In the late 70s Harrison Ford was mainly Han Solo to me. He’d been in other films, but it just seemed as if that’s who’d he be. George Lucas was on a roll with a dark sequel to Star Wars in The Empire Strikes Back. Steven Spielberg seemed to be in a bit of slump after the big-budget 1941. But then the announcement came out about Raiders of the Lost Ark starring Ford with Lucas and Spielberg involved and I was 14 and very excited about it. I hadn’t seen the serials that were the inspiration, but I really wanted to see a fun summer movie. From the very start of Raiders of the Lost Ark I loved it.
Some people are a bit perplexed by the excitement and glee anticipating the new Indiana Jones film, and if you know the context, I think it’s a bit easier to understand. The first film came out before E.T., Ghostbusters, Time Bandits, and in the same summer as the James Bond film For Your Eyes Only with Roger Moore as Bond. Other summer movies from 1981 were Cannonball Run, Superman II, Stripes, Endless Love, Outland, and Escape from New York. Raiders of the Lost Ark managed to balance the excitement, the fun and the attitude that we were watching a film with a more old-fashioned style of filmmaking that relied on a lot of solid stunts and cinematography to tell a story.
On opening day I went to see the new film and was a bit nervous. But when the old Paramount logo came up and then dissolved into the film with a matching mound of dirt, I started to feel a bit better. When the hat appeared and then the very recognizable shadow was cast, I was along for the ride. It’s fun and self-aware and is firmly in the tradition of the first three films, but also has some subtle shifts reflected the changes in society, the filmmakers, the characters and the actors. While Spielberg is a much more mature and serious director now, I have to say that it’s much more enjoyable to see him making a film with the only purpose being to have fun. Steven Spielberg is a master of constructing a scene and a sequence so they are visually interesting and also reveal important information. Lovingly photographed by Janusz Kaminski in a style that matches the original films, it feels like a film from the 50s in terms of the beautiful images of the actors, the locations and sets.
Harrison Ford is older now, but he still is great to look at and it’s so very nice to see an actor who isn’t hiding his age. The loveliest surprise is the reappearance of Karen Allen as Marion Ravenwood. She’s full of energy and is still stunning and has a great chemistry with Ford. Cate Blanchett has fun going over the top as a Soviet agent with an Edith Head haircut and an accent straight from films of the 50s. As usual, Blanchett is wonderful to watch do just about anything on screen and this time she has the opportunity to fight with a sword. Overall the actors just seem to be having a whole lot of fun.
I’ve seen it twice now and the second time was with my son, who is 11 and he hasn’t seen any of the other Indiana Jones films, so I was wondering what he would think of it. I didn’t have to worry very long because a few minutes into one of the earlier action sequences he looked over at me with a big smile on his face. It was a lot of fun and even though he hasn’t seen the other films, I think that he will like them too. He even spotted something that I missed before, which was the classic sound in-joke which is the Wilhelm scream. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is good old-fashioned fun and it’s reminded me of the joy of watching a summer movie.
