Movie Review

‘Indy’ has lost his luster
MOVIE

Paramount Pictures’ “Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull” took the top spot at the box office this holiday weekend.

The latest edition of “Indiana Jones” unearthed $101 million over the last three days — $126 million since opening late Thursday.

“Indiana Jones” marks the third film to earn over $100 million in 2008, with “Iron Man” and “Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears A Who” preceeding it. This time last year, there were seven movies already past $100 million.

Set in 1957 (which is 19 years after the last film), Dr. Henry “Indiana” Jones (Harrison Ford) is kidnapped by a team of KGB agents, led by Russian scientist Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett).

He is taken to the same Nevada government warehouse where “Raiders Of The Lost Ark” ended. However, it isn’t the Ark they are after. The Russians are looking for the remains of a flying saucer that crashed.

Inside these remains is supposed to be a clue to what the Russians really want — a Mayan crystal skull with a su

pernatural power of mind control that will allow them to rule the world.

Jones manages to escape from the Russians, but then finds himself involved with a young kid Mutt Williams (Shia LaBeouf). Not only is he the son of Jones’ old flame Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen), but he has the next clue to the crystal skull.

After that, the pair are off to Peru and the lost city of El Dorado to encounter cliffhanging peril from Russians, Amazonian natives with poison darts, not to mention scorpions, army ants, aliens, quicksand and one very large snake. The only thing missing is the lions, tigers and bears, oh my.

What hurts this “Indiana Jones” film is that prior to releasing movies like this, film studios try to get audiences excited for it by re-releasing its predecessors on DVD. This is to entice moviegoers into wanting to see the latest version.

However, what was then certainly isn’t what it is now, and for those of you who are expecting to see “Indiana Jones” of the past will be disappointed. The formula of throwing a substandard plot around a popular character just to make a movie out of it has to end.

While “Indiana Jones” was never really one of my all-time favorites, the first three films were watchable in their time. Fast-forwarding to now, it is a character that should’ve been left alone.

Granted, Ford does his best as Jones, but his skills are seriously deteriorating. While it was nice to see Karen Allen and her smile, that was the extent of her presence in this film.

Hopefully the studios didn’t introduce LaBeouf’s Williams to take this series to the next level. There’s nothing wrong with LaBeouf as an actor, but I don’t think he’s strong enough to carry the next wave of films that’ll eventually come out in time. I’m not a psychic, but studios will drool over these box office numbers this weekend, and will get right back to work during this good feeling of theirs.

Until the marquee reads “Indiana Jones And The Search Of Extinction,” this current version gets two out of four stars.

“Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull” is rated PG-13 for adventure violence and scary images. Running time is 2 hours and 4 minutes.

Last week’s No. 1 film, Buena Vista Pictures’ “The Chronicles Of Narnia: Prince Caspian” fell to second place with $23 million, bringing it closer to the $100 million mark with $91 million in 10 days.

Marvel Comics “Iron Man” is still the man in third place with $20.2 million. The Robert Downey Jr. film’s month-long take is at $252.3 million.

Warner Bros.’ “Speed Racer” finished in fifth place while adding $4 million to its three-week total of $36.2 million.

Two Universal Pictures’ comedy films, “Baby Mama” and “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” continue to hold their own at the box office. “Baby Mama” delivered $3.3 million to its five-week bundle of $52.1 million, and “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” brought in $1.6 million — $58.1 million in six weeks.

For more information and show times, contact Regal Cinemas Marketplace 24, 180 Mill Road, Oaks, at 610-666-6697.

Posted by
Dennis J. Wright can be reached at dwright@phoenixvillenews.com.