Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull (2008) Dir: Steven Spielberg
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Pretty much universally considered to be the worst film in the franchise, this legacy sequel is not exactly a classic. It is still directed by the legendary Steven Spielberg, but, as I remember it, it certainly isn't his best work. Still, having rewatched the classic trilogy, I figured I may as well give this one another go.
There was some very dodgy green screen, especially and, at best, decidedly average CGI. In fairness, that CGI isn't bad for 2008 standards, at least. The cinematography wasn't all that impressive, and was very reliant on the aforementioned CGI to give it any sort of scale. It's a shame, because the few bits that were practical, actually looked fairly good.
The story wasted no time in getting very dumb, very quickly. There were so many stupid sequences in this film, be it THAT fridge scene, the forest swinging scene, the anthill scene - I could go on. It honestly was bad scene after bad scene. I just had to laugh. Everything, from the action to the characters was painfully mediocre, never-mind the atrocious narrative, which was riddled with convenience and nonsense.
Harrison Ford gave his weakest performance of any film in the franchise, in my opinion. Say what you will about the film after this, but at least Ford looked like he kind of wanted to be there. This was very much a 'going through the motions' performance, if ever I saw one. I'm glad Ford got the fifth film to say goodbye to Indiana Jones, because this would've been a very shoddy end.
Shia LaBeouf played the Indiana Jones replacement that never was, and a lot of that had to do with his performance. He lacked the charisma and wit of Ford, and really never stood a chance. His acting was timid, even compared to the phoning-it-in Ford. I'm glad the franchise didn't go that way, particularly in light of LaBeouf's storied controversies.
It was sad to see Cate Blanchett playing such a terrible character. I personally rate her quite highly as an actress, but this role really did not suit her. The accent felt very inauthentic, the dialogue was awkward, and her action felt forced. Blanchett is usually such a strong presence, but she was fighting a very uphill battle.
The supporting cast are a very mixed bag, in terms of performances. Karen Allen provides the most bearable or those who play a fairly significant part, while John Hurt was wasted on, and reduced to, a very odd and irritating role. Beyond these two, the only others worth mentioning were Ray Winstone - who played a very annoying and very inconsistent side character, as well as Igor Jijikine and Jim Broadbent, who barely feature.
Overall, I can't believe I'm saying this, but the film has got worse in my estimations than when I last sat through it. I don't want to hear anymore 'Dial Of Destiny' slander, because this makes that look like 'The Raiders Of The Lost Ark'. I can't quite stress enough how dier this film is. I mean seriously, yikes.
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