Unspooled

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Theatrical Review

The fourth installment of the adventures of Indiana Jones was another of those will they/won’t they films which has been rumoured as more than a possibility since the completion of the Last Crusade some twenty years ago. Harrison Ford is reported as saying that if Spielberg had not settled on a story by 2008, they should just leave it and clearly not wanting to miss an opportunity, he picked a script by David Koepp’s based on George Lucas’s story and Indiana Jones’s 50’s adventure was go. The Russians replace the Germans and the Cold War provides the setting for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, in which Indy is forced to assist the Ruskie’s in uncovering the secrets of the legendary skulls and their link to El Dorado, the lost city of gold.

Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’s first act is certainly the best, Indy is re-introduced as he arrives at Area 51 in the Nevada desert to assist Cate Blanchett’s commie tyrant in finding a mummified corpse hidden in a giant warehouse. He’s joined by his sidekick Ray Winstone, who quickly becomes another pal who is really working for the other side…or is he…and we’re soon watching a typical Indy set piece as he escapes from the Ruskie’s clutches. All is well at this point, we’ve had the hat, the whip and amusing references to old adventures, but then he survives a nuclear blast by hiding inside a fridge.

That disregard for reality sets the tone for the remainder of the film. Instead of an exciting, twisting plot on just the right side of unbelievable, we get a boring, linear storyline relayed in tedious clumps of incoherent dialogue sounding like the archeological equivalent of Star Trek’s techno-babble, and the sight of Indy becoming as indestructible as John McClane and a T-1000 combined. When the cast are not speaking the clearly Lucas-penned nonsense, they’re taking part in the soulless action sequences. Although sword fighting across two moving vehicles may sound exciting, it just wasn’t, and neither is escaping killer ants (really) or wandering around identi-kit sets avoiding clichéd natives.

But none of this is as bad as Harrison Ford’s mugging to the camera. Gone was that roguish charm that made the Jones character such a winner, replaced by feeble jokes, out-of-character tics – the speech when they get stuck in the quicksand for example – and a total loss of his sense of wonder when things got strange. And they get very strange indeed, as the Crystal Skull belongs to an alien! But none of this fazes Indy as he plods on towards the finale of A.I. which had somehow got stapled over the end of Indy 4’s script. Any fearful respect of powers greater than us, which made Raiders more thrilling and believable, is entirely missing from the Scooby-Doo meets the X-files final act.

Aside from Harrison following the plot’s megawatt beacons we have John Hurt’s gibbering madman, Cate Blanchett’s wobbly accented baddie, Karen Allen’s throw-away reprise of Marion Ravenwood and Shia LaBeouf’s Mutt, whose good performance and first act motorcycle chase – which is the movie’s best – is spoiled by his later transformation into Tarzan. Add in a car attacked by monkeys helping our heroes, some less than impressive CGI and spark-free direction from Spielberg and you’ve got a film which is a crushing disappointment.

It’s not to say the film is so awful you cannot sit through it, but expectations must be kept in check. Don’t expect Raiders, the Last Crusade or even Temple of Doom, forget this features a much-loved character and set something like Sahara as the benchmark and you may gain some satisfaction, however if you thought George Lucas should never have picked up a pen again after The Phantom Menace, or would prefer to keep your memories of what has passed clean and unsullied, don’t see this. In fact, let’s just put this down to experience and pretend it didn’t really happen at all.

2 out of 5

Director:  David Cronenberg
Starring: Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis and John Getz
Region 1, 2 discs.
Out Now

Directed by David Cronenberg, The Fly is a remake of the original 1958 version of the same name.  Although the concept is basically the same, much has changed for the better elsewhere, making this an unusual case of the remake being superior to the original.

Scientist Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldblum) invents a teleportation machine and invites journalist Veronica (Geena Davis) to follow his experiment.  During this time, Seth and Veronica fall in love, much to the disappointment of Veronica’s editor and ex-boyfriend Stathis (John Getz).  When Brundle decides to try the machine himself something goes wrong, a simple housefly tags along inside the teleporter and Seth and the Fly are accidentally spliced together, bringing horrific consequences.

David Cronenberg is well known for making very visual, graphic films which are also thought provoking, challenging and well acted, and The Fly does not break this tradition.  While many who saw the movie on its release 20 years ago will remember the more splattery of scenes, this repeat viewing reveals a classic love triangle and Brundle’s intense vulnerability.  It would be very easy to pass The Fly off as just another horror film that serves no purpose except to repulse, but viewers who can see past this will find a serious and actually quite touching film.

The legions of fans that admire Cronenberg’s more graphic work can rejoice too, as The Fly offers ample opportunities to put some impressive special effects work into play.  Whilst not as photo-realistic as today’s overused CGI creations, the traditional effects work on display here give a much more tangible experience and considerable work went into achieving The Fly’s individual look.  On viewing the deleted scenes, The Fly could have been far gorier than it turned out.  This has made the film into something very different, almost like Brundle himself.

The Disc

This new 2 disc DVD is a region 1 edition (it can only be played on machines that accept USA/Canadian DVDs) with a newly designed cover shown to good effect on the card slipcase.  The movie looks fantastic and is presented in an anamorphic 1.85:1 format.  The soundtrack has been remixed into Dolby 5.1 and DTS, with the latter sounding superb.  The first disc has the film and a commentary from Cronenberg.  Considering it was 1986 when he made the film (and has made many others since) Cronenberg is an interesting companion and has much to say about the film and his reasons for making it.

Disc 2 is a real goldmine.  You have the deleted scenes, including the infamous Monkey-Cat and the Butterfly Baby ending, plus the scripts, original press packs and featurettes, test footage and an alternate ending.  The stand out piece though is Fear of the Flesh, a 2-hour-45-minute documentary covering everything from original concept to the release of the film.  Although Cronenberg only pops up occasionally (he said his part in the commentary), the producer, effects team and the actors all give a fascinating in-depth look at how the film was made.  Fear of the Flesh is excellent and worth the price of this set alone.

Conclusion

I enjoyed revisiting The Fly.  I had not seen it for many years and still found it engrossing and disturbing.  Jeff Goldblum is great, as is Geena Davis, who has a far more rounded and interesting character than many other horror movies of the era.  But for me, it is the Cronenberg effect that makes the film stand out.  This is far more mainstream than a lot of his early work, but still deals with the melding of technology and flesh and the effect that it has on ordinary people.  Overall, a fine film is partner to a superb documentary, making this a must-own set for Cronenberg and horror fans alike.

The Hills Have Eyes

Director: Alexandre Aja
Starring: Ted Levine, Kathleen Quinlan, Dan Byrd, Emilie de Ravin
Region 2, Fox Extended Cut
Out Now

Director Alexandre Aja was faced with a similar situation after the success of Haute Tension to Wes Craven when he had finished Last House on the Left. How exactly do you follow up a well-received genre movie? Craven wrote and directed The Hills have Eyes which was suitably different, but retained key themes, to Last House and Aja took on the weighty task of remaking this 70s shocker as his second movie.

While not in the same class as Last House or Nightmare on Elm Street, Hills was still an effective horror with many fans, and remakes can go either way; luckily, this is more Dawn of the Dead than Texas Chainsaw. The movie follows an all-American family as they go on a road trip, but take a short cut through the desert after getting a tip from a gas station attendant. After an accident, the family are stranded and left at the mercy of a group of mutants living in the hills.

The most immediately noticeable thing about the remake is how the back story to the mutants has been padded out. In the original they gave the impression of being in-bred nomads trying to survive, but here they have become victims of US nuclear tests carried out in the 60s, still living in the fake towns that were created for the experiments. This gives them more motive for carrying out their crimes and even more scope for creating some hideous mutations.

This scope is fully exploited by Aja and special FX guru Greg Nicotero. Although CGI is used in the FX sequences, it is used responsibly and is rarely noticeable. In fact, in the case of Laura Ortiz’s Ruby, you would never know it had been used at all. Good old prosthetic make up is used for the majority of the mutants and gore set-pieces and all are as impressively directed as they were in Haute Tension.

As in the original, it is the attack on the trailer that is the stand out piece and also the sequence that fell foul of the censor the most. In this Extended Cut (or Unrated Cut in the USA), all shots are restored, making it even more violent, merciless and powerful than before. Aja’s steady direction doesn’t rush through and the excellent use of the odd soundtrack makes the whole thing highly memorable.

The Hills Have Eyes is scary, violent and gory, backed up by an interesting back story and good acting performances. Alexandre Aja has proved for the second time that he is one of the directors to watch in the horror genre and Hills has taken Dawn of the Dead’s place as the remake against which all others will be judged.

The Disc

Being a modern film, the picture is superb and the sound extremely well mastered. In fact, there are several parts with a lot of sub bass, making the movie great for working out your home cinema system. This is a single disc release from Fox and both region 1 and 2 share similar artwork, neither of which are very good.

This is the only criticism of the package though, as the extras are superb. First we have the Surviving the Hills documentary, which is highly enjoyable and has input from the crew, director and special FX team, plus Wes Craven himself, who was present for some of the shoot.

Then we have two commentaries, one with Alexandre Aja and the writer and producer and one with Wes Craven and Peter Locke, producer of the original. Aja’s track is good, as the man himself is so infectiously enthusiastic about the movie (and movie making in general) that you can’t help have a good time listening to him, but the one to spend time with is Craven and Locke’s.

It’s clear they have a good friendship and the talk is easy and funny. They combine information on the original and the remake, as well as critiquing both movies too. Having Wes’s seal of approval for the remake should give you an idea of the quality of the movie and his belief in Aja as a director.

Conclusion

An identi-kit for what good DVD packages should be. Brilliant sound and picture, a classy film, two commentaries that you can actually listen too without dropping off and an exhaustive documentary that isn’t just filled with clips of the movie. Excellent.