A Stretch of Reality

Saw Indiana Jones and the Empire of the Crystal Skull yesterday. Yes I enjoyed it a lot. It was fun and it was good to see Indy again. But my first reaction was that it makes Ironman look like a reality show. But then the Indiana Jones series has never been based on facts or reality. Indy has always been in the middle of what we can call myth and fantasy in the best uses of those words.

Like all good comic book stories Indy turns an every day nerdy-type bookish professor into a swashbuckling action hero. Unlike the high-flying Krypton refugee or those who turn into a superman, Indy is everyman who is able to use what's around him to win his battles. Just because the things that are around him are a little hard to believe doesn't demean his heroic status. Hence the fantasy of so many nerdy, non-heroic types comes to life.

In this story it's 51 years ago (starting in Area 51?) and the midst of the anti-communist hysteria that was far more hysterical (so far) than the anti-terrorism hysteria of today. And suddenly the Russians are here and the KGB is active and well, Indy is in the middle of it along with some snot-nosed Marlon Brando wannabe and an old flame and... well, you get the picture.

The myth picks up on some fantastical ideas that have been around for a while- namely that some of the great and seemingly impossible inventions and developments of the ancient meso-American civilizations could only have happened with outside, extra-terrestrial help. Which is as far as I will take this. It's a lot of fun to watch it happen and unfold before your very eyes.

No, you aren't asked to believe it. You aren't asked to accept it. You are simply asked to sit back and go along for the ride. In that sense it is a different movie from the super-heroics of Ironman. It is simply to enjoy it.

Although I must admit that there was one undercurrent of a message that I personally liked. Throughout the first 2/3rds of the movie Mutt, the snot-nosed kid, is constantly referring to Indy's age as a detriment. Needless to say Indy proves him wrong over and over. At 65, Harrison Ford can still be an action hero. There may be hope for the rest of us.

Although as my daughter so unkindly pointed out, Ford had stunt men to do it for him.

Oh well. I told you it was fantasy.