The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

So I just finished watching Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and have it feel a tad ambiguous about the whole venture. If you haven't seen it and you want to, I'll warn you now don't read on. I'm discussing several aspects of the movie that may spoil the whole thing for you, or it may not.




I had been told that the movie was about aliens before I watched it, some friends had told me. No surprise there. Oh wait let me correct myself - I was told it was about aliens, but they were in fact inter-dimensional beings according to George Lucas and Steve Spielberg. Moving on... Over all the movie was well crafted and followed the rules of the previous movies very nicely, but it really wasn't an Indiana Jones movie. It may have worked better if it was a Laura Croft movie or if there weren't three other Jones movies. The people I know who really liked Crystal Skull had not seen all of the other Jones movies before watching the fourth installment. It may be that having not seen the first three, the fourth's incongruity isn't as apparent. I don't know, I have seen the first three.

I discovered there's a reason for the incongriuty when I watched the "making of" featurette on the DVD. The writer of the script said he wrote the fourth installment as if the other three hadn't happened. He said he maintained the continuum by using the "rules" put forth in the other three movies... no wonder it doesn't really fit! Because while it looks like the other three, flows like the other three, is set up the same as the other three, even has the same repeated scenes as the other three - it's written as if the other three never happened! Yet that's not my only issue...

Why is Marion Ravenwood back in this movie? And how old is Mud Williams?

And why is Cate Blanchett's accent not consistent in the first third of the movie? Was she filming Elizabeth II at the same time (btw I really enjoy Cate Blanchett, I think she's an amazing actress)?!

And if the Russians knew about the recovered alien body that is buried in the government warehouse at Area 51, then why the hell didn't they know about the Ark of the Covenant hidden in the same warehouse, particularly after the car chase (which occurs in the gigantic warehouse) breaks the crate open and reveals a corner of the Ark. Wouldn't the Ark be an all powerful weapon that the Russians could use instead of unproven crystal skulls?!
And apparently the only people who work at Area 51 are the MPs who guard the gate to the base - and perhaps some other people who are setting off the atomic bomb, or is it supposed to be a hydrogen bomb, since the atomic bomb had already been dropped during WWII? Or was the atomic explosion to remind us that the movie takes place in the atomic age, in case we forgot?

And really aliens?! I mean I totally understand the whole idea of making Indy 4 an homage to those B Alien movies of the 50s, but it would have been a better movie if it wasn't aliens at all. Aliens are too easy and ridiculous. I think what most disturbs me about the whole use of aliens is the fact that its based on the assumption that meso-American and South American (particularly Mayan) peoples could not possibly develop civilization on their own. They needed help figuring out irrigation and masonry and agriculture and all that from some supreme extraterrestrial beings There's no possible way that the peoples who populated the pre-Columbian Americas could have possibly become the most sophisticated agricultural societies to ever exist. Aliens must of helped them. And even if you expand that idea to include all ancient peoples, as they most certainly suggest - its still vaguely offensive, but mostly just stupid. Stupid... stupid... stupid.

I am really happy that Lucas and Spielberg wanted to do something with meso-American archaeology, but it probably would have been a better choice to use actual Mayan cosmology, legends, and artifacts. I think its a poor decision on their part to choose an artifact that has been prove to be utterly fake (btw three major museums own three of the original skulls - the Smithsonian, the British Museum, and the Musée du quai Branly).

Okay so I think I'm finished ranting... for now. I will end though by saying I still enjoyed the movie... its just not an Indiana Jones movie. Well let me restate that: it doesn't really fit in the previous continuum.

Here's a link to Wikipedia about the actual crystal skulls: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_skull

Now I just need to complete week five's assignment. =)