We — and here I am thinking of humanity in general — have this annoying habit of hoping for that which has yet to transpire. Along with this hope comes a certain set of expectations. Whether or not things live up to what we imagine is another set of circumstances entirely, whether it’s a first kiss, first date, college in general, or — in my case — the last couple movies I’ve seen.
Now, this is not to say that “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” and “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” were disappointments. On the contrary; I could see myself sitting through both of them again. That said, what I expected and what their respective directors actually delivered — those were horses of different colors, or however the cliché goes.
I’ll start off with Narnia, as I wasn’t grossly let down by the experience, unlike some people — who may or may not be writing a fascinating series on the film versus C.S. Lewis’ original vision here. The sequel to the hit remake of “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe,” “Caspian” puts our heroes, the four Penevensies back in Narnia almost 1,300 years after the events of the previous film transpired. This has to do with vastly out-of-sync timelines and all of that, but basically, the two kings and two queens of Old Narnia return to find their beloved land occupied by the hostile forces of the neighboring people of Telmar.
Upon meeting the deposed Prince Caspian, rightful heir to the Telmarine throne and nephew to the usurper Miraz, our heroes strategize with the few remaining Narnians — talking beasts, dwarves, all that lot — to drive out the Telmarines, restore Caspian to the throne, and bring the Old Magic back to the land. What follows is a classic David-and-Goliath type of story where the bad guys get their eventual comeuppance and the good guys live happily ever after as Regina Spektor plays the audience out with a touching, yet very out-of-place ballad.
Andrew Adamson’s vision of Narnia lives on in this sequel, but I found he couldn’t quite decide on pushing his film toward its epic “Lord of the Rings” tendencies or sticking with the original plot and deep underlying theologies of the book. The result was a film that was caught somewhere in between that suffered because of it. Half-developed relationships that had no traction in the original plot line (I’m looking at you, Susan and Caspian) only hurt it more.
That said, Narnia, in all its savage grandiose glory, came to life for me. Adamson really drove the point home when it came to showing that no amount of self-reliance would bring victory, only faith in the great lion Aslan. And Georgie Henley’s Lucy Pevensie stole the show every time she was on screen.
If I see it again, I’ll be sure to see the version without subtitles.
Now, Indiana Jones was another matter entirely. We’re all in accord that when it comes to his career, George Lucas is an Old Yeller, are we not? For all of his past brilliance, we should just put his work out of its misery before it does anymore damage. Lucas and director Steven Spielberg pulled something brilliant and downright special out of thin air when they first conceived of the adventuring archaeologist over 20 years ago. Drafting Harrison Ford for the role only further cemented the character in our collective minds as the pinnacle of swashbuckling, whip-brandishing machismo and probably bolstered the sale of fedoras tenfold.
Simply put, the original trilogy (even the black sheep “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom”) are epic. There’s no other way to put it. From the first moment when a silhouetted Ford whipped the gun out of the hand of a cowardly guide to the very end, where Ford and Sean Connery bicker over nicknames, we have been entranced.
So, it should have been with nothing short of reverence that Spielberg, Lucas, and screenwriter David Koepp approached the series for one last hurrah. Over the course of its production, we had heard rumors — Koepp and Spielberg had a completed script and were totally ecstatic, only to have Lucas crap all over it — but they had sold Harrison Ford on the story, so we had nothing to worry about, right? Sure, Lucas really screwed the pooch on his Star Wars prequels, but he wasn’t anywhere near the director’s chair this time around. What went wrong?
I can sum it up in one word: wacky.
In a later interview during the production of “Crystal Skull,” reporters asked Lucas about a disagreement over the story line in which Spielberg had to put his foot down. Lucas said something to the tune of, “We came to a compromise. It wasn’t as wacky as I would have liked, but it’ll work.” That was the red flag, right there. Giving this man input on any element on the creative process outside of the pretty pretty light show from Industrial Light & Magic was a mistake. Don’t get me wrong; he has accomplished great things and captured the imaginations of scores of people, but at this point in his life, he should be basking in the glory of it all, not trying to relive it.
Anyway, enough ranting. “Skull” takes a distinctly sci-fi twist by pitting our beloved and aging Indy against the KGB (this is the 1950s, after all) in a race to unravel the mystery surrounding a crystal skull that looks like nothing from this world. There’s plenty of car chases, nods to the old films for those paying attention (keep an eye out for the Ark of the Covenant!), manly fisticuffs, and one-liners to cover three more movies in this two-odd hour flick. Heck, Shia LaBoeuf’s presence didn’t rattle me one bit, as though he seemed to recognize that Ford was who the audience came to see. That isn’t to say his greaser-turned-adventurer Mutt Williams wasn’t completely without fault, especially when it came to a bout of vine swinging à la George of the Jungle (I blame Lucas for this one too). In fact, I could say I was totally enthralled up until the end, which I won’t spoil.
Probably the single biggest disappointment I have with this film is that Indiana Jones was more of a professor than ever this time around — perhaps this is a flaw in the directing. Any old Tom, Dick, or Harry knows that films are about showing, not telling — and there was certainly a lot of the latter in “Skull.” Indy, we know you’re deciphering the odd-looking glyphs around the map; we don’t need a play-by-play of your thought process. A good fifteen minutes of dialogue probably could have been cut just by using the camera to let the audience in on what was going on. Mr. Koepp, Mr. Spielberg: have a little more faith in the viewers. We’re not as dumb as you think.
Like “Caspian,” this is an experience worth the price of a movie ticket, if only to help one appreciate the brilliance of its prequel[s] a little more. While this may be it for Indy, there’s still five more shots at Narnia for Adamson to get it right again. I have faith that he can.
