audience even gets to take a breather on occasion to meet engaging characters.
At the top of the list, of course, is being introduced to one of the great characters in movie history. Harrison Ford is simply perfect as Indiana Jones – university professor, adventurer and acquirer of rare antiquities. Ford captures Indy’s intelligence, wit, charm, bravado, over-confidence, myriad skills and abilities, occasional bumbling, vulnerabilities (including snakes) and swashbuckling nature. And Indiana Jones’ tools of the trade, if you will, are quickly established, including the fedora, the whip, the jacket, and the gun.
Also, Karen Allen is ideal as Marion Ravenwood, the tough, beautiful, hard-drinking, wise-cracking, past and current love interest and partner for Indy.
Toss in John Rhys-Davies as Sallah, and Denholm Elliott as Marcus Brody, to round out Indy’s friends, and Belloq (Paul Freeman), Toht (Ronald Lacey), and Dietrich (Wolf Kahler) to play the Nazi or Nazi-related heavies, and the supporting cast excels.
Oh, yes, and from the perspective of 2023, it has to be said that Spielberg, and the film’s writers – Lawrence Kasdan, George Lucas, and Philip Kaufman – managed to tell a story that made sense, entertained and provided plenty of blockbuster thrills. At least today, that can’t be taken for granted.
And finally, regarding Spielberg, even this early in his career, his brilliance as a director are on full display, including in terms of pacing, lighting, shadows, and getting the best from his actors.
Raiders of the Lost Ark set the bar very high for telling a great adventure story on film, and few have come close to reaching Spielberg’s excellence as set out in this movie. But, again to the credit of Spielberg, Lucas and the other writers, and Ford, the following three Indiana Jones movies either matched or came close to what was achieved in Raiders.
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
★★★★1/2
Indiana Jones returned three years after Raiders in a prequel – Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom – and it shows an ability on the part of director Steven Spielberg to make a bit darker Indy movie, but still without losing assorted humor and charms.
In this prequel, set in 1935 and starting in Shanghai, Harrison Ford works with a different set of supporting characters.
I’ve long loved the opening to Temple of Doom. It begins by featuring a ‘30s-style musical number set in a nightclub with Willie Scott (Kate Capshaw) singing “Anything Goes” in a mix of Chinese and English. Capshaw shines as the wildly funny, gold-digging, out-of-place Scott, who amidst peril is annoyed by dirt, breaking nails, getting wet, and just being outside. At the same time, she has a streak of fierceness.
And we are introduced to Ke Huy Quan as Short Round. To the great credit of Quan, Spielberg, and the writers (Willard Huyck, Gloria Katz and George Lucas), Short Round is funny and endearing, as opposed to being a drag on the movie as too often happens when children are introduced into a film in which they might not necessarily be expected. Short Round is to be enjoyed and appreciated as essential to the story, rather than merely being tolerated.
This time around, Ford again ably portrays Indiana Jones, including over-confidence in a comical way, charm, waggishness, compassion, determination, courage, and improvisation – all with fedora and whip at the ready.
Complaints that Temple of Doom is too dark are overblown. This is an Indy tale that, with a dark, brutal cult as his opponents, serves up plenty of adventure (at times, journeying into camp), jeopardy, fights, daredevil escapades, gross bugs, romantic flirtations, and smart banter.
While Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom does not reach the adventure highs of Raiders, it comes darn close.
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
★★★★★
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade not only reaches the heights of Raiders of the Lost Ark, it just may reach slightly beyond. A bold take? Maybe, but the case can be made.
After all, there’s so much to love about this movie set in 1938, with the early Indy opening occurring in 1912. During that opening, we learn how Henry Jones Jr. became Indiana Jones, including from where his fedora, whip and fear of snakes came.
And throughout the movie, we get treated to classic Indiana Jones action via horseback, cars, boats, a train, planes, and motorcycles, along with a tank and camels.
There are evil traitors and Nazis – as Indy proclaims, “Nazis, I hate these guys” – as well as reminders that valuable archaeological finds belong in a museum.
And Marcus Brody and Sallah return to Indy fans’ delight.
But it’s the fact that Sean Connery portrays Indy’s father – Professor Henry Jones – that makes this a sublime action-adventure film, with more heart and a bit more depth than the two previous films in the series.
Connery, as a brilliant, older, kind of bumbling, spectacled professor of Medieval Literature, is revelatory. The moviegoer has no thoughts based on his performance that this guy played James Bond. Rather, we are pulled in by his humor, touch of intellectual arrogance, wisdom and insights. And revelations about the father-son relationship amidst conflict and danger are powerful and heartfelt.
One my favorite lines in these films is when father and son are talking about what Indy’s childhood was like, and Henry Sr. proclaims, “You left just when you were becoming interesting.”
And being that the story is focused on the Holy Grail, director Steven Spielberg and the writers (Jeffrey Boam, George Lucas, and Menno Meyjes) make Henry Sr. a devout Christian who has pursued the Grail over most of his life. This combination adds some depth regarding matters of faith. Indeed, there are a few analogies to aspects of Christianity, including Holy Communion. That last point hadn’t fully clicked during the many times I’ve watched this film previously. And along these lines, when Indiana is trying to figure out which cup or chalice is the Holy Grail, he points to one, and says, “That’s the cup of a carpenter.” I love that line.
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade delivers on everything one would expect from an Indiana Jones movie – such as action, adventure, humor and a great, well-thought-out story – with some added emotional punch and deeper reflection.
Finally, I will ask the same question that I’ve been asking since I first saw this film in 1989: How the heck did Sean Connery not win a best supporting actor Academy Award for this marvelous portrayal of Professor Henry Jones?
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
★★★★1/2
Stop the hate, and embrace Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull for the excellent movie that it is. Should we be surprised given that Steven Spielberg once more was in the director’s chair?
Since I first saw this film on its release date in 2008, I’ve always enjoyed it. But even coming out of the theater with friends that first night, the attacks were under way. The main beef? What was the deal with the aliens? After all we saw Indiana Jones deal with in the three previous films – from Nazis being wiped from the earth by spirits emerging from the Ark of the Covenant; to voodoo and an evil cult leader ripping a beating heart from a candidate for human sacrifice, leaving the victim still alive; to the horrific results when water was drunk from a cup mistaken to be the Holy Grail, and the miraculous healing power that came via the actual Grail – audiences somehow decided that interdimensional aliens were just too far. Why – especially since both Steven Spielberg and George Lucas said that the film would be inspired by 1950s sci-fi movies? I have no idea.
Others complained about Indiana Jones resorting to hiding in a lead-lined refrigerator as an atomic bomb was going off. The term “nuking the fridge” came into being to describe moments in movies that simply go too far in terms of camp. Hmmm, did these critics forget about jumping out of a crashing plane in Temple of Doom in an inflatable raft and Indy and Company living to tell the story? Or, when a plane crashes into a tunnel in The Last Crusade, and the wingless burning plane comes along side Indiana Jones and his father in a car, and they exchange goofy glances with the pilot? The point is that over-the-top, varying-degree-of-campy action has a robust history in Indy films.
It’s actually hard to figure out why Kingdom of the Crystal Skull failed to receive the critical love that the previous three movies did, other than that perhaps critics forget what was in the earlier films, especially if they saw those at a much younger age.
There’s so much to like here. The film takes place in 1957, and the opening offers teenagers racing along in a hot rod, while they are urging the lead car in an apparent military caravan to drag race. It’s very George Lucas!
It turns out that the military personnel are Soviet agents in America, and they get into Area 51. And who is their prisoner? Indiana Jones.
The film proceeds to offer some great Indy-like action, with some amusing checks given that he is nearly 20 years older since we last saw him, and he has experiences of fighting and spying during World War II, and afterwards. That action includes a fun motorcycle chase, a race and fight through the jungle (including the appearance of some massive, man-eating ants), some sword fighting, and assorted narrow, harrowing escapes.
The mysteries, puzzles and searches related to the crystal skull possess typical Indiana Jones interest.
For a long time, I did think that the third act needed some tighter editing, but upon this re-watch, I’ve changed my mind. No such need exists.
For all of this, we have some real heart added to this movie as well, with the reappearance of Marion (Karen Allen) and her son, Mutt Williams (Shia LeBeouf), who turns out to be Indy’s son – to the surprise of Indiana Jones.
LeBeouf actually ably portrays Mutt, with Spielberg and the writers (David Koepp, George Lucas, and Jeff Nathanson) doing a nice job of some Indy-Mutt parallels to actions between Indiana Jones and his father in The Last Crusade. Indeed, the only moment or scene that I would criticize in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is when Mutt is swinging through the jungle with monkeys. Weird.
As for the ending, I’ve read criticisms on this as well, and quite frankly, that is completely bewildering. The ending to this movie is ideal. It brings the entire four films around so nicely, with Marion and Indy finally getting married. As people are leaving the church, Mutt goes to put on Indy’s fedora, but just before he does, Indiana Jones comes along, reclaims the hat, smiles, and they all leave the church. That’s near perfect. So, give Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull the love it deserves.
That brings us to looking ahead later this week to Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. I hope and pray for another wonderful adventure. But make no mistake, if this film falls short – the reviews have been widely mixed (now leaning slightly positive based on the Rottentomatoes.com measure) – the following question will be reinforced in my mind at least: After that fitting ending in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, why come back to do another? But, again, I hope that I’m not asking that question, and instead, I’m proclaiming: Wow, what a great send-off for Indiana Jones.
Previously…
“My Indy Adventure, Part I: Visiting the Indiana Jones Den of Destiny” by Ray Keating
“My Indy Adventure, Part II: Indiana Jones and the Hawaiian Shirt” by Ray Keating
“My Indy Adventure, Part III: Indiana Jones and the Search for the Comfy T” by Ray Keating
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Ray Keating is the editor, publisher and economist for DisneyBizJournal.com; and author of the Pastor Stephen Grant thrillers and mysteries, and the Alliance of Saint Michael novels; and assorted nonfiction books. Have Ray Keating speak your group, business, school, church, or organization. Email him at raykeating@keatingreports.com.
The views expressed here are his own – after all, no one else should be held responsible for this stuff, right?
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