Indiana Jones Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Waiting for Indiana Jones 4 was like waiting at a store for your favorite star wars toy or waiting for the world’s best supercar to be unveiled. Indiana Jones Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was worth the wait for a fan such as me. Before going to the cinema’s I had watched all three of its prequels to get the feeling back of having Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones back. After exiting the cinema I was humming the theme, a friend of mine gave me a smirk when he heard me and I was like, “what?” Kingdom of the Crystal Skull continues about 20 years after the incidents of The Last Crusade. He is faced with a search to find a crystal skull that promises great power to the person who returns it to its rightful place. Joining the cast is Shia LaBeouf (transformers) and Karen Allen (Marion from Indiana Jones and the Lost Ark). There are quite a few linkups that are done with this movie and its last installment (in spoilers). Even though Harrison ford is old (and looks fragile) he still has the stamina to do most of his stunts. At the age of 66, it’s still a sight to see Indiana Jones and having his whip fly around.
The movie is based on a theme that has been in talks by us for a long time, but I guess Lucas was able to handle the theme with ease (of course you have Spielberg there). The cast were new but they did hold up in the expectation. Unlike the older ones that had a recurring sole of Salah, Brody or Hendry Jones Senior, who are missing and it is felt in the movie who were there to make the mood a little lighter. Kingdom of the Crystal Skull shows in a scene Indiana looking at his father’s picture (Connery) and Brody (Elliott). Even though I enjoyed the movie a lot but it did not surpass the feel that Lost Ark had or Last Crusade had and with all the bloopers going around on the internet I feel that someone made little messes along the way while editing.

All in all I would rate this movie a 8.5/10.

Spoiler Alert !!!!
The movie starts off with German soldiers hauling out a hat and two men from the boot of a car. Only the hat is shown and some one walks up to the hat and up its on (only shadow), it’s Indy. Russians want to locate a crate that Indy had helped put in the storage shown in the end of Last Crusade. The crate contains something highly magnetic. Indy finds it by the use of gun powder and the contents of a bullet. When uncovered it showed an alien that has been frozen and in the crate. Indy escapes the Russians, with the theme in the background, by locking himself in a fridge in an area located for nuclear testing.
Basically the movie is based on a theme of aliens. The mysterious crystal skull that indy has to find is the skull of an alien head that was removed (surgically by FBI it seems) and it was lost for sometime. Shia is the one that asks Indy to go and look for the professor and his mum (Karen Allen).
Indy sets off after the trail left by the professor, he does find the professor and Karen. A few minutes later it is discovered that Shia is Indy’s son, Hendry Jones the third (that scene cracked me up). The adventure ends with Indy returning the skull and an alien space craft vanishing into think air. Indy addresses Shia LaBeouf as Junior (being Hendry Jones the 3rd) like his father used to do, then there is the end when Shia LaBeouf picks up the hat of indy and is in the process of wearing it, Ford snatches it off his hands. It was like saying “Its not your time right now ... Junior”.

The Forbidden Kingdom

I remember the first time I heard about this movie (it was an untitled project then) that Jet Li and Jackie Chan were supposed to be in the same movie. It was a moment in time that I had started thinking of what the story concepts would have been like to have these two icons appear in a single frame. The storyline of the movie is that a stick made of gold is kept with an old video shop owner who is waiting for the stick to be picked up by its rightful owner. It so happens that the young kid who is interested so much into kung fu movies is the one chosen to make journey and return it. Like all the other Chinese fantasy movies, Forbidden Kingdom also takes the same path.
Filled with magic, mischief and martial arts, this movie stands out from the others. Jackie Chan plays a drunken martial arts master and Jet Li plays Sun Wukong (Monkey King) both of whom accompany Jason in his journey. There is a scene in a temple when for the first time Li and Chan are shown on screen and they end up fighting for the staff. The movie shows that both have the same amount of power and stamina during the fight scene. Li possesses mystical powers like multiplying himself with just a strand of hair (genetic cloning? But this was instant) any ways he possessed more than just replicating (if you want to call that), powers like being able to command his stick to fight without him actually holding it. Even though the actor who plays Jason is the central character in the movie, his character is dull when Li and Chan appear on the screen, either during fight scenes or just talking to him. I guess that’s what we call on screen charisma.

Spoiler:


Movie opens with Jet Li fighting in the clouds (actually mountains very high up) with soldiers, next Jason is shown on screen dreaming that fight sequence. After the credits Jason goes and buys a few martial arts action movies from an old Chinese video shop owner. On his departure from the shop he gets into a fight which he looses, the victor finds out that he has been buying movies from the old Chinese man and takes him to the shop to pretend that he came to buy movies but his motive was to steal cash. During the robbery the victor (of the fight) shoots the shop owner and Jason runs away with the golden staff he saw earlier. They chase him to a roof top from where Jason falls off.
Jason awakes up in a village in China and he is again chased by some soldiers (Chinese army) where is saved by a drunken martial arts master (Jackie Chan). Who tells him that he is responsible to return the stick to the rightful owner and he is not going to help in its return. The stick is stolen from Jason by Jet Li, which initiates a fight between Chan and Li. Matters are solved, and they both start teaching Jason martial arts. Jason ends up in a dual after Chan is injured in an escape and he needs the potion that will give Chan eternal life. Li comes to Jason’s rescue just when he was about to be killed and the staff is returned. The Jet Li that accompanied Jason on his journey turns out to be a clone(?).
The monkey god is awoken from his 400 years sleep and all ends well, with Jason back in the right place, defeats the guy who bullied him in the starting of the movie.
Over all I would rate this movie 8/10 (I guess I m a fan of Li and Chan and I like their scenes).

Iron Man

I remember way back in 1993 when I picked up my first Iron man comic from a supermarket, I went home in a rush and started flipping through the pages of the hero who wore a metallic suit with colors like hot rod red and yellow. Just like its counterpart, Marvel had introduced a lot of heroes to the Marvel universe and now finally we see a movie version of the hero in the IRON suit. The movie according to many reviews I have read, and agreed with, is closest to the character of Iron Man you can get. The suit looks like it is just out of the comic books, the scenery and the tone of the movie is just perfect.
Even though I m not a Marvel fan, I still read comics of the character that I like. (so I m not a dedicated DC fan, shoot me). Over the years of enjoying cinematic pieces, this is the third time I m able to enjoy a movie that has stayed true to its, comic roots you can say.

Spoiler:
The movie starts off with the natives of Afghanistan taking Toney Stark (Robert Downey Jr) hostage and are asking to build the Jericho missile (shown in the trailers). Stark builds a suit that enables him to punch through walls and escape (with the spectacular flame thrower) and return to his home. There on the story takes place with Stark realizing what he had been doing, being the merchant of death, and plans to rid the people who took him hostage off the weapons that he had been building for the US Military.
Stark is assisted in this task by his personal AI named Jarvis, which he had built and which controls his house. There are a number of scenes that show Stark doing some tests on his suits (before it is put together) like his rocket boosters in the boots and in the palms of his suit. All this while after his escape the Afghanis are piecing together the suit that Stark had left in the desert after this escape. Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges) is shown as the guy who had assisted Stark’s dad when he was alive and helps the young Stark with his fathers business. Stane later is shown as the guy who had planned the kidnapping and murder of Stark, because the plan had failed Stane kills the Afghanis, and takes the suit from them and builds a bigger version for himself. Both the men battle atop the roof of Stark Industries in the finally.
The movie ends with a secret group that had an alibi ready for Stark because the media had been accusing him of being Iron Man. The final words in the movie was Tony Stark admitting “I m Iron Man”.

When I first heard of the director Jon Favreau, I was like ok this is a new director for me, and I didn’t know which movies he had made. But it so turned out I saw a number of his movies and I really liked them. Robert Downey JR is by far the best choice for Tony Stark for any director, he has the charisma and the talent to fit into roles like gloves. Gwyneth Paltrow did a good job also but the role was very short for an actress of her talent (unless they are planning more for her in the sequel). Terence Howard and Jeff Bridges were just right also, I did hear that Howards character will have a bigger role in the sequels, and as for Bridges, well he is an actor in his own class. All in all the movie can be rated as an 9/10 overall. Good work Favreau, I just hope Marvel gives you the reins of the sequel.

Also: I was told that Nick Fury makes a cameo in this movie right in the end, scolding Stark for this action and inform him of the Avenger Initiative. I didn’t sit till the end of the credits but I should be able to catch Nick Fury in the DVD’s once it gets released.

One Missed Call

Faint heartbeat growing louder, panting sound coming from a child and then a scream, this is what sets the pace for this movie from the very beginning. Although am not a big fan of horror movies, One Missed Call had me starting at my LCD screen in the middle of the night with it being source of illumination for my room. I stared at the movie and wondered where I had seen a similar story line. Until you see the third death in the movie it is mostly a blur of events that keeps you guessing about what the movie hold.

Plot:
The movie starts of with a hospital on fire and a little girl being carried by a fireman who asks about her mom. The girl doesn’t reply but it is known that there is something that happened that wasn’t supposed to. The very next screen after the credits roll the movie starts with deaths all around. People getting killed and all the killings seem unexplained. Right till the end we are kept guessing what was the reason for the deaths and why it was happening.

The movie was made with good quality special effects (not too much) and the cast were very fitting in their roles (all the way down to their expressions). It was really cool to watch what effect artists can do with a face if they have it their computer. I did enjoy One Missed Call but it had a strange and uncanny resemblance to Final Destination. I have to admit after watching all part of Final destination one is rather hooked to the scenario of death around us being unexplained or of supernatural origin. I guess this movie tried to do just that but was deliberately made different so that it doesn’t look like another notch in the Final Destination franchise.

This movie had its share of freaky time on screen compared to the two previous movies I had watched. Over all I would rate this movie 6.5/10

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