DVD Report

Jason Katzman

Being a boxing fan, it’s very sad to watch a once intimidating fighter step into the ring for what’s inevitably that one fight too many. Even sadder is that it happens all the time to professional athletes of all stripes. They simply don’t realize the skills they once had are no longer there and they can’t perform at the level they once did. It’s apparent to everyone in the world, but not to them.

This is how I feel watching Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. And it’s not that the film is bad, it’s just that it’s not what it once was. Ironically, though, it’s not an aging Harrison Ford that increases the nostalgia for a younger version of himself. At 65, Ford still seems every bit the character. He’s able to do all the things he once did, yet he’s also a little wiser and just enough less capable to remind us of his limitations. Director Steven Spielberg and writer/producer George Lucas are more responsible for that sense of nostalgia. The excitement is gone and their ideas just don’t seem that interesting anymore. It’s a fourth movie in a series and everything is just, well, old.

Since Indiana Jones has aged almost 20 years and the previous films were set in the 1930s, it only makes sense to set Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in the 1950s. It’s just that I never thought of Indiana Jones as being hokey, and Lucas’ story idea to have Indy searching for some artifact of an alien race is goofy. Sure, it’s myth just like the Ark of the Covenant, but the alien skull thing is a cliché. The mystery surrounding Raiders of the Lost Ark is gone and that’s partly due to the nature of DVD. The extras here don’t disappoint as virtually every secret of the making of the film is revealed. There are featurettes on all the major action sequences as well as touching interviews with cast and crew about their experiences over the course of the series.

Kingdom of the Crystal Skull may be more of a tribute or love letter to the series as well as its own thing. Bringing back Marion Ravenwood (Karen Young) to help wrap things up suggests none of the other leading ladies ever measured up. On the other hand, Mutt (Shia LeBeouf), is more a commercial tool than a useful character, screaming out for the possibility of a “Son of Indiana Jones” film.