world classic movie reviews-INDIANA JONES

The man with the hat is back – This time he is aged, accompanied by his son and his wife; Indiana Jones and the kingdom of the Crystal Skull has opened on 30th across India, and is receiving tremendous response all over. At the point of writing this article, it has grossed $359,881,000 world wide – it stands #116 in the world’s top grossing movies till date – that too, within ten days of release ! I’m sure it’ll gross even more and will stand on par among its prequels, in the days to come.

Okay. Having said this, how is the movie? Is it good like its predecessors? Nice question. The answer – If you are satisfied about a flick and if there are more parts of it to come, go see them with an open mind. Don’t always have the original one in mind and expect the sequel to be like the original. Sometimes, they do surpass the original & sometimes they don’t. Well, then what category does the new Indy adventure belong to? To me, I loved it. It was interesting, every scene of it. I never felt bored for even a minute. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

Before writing further, lemme tell about what I felt about Indy all these years. I saw the previous 3 movies a few years ago. I loved the first one, hated the second and again loved the third. So, when I got the news that it’ll be released in India on 30th of May, 2008, I felt exited. I wanted to go see it the first show. ‘She’ booked the tickets in B’lore (Which again was a complete surprise – I never expected it), and off we went, to see Indy.

As soon as Indy was thrown out of the car’s trunk – his hat – the famous one – comes first, thrown in to the sand, and then we see Indy’s shadow, pushed to the ground and slowly rising, wearing the hat – I let out a huuuuuge whistle in the theater ! From that moment, began the adventure, filmed in great style. Throughout the movie, Indy is first reacting to the circumstances and then starts acting on his own. The film is filled with fantastic CGI work, with good camera (Spielberg’s regular ‘man Friday’ - Janusz kaminski). The screenplay is good throughout (David Koepp, again a Spielberg regular).
This film also has something, which also is a ‘Spielberg regular’ – The Alien! It comes in one scene, without dialogues. Spielberg’s love for the aliens is widely seen in most of his movies.

Harrison Ford is terrific as Indy. He looks like the same man from the previous three movies, without being worn down by his age. He is fit, muscular and casual. This time, he pairs with his son and his first heroine (from Raiders of the lost Arc), to uncover the secret behind a crystal skull. It has been filmed in such a way that the tone of the film is exactly like the previous 3 movies. It’s not digital, and it has the same kind of color shading. It figures that comic book kind of look also throughout. The stunts are also enjoyable. The chase inside the jungle, the final confrontation, the bike chase – every stunt has been well done.

Overall, this movie will make you smile – Go see Indy and cheer for him, as he exactly carries on from what he left 19 years ago - adventure in full throttle !