The early reviews of
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull are in, and it looks like Indy and the gang still have a bit of the old magic. Skull, which reunites the team of director
Steven
Spielberg, producer
George Lucas, and star
Harrison Ford after a 19-year layoff, drew applause at its Cannes premiere, as well as solid — if not spectacular — notices from the critics.
Given that the first three installments are among the seminal film-going experiences of a generation, it’s not completely surprising that The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is
currently being pegged as a cut below
Raiders of the Lost Ark (95 percent),
The Temple of Doom (87 percent), or
The Last Crusade (90 percent).
But fear not, Indy disciples: at 74 percent on the Tomatometer, it appears that
the early negative buzz was overstated. And if it stays on course, Crystal Skull
will join the same Certified Fresh ranks as its predecessors.
Richard Corliss of Time Magazine
writes that “Crystal Skull delivers smart, robust, familiar entertainment.” Variety‘s Todd McCarthy
says, “Director Steven Spielberg and star Harrison Ford have no trouble getting back into the groove with a story and style very much in keeping with what has made the series so perennially popular.” And Roger Ebert
writes, “No Indy adventure can match Raiders of the Lost Ark But if Crystal Skull… had come first in the series, who knows how much fresher it might have seemed?”
However, not all the pundits are sold. Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune
argues Skull “is so nervous about falling into the quicksands of camp it forgets to deliver a good time.” The Hollywood Reporter‘s Kirk Honeycutt
calls it charmless, writing that “the actors are asked to do little more than look reasonably alert. This proves to be Indiana Jones’ greatest challenge.”
RT’s Cannes correspondent Joe Utichi, while not overwhelmed,
found
enough to like: “You get the impression that Spielberg and Lucas did their best to take on board the lessons of the Star Wars prequels, and you are left in no doubt that everyone involved desperately wanted preserve the quality of the franchise.”
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull hits theaters
Thursday, May 22. Check out RT’s features on Spielberg
here, Lucas
here, and Ford
here.
