Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull: Endless Adventure, Unlimited Fun

Duration: 1hr 50 minutes

Genre: Action-Adventure

Directed by: Steven Spielberg

Starring: Harrison Ford, Cate Blanchett, Shia Labeouf, John Hurt

At the outset, I'll put my hand up and say that I have not seen any of the three products of the famous Indian Jones franchisee...so no preconceived notions and no scope for bias for a childhood favorite flick, which would be the case with many a reviews of this movie.

So what do we have here...well, just imagine how much fun can a movie be, and you have got Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of Crystal Skull. Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) caught right in the middle of a nuclear explosion, swordfight atop the army jeeps driving at the breakneck speed through the amazons, the crew caught in the monstrous waterfalls, giant contraptions and mazes...edge of the stuff all through. Spielberg delivers the way only he can.

The movie begins with Indi (Indiana Jones) caught by Russians, led by Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett) who have control over a strategic location in Nevada. A thrilling escape by Indi, not just from the Russians but a nuclear explosion, which incinerates everything (discover how he escapes that). Indi is asked to leave his job as Professor of Archeology due to FBI investigations being carried out about him. Mutt Williams (Shia LeBeouf), the knife-happy street junkie catches Indi and tells him that his old colleague, Oxley (John Hurt) disappeared after discovering a crystal skull. That brings Indi to Peru to solve the crystal maze. Fighting tribals jumping out of caves, escaping quick sand using a snake as rope, caught by the human devoring red ants, Indi and crew discover the crystal skull and finally bring to the place it belongs to, only to discover the secret shrouded behind the legends and mythology of the place.

The movie packs more than a punch, with brilliant performances from everyone. Harrison Ford is still charming at 65 and oozes that rugged style, which makes him the perfect choice for the role. Cate Blanchett is the perfect Russian General (yeah...she gets her R's and T's right). Shia plays the perfect foil to Indi. Amidst all the adventure, Mutt also discovers that Indi is his real father, what with the romantic undercurrents still strong between his mother and Indi. And yes, he does participate in his mother and father's marriage in the end.

So, my advice to you movie buffs is ....IPL can take a back seat. Grab your pop corns and enjoy to hilt.Publish Post

Iron Man: Join in the Fun

Duration: 1hr 50 minutes

Genre: Comic-Book Action-Adventure

Directed by: Jon Favreau

Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeff Bridges

Another one from Marvel stable, and another fantastic rollercoster ride. Iron Man is sheer fun, all through. The plot is simple, but the treatment is grand. The movie starts off with Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), the multi-billionaire head of Stark Industries, the premier manufacturer of hitech weapons. Stark also has a pretty secretary, Pepper Pots (Gwyneth Paltow). Tony Stark is also a top-notch R&D scientist. He lands in Bagram (Afghanistan) to demonstrate his new-breed missiles , which could smoke out terrorists from their hides. Stark proudly claims that this weapon is indeed going to make world safer, only to regret it later. The demo is perfect, but not his ride back. Terrorists attack the convoy and Stark wakes up in a dark cave. And with what...a contraption embedded in his chest to prvent the sharpnels from piercing his heart. And who did that...another felllow prisoner.

Well aware of Stark's capabilities, Pashto and Urdu spreaking terrorists (could you ever imagine that you would get to hear dialgues such as "In kutto pe nazar rakhna" in a mainstream Hollywood movie!) ask him to come up with the missile right there in the captivity. After initial refusal, Stark agrees but only to work on an entirely different thing...Yes! The Iron Man suite. With the help of fellow prisoner, Stark blasts his way out of the cave, before destroying all the ammunition --consisting mostly of high-class weapons from his company that were now property of terrorists.

Stark comes home, and announces at his home-return pressconference that Stark Industries would shut down the production of all the weapons, which were being used against US Army by terrorists, only to be shooed away and kept out of public view by partner, Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges). Stark, the nerd, and now an anti-war protagianist, prepares a much-advanced version of the Iron Man suite. Things take strange turns, when Stark discovers further disturbing truths about the operations of Stark Industries, with her only confidante being Papper. His realization of protecting innocent lives takes him to Afghanistan to give terrorists a taste of their own medicine, but he has his biggest adversary back hom in US. The Good triumphs over the Evil, with enough scope for the Evil to rise from the ashes gain and again be quashed by the Good. Yes, I am talking about a sequel, folks...set for April 2010.

The movie has several things working in its favor. Robert Downey Jr. might not sound like an ultimate superhero stuff, but he essays the role of the Iron Man to the hilt. He is as effortless in being a spoil, aloof rich man as he is being the saviour of the world. Special affects are eyeball-catching stuff. Especially watch out for the sequence where Iron Man flies with two fighter planes trying to bring him down. Escaping rockets and missiles ready to rip him part, Stark is on th phone with his friend from US Airforce, who suspects the unidentified flying object to be Stark and calls him up. It's humor and action as never before! Downey also shows his humrous side working with all the geek stuff at his laboratory. Whether he is trying to balance his flight in Iron Man suite or his joyrides up into and outside the atmosphere, he is great fun to watch. The only sore point is that Gwyenth Paltrow does not have much to do in the movie. However, such a movie doesn't give you much choice also, playing a second fiddle to the superhero.

The movie ends with a press conference after all the bedlam comes to an end, and Stark has to calm down all the speculations of the world's press. The parting line from Stark is the killer blow in th movie, and you just keep admiring that line, delivered so in-your-face by Stark, long after you have seen the movie! And yes...just as the credits roll in, it's Black Sabbath's strigs strutting in the background with their iconic hit, Iron Man! Did you say, expected? Heck...so what. It was heady!

To wrap it up, this one's a knockout.