REVIEW: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

STARRING: Harrison Ford, Shia LaBeouf View Trailer RELEASE DATE: 05/22/2008 DATE SCREENED: 05/19/2008 The Verdict OK - Wait for the DVD

The three original Indiana Jones films have stood the test of time as three of the top ten movies I have seen in my lifetime. I watched Temple of Doom countless times as a kid, and never tire of it even now. Revisiting Indiana Jones as a 60+ year old man, 19 years after the last installment, did not sound like a good idea when I first read about it. But I arrived at the screening hoping that I would be proven wrong. I wasn’t the only one, as I arrived 90 minutes before the screening to see the line already wrapping around the block. I was one of the last people to make it into the theater, as over 100 angry people had to be turned away behind me.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull starts off with Indy (Harrison Ford) held captive, forced to help a Soviet psychic military leader find an old mummy that has been stored in the same warehouse we see at the end of the original Raiders of the Lost Ark. It seems that according to some legend, finding the Crystal Skulls will allow her to increase her psychic powers, and then allow the Soviets to perfect some kind of psychic warfare. This mummy will hold some clue to finding the Skull. It comes as no surprise when Indy escapes in typical Indiana Jones fashion. The movie was off to a good start, and then things really slow down. Indiana is back teaching, until he receives a visit from Mutt (Shia LaBeouf). Mutt has a letter that holds the clues to the Crystal Skull and off they both go on another archeological adventure, chased by the Soviets along the way. They both are captured upon finding the Skull, where they run into Marion (Karen Allen), Indiana’s love interest in the original Raiders. They bicker about their past relationship, but make a great team when it comes time to escape. The most exciting scene in the movie is when the escape through the forest, first on foot then by car, fighting Soviets and swarming killer ants along the way. Indiana returns the Skull to it’s "rightful" burial place, where the secrets of the Crystal Skull is revealed to both him and the Soviets.

Unfortunately, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is just a rehash of everything we have seen before from the Indiana Jones movies, or even the National Treasure movies. That familiarity is fine at the start, but gets tired through the course of the movie. I found myself bored whenever I wasn’t watching an action sequence. There are many action scenes, but only one great one. The movie seemed long at over 2 hours. Harrison Ford does his best to recreate that old magic, but it’s just not there. And Shia showed me nothing to give me hope that he can take over the franchise. The secret of the Crystal Skull, which is revealed at the end, struck me as completely ridiculous. This movie is sure to open huge, but the word of mouth won’t be as strong as Iron Man. It pains me to have to say that the film is just OK, not really worth a trip out to the theater.

REVIEW: Speed Racer

STARRING: Emile Hirsch, Christina Ricci View Trailer RELEASE DATE: 05/09/2008 DATE SCREENED: 05/06/2008 The Verdict OK - Wait for the DVD

I occassionally watched the Speed Racer cartoon as a kid. The only thing that sticks out in my mind about the show is the theme song and the Mach 5 race car. I don’t remember anything about the characters or the story lines. So I wasn’t excited to hear that the Wachowski brothers were adapting it for the big screen. Then I saw the trailer, and the unique style of animation grabbed my attention. But it takes more than good animation to make a good movie.

Emile Hirsch stars as Speed Racer, with Christina Ricci as his girl Trixie. When Speed was in elementary school, teachers complained that the only thing he can focus on is auto racing. This is because his father “Pops”, John Goodman, designs race cars and his older brother Rex is the up-and-coming star driver. Rex is killed in a car crash, under mysterious circumstances, and Speed is determined to follow in Rex’s footsteps, living out all of Rex’s dreams of success. When Speed gets older, he is a natural behind the wheel, and his early racing success draws the attention of Royalton Industries. Royalton would like to sponsor Speed in his upcoming tour races. Speed refuses to sign with them, as it is revealed that Royalton has been fixing the top auto races for years. Royalton sets out to ruin Speed’s life for his refusal to be a part of the corrupt auto racing industry. The other racers begin to team up to make sure Speed can not win any future races. Speed must team with the mysterious Racer X, who is working with law enforcement to stop auto racing corruption, to win the cross country death-defying race that had claimed his brother’s life. This race basically has no rules, and the goal is to win by any means necessary. If Speed can win this race, he can qualify for the Grand Prix and attempt to be the first legit winner of that race in years.

Speed Racer is aimed at kids, but runs 2 hrs & 15 minutes. A movie has to be really exceptional to hold kids attention for that long. After a good beginning, I was bored for the next hour. Speed’s younger brother Spritle, and his pet monkey, try to keep things interesting as the comic relief, but I didn’t find them funny. The movie picks back up during the cross country race, which is exciting and a testament to this new style of computer animation. The special effects team has really outdone themselves, with such a seamless mix of live action and computer animation. The race takes place over the course of two days, and a night time kung fu fight with Ninjas is thrown in to keep things moving. After the thrilling cross country race, the final Grand Prix is anti-climactic. It’s basically a rehash of the race we just watched.

I do not understand why a movie aimed at kids spends so much time on a serious story of an evil corporation fixing races. The Wachowski Brothers are the same people who took the simple story of the original Matrix and turned it into an incomprehensible mess in the two sequels, so I shouldn’t be surprised that they tried to cram too much story into Speed Racer. The audience seemed to have a mixed reaction. Some kids were very excited leaving the theater, already anticipating the DVD release. But other people got restless thanks to the long running time. Wait for the DVD on this one. You can fast forward if you start to get bored.