Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Stars:
Harrison Ford
Cate Blanchette
Karen Allen
John Hurt
Shia LaBeouf

Can we handle another Indiana Jones sequel? The answer is a resounding yes. 19 years on, we are treated to the fourth sequel of this successful franchise. The year is 1957, and this time round a scruffy-looking Indy takes on the Commies after having outwitted the Nazis in two previous installments. Like the Nazis, the Russians (or more correctly, Soviets) are after certain archeological artifacts that will lead the path to world domination. Like the Nazis, they also take the short-cut way by getting Indy to lead them straight to their objects of desire.

The movie starts off with the Russians easily breaking into the famed Area 51, with Indy on a leash to sniff out this thing that is kept together with other items of secret. You might have guessed that the warehouse was also the storage for the Ark of the Covenant, and indeed in the ensuing mayhem, the crate keeping the fabled Ark crashes down and splits open partially to reveal its contents but catches no one's attention. The Russians were more consumed by an alien carcass (it is Area 51, after all) and gunning down Indy, in which the shoot-em-up and chase ended up with the detonation of an atomic bomb. How good was that as the opening gambit?

In this epic, Indy gets involved in a quest for a crystal skull that is linked to the fabled golden city of El Dorado. He goes in search of a friend Oxley (John Hurt) who is missing in Peru looking for the skull. With the Russians hot on his heels, he is joined by his sidekick (Shia LeBeouf) and later his ex-girlfriend (Karen Allen) in an adventure through the jungles of South America, complete with pulsating action involving car chases in the Amazon jungle, swordfights, flesh-devouring ants, Tarzan manoeuvres with the accompaniment of the familiar theme song.

At 65, Harrison Ford does not look much more wrinkled than he did in the previous installment, The Last Crusade, and the story does bring the timeline forward to 1957 to account for his advancing years. Donning the trademark fedora, he still manages to dodge bullets with youthful agility, crack his whip masterfully and catapult from one moving vehicle to another with amazing ease.

The rest of the cast ably supports the movie, with Karen Allen reprising her role from Raiders as the feisty Marion Ravenwood. I normally find sidekicks annoying but Shia LaBeouf played out his role well as "Mutt" Williams, even likeable as a wannabe hero who contributes to some of the action as well comic relief. I wonder if naming him "Mutt" has any parallels with Indy adopting his own nickname name from a dog ("Indiana is our family dog", Henry Jones Sr famously said in the Last Crusade). The villainous Russian, Irina Spalko, was well assumed by the talented Cate Blanchette, who must have had so much fun with the dominatrix makeover. Real Russians were casts as baddies, for the authentic accent perhaps, although their main duties were mostly to train their guns at Indy or to shoot at him.

So, how good is this movie? It's not Raiders Of The Lost Ark for sure, I doubt if any sequels will ever reach such impossible heights. It compares favourably with the other three, with more team effort here compared to before, although no one steals the show from Indy. While the pulsating action was served up in sufficient quantities, this mythological plot is perhaps less riveting compared to the others before and the ending is weak; it also would have been more satisfying if the story kept in tune with mysticism rather than lean towards sci-fi at the finale.

If this sequel was done a few years after the third, it may have been slightly disappointing, but after 19 years, it was refreshing to see a new Indy adventure that rolls back the years, kinda like watching a movie in the 80's and 90's without the elaborate CGI (save the hogs). I for one was happy that Lucas and Spielberg stuck to the old formula and Lucas reaffirming himself a master storyteller. This sequel did not carry the expectations laboured on the Star Wars prequels, and delivered just about everything; the action, humour, story and most of all, a Harrison Ford that remained a solid Indiana Jones.

Iron Man

Stars:
Robert Downey Jr.
Jeff Bridges
Gwyneth Paltrow
Terrence Hill

There are people out there that would say that if they didn't watch another movie about comic superheroes in their lifetime, then it's still too soon. Well, movies about comic superheroes are big money spinners and there will be more coming to the cinemas near you before you can say "Obadiah Stane".

Iron Man is the first of the four superhero movies slated for 2008 (the others being The Incredible Hulk, Hellboy 2 and The Dark Knight) and it does not disappoint. I've always been a big fan of Iron Man comics, so when I first heard about Iron Man being featured in the big screen, I was rather thrilled. I was also interested in who's going to play Tony Stark. Robert Downey Jr., it turns out got the role and while he was not quite what I had imagined Tony Stark would be, he nevertheless turned on a brilliant display as expected, totally dominating the proceedings and provided an added dimension to the movie.

The other characters were well cast, Jeff Bridges with a shaved head and a bushy beard plays Obadiah Stane who appears like a conniving entity from the start although without the usual boundless energy that he normally radiates. Tony Stark's Girl Friday, Pepper Potts, was elegantly played by Gwyneth Paltrow. Gwyneth as usual, delivered her lines with such immaculate poise that has long been her charm and trademark. She does however, appear to be even more anorexic than before and a few extra pounds would do her no harm. The role of Jim Rhodes went to Terence Howard, whose role was minimal here at best, but would be certainly be featured more prominently in Iron Man sequels (oh yes, there will be a sequel alright).

In typical Hollywood trend there were the expected deviations from the actual comic premise and characters. James Rhodes, Tony's pilot and best friend is a Colonel in the US Air Force here, Obadiah Stane is the CEO of Stane International but portrayed as the Number Two in Stark Industries, Jarvis is Tony's butler in the comics and appears here as a robot-assistant to Tony. Finally, the scenario of the origin of the armour changed from Vietnam to the Afghan conflict to better reflect the present-day political landscape. Following this, the character of Yinsen was understandably changed from Chinese to that of Afghan origins.

The story goes that Stark is captured by militants while on a trip to Afghanistan, and while being forced to manufacture a missile for the militants, he instead conjures up a crude piece of armour complete with jet boots and weapons to facilitate his escape. He returns home to discover a link between his arms manufacturing company and the militants, and proceeds to reinvent a better armoured suit, dons it and sets out to put things right.

What I had hoped for? A bit more of the action (it is after all a superhero story) and the better final battle. It may more satisfying to see the Iron Monger dispatched with a flurry of repulsor rays from a fully armoured Iron Man, rather than a battle-scarred superhero that's missing a glove and helmet. Gwyneth Paltrow was perhaps wasted in a role was underused and will be looking to see more of her in the sequel.

What's good about the movie? It's fun, it's energetic....real comicbook stuff, Robert Downey's Tony Stark, the fabulous special effects and the humour; comical scenes and witty exchanges. Now that we are done with origins of Iron Man, I very much look forward a complete adventure in the upcoming sequel.

Street Kings

Stars:

Keanu Reeves

Forest Whitaker

Hugh Laurie

Ok, this one caught my attention because it starred Keanu Reeves. Street Kings refers to the band of LAPD officers who rule the streets of LA much like the law enforcers in The Shield, only this is on a far bigger scale. At first, it appears that this is the run of the mill cops and robbers shoot-em-up, but as the story unfolds, it slowly develops into web of crooked cops and cover-ups.

Keanu Reeves reprises his usual role as a tough and perpetually brooding reluctant hero. The show starts with him waking up and immediately draws his gun (why I don't know), then proceeds to throw up in the can after going through the bathroom routine. We know it is not morning sickness as it was sunset then instead of sunrise. He then kick starts the body count by mercilessly gunning down some Korean baddies, including a guy that was taking a crap at the time. A fellow cop remarks," How can you shoot a guy taking a dump? I mean, seriously, that's sacred. That's like shooting a man in church". As the plot progresses, we get the picture that these cops don't play by the rules, inviting Internal Affairs to sniff about, having cops snitching on other cops and the top cop covering up for those under him.

The cover ups are aplenty and amazingly simple to execute, where hardly anyone gets suspicious, and Internal Affairs can only fish around for leads. Perhaps it is that simple with the right assistance, as acquittals of cops in Rodney King beating and the recent Sean Bell shooting may suggest.

The show becomes more appealing once it demonstrates that the main focus is not the body count and there is actually much more to that, with some intrigue thrown in when you wonder which of the cops are actually crooked. For movies to work for me, I need to feel an attraction for the cast. The acting accolades go to Forest Whitaker who plays the top cop, and Hugh Laurie as the Internal Affairs captain. Oscar recipient Forest Whitaker was energetic and animated and with Hugh Laurie, it's pretty much like watching Dr. Gregory House in action. There are a few recognizable faces in the supporting cast, notably John Corbett from My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Chris Evans aka The Human Torch from the Fantastic Four and Cedric The Entertainer from, well, small roles in a whole bucketload of movies.

The story digresses in the addition of the tale of the death of Reeves' adulterous wife, which adds nothing to the story, or to the morality to Reeves' character. Her death was used in a pathetic attempt by Reeves at empathizing with a dead cop’s wife, which was a cheap shot that probably did not work anyway.

In a nutshell, there is sufficient action (gunfights and fistfights), intrigue, credible storyline and acting to make watching the movie worthwhile. Surprisingly, it only created a ripple in the box office, with the run in most local cinemas coming to an end after only 3 weeks. Perhaps, many thought that it was going to be a no brainer shooting flick due to the lack of advertorial promotion. For me, a no brainer shooting flick with Keanu Reeves is still watchable. The more than decent supporting cast and the depth of the story turned out to be an added bonus.