Like every year, this is a cucumber season for journalists, there's nothing going on, there's no league football, there's no extra league hockey, only those blockbuster holiday movies are always famous. Many, many years ago, an aspiring director, who had a glorious future ahead of him, made a film about an archaeology teacher who became a famous icon that people mourned, ripped off, copied. This famous hero had a hat, a whip, and many moments with many gorgeous women who kept fawning all over him. Raiders of the Lost Ark launched quite a fame in 1981, when many of today's teenagers weren't alive. Director Steven Spielberg took his buddy George Lucas and put a lot of good jokes and references to famous historical films, to the brainy comic books and TV shows that always ended with good triumphing over evil, strong and handsome men over evil aliens in his story about an archaeology teacher.
¨ The first episode, Raiders of the Lost Ark, was against the Germans, the second, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, against an evil sect, and the third, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, went back to the Germans and the Second World War, and the main character got his father too.
After 19 long years, the last episode so far, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, is now in our cinemas, which of course has to accommodate the age of the actors, who are not quite 20. The main character is over 60, so there had to be a shift in the plot, where the story no longer focused on the glorious 40s, but started to focus on the glorious 50s, the age of the hypees, but also other age-old problems with great power. In the first episode it was the Ark, in the second it was the Cali sect, and in the third it was Jesus' legacy of immortality.
And so what we're going to see in the last episode is the crystal skull that's at stake, that the bad guys are fighting over again, this time the Russians. The story starts the same way again, the main person's life is on the line, like every episode, but he always pulls through and the story can get off to a good start.
It's good that the filmmakers have taken the plunge and you can see in every bit of the film their enthusiasm and determination to make this film successful and most importantly entertaining for every person. There are references to previous works as well as other films. Each person has their minute to remember, their big moment, their smile that gives this film a wonderful relaxing feeling. This is only the second film this year that I've enjoyed. I'm not planning any more times at the multiplex yet, because somehow this summer I can't seem to find the right mood and especially the right movie to go see, Harry Potter is once every year and a half and Lord of the Rings (The Hobbit) will be coming to our theaters in a very long time, so I prefer to repeat older movies or watch DVDs I collect.
Both Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Shia LaBeouf and Cate Blanchett play the characters very nicely, they make fun of every moment of their part, even John Hurt's barking, and other actors' barking, is beautifully relaxing, hilarious. The cinematography fits the style of the previous installments, but compared to the previous installments, where Douglas Slocombe was behind the camera, the director's court cameraman Janusz Kaminski has allowed himself many camera tricks and images to enjoy, playing with shadows, playing with anamorphic 2.35 : 1 footage and other beautifully effective shots.
What to say in conclusion? The film is really worth going to see, take the whole family, from the schoolchild who hasn't seen the previous episodes to the connoisseurs and gurus who know Indiana Jones through the games, the TV series and of course the first three episodes. Simply for everyone, it's a pity the film didn't come with dubbing, but everything will be properly enjoyed on DVD, where one won't be disturbed by reading the subtitles.
Original release of this article 27 May 2008 – Kritiky.cz
