The latest Indiana is exactly what you’d expect, for better and … well, maybe not “for worse” but certainly not for the best. The film hews exactly to its boilerplate, and it was never less than diverting, amusing. But only once–one glorious, extended, escalating car-chase in the jungle–is it enormous fun. If I really sat down to rewatch the first film, I might find that its flaws have been recreated each go-’round: a slew of great set-pieces, sewn together with Ford’s creaky charisma and hoping for a supporting cast that is equally lively. That latter element is true, I think, in Indy 1 and 3, and mostly true in 4. (Cate Blanchett, tongue circling around her “wowels” in a gloriously loony accent, clearly is having great fun; LaBoeuf, Winstone, and Hurt get saddled with less interesting characters, and do less interesting things.) So… sure, why not? It’s summer. And did I tell you about that chase?
But now that I have your attention, let me direct you to the far better, far more challenging, really damn interesting Aussie film Noise. Matthew Saville’s 2007 film attends to the aftermath of a massacre on a train, which left one survivor; we follow her, a low-level cop suffering from vaguely-sourced tinnitus (and maybe psychological problems?), and an assortment of well-drawn supporting characters, the importance of whom we are always trying to untangle. A note: any summary does injustice, fools you into certain expectations, when the film was dazzling in its confident refusal to collapse into a particular kind of story.
It reminded me in some ways of Zodiac, in that while utterly thrilling the film’s not really interested in the stuff of criminal investigation and traditional solution. It reminded me in other ways of The Wire, in its idiom-happy attention to communities and conversation, with crime a convenient centerpiece to rich social and psychological explorations. Yet it’s also in some ways an art(y)-film, plot perhaps sidelined as the trope of noise is explored (or its counterpoint of silence) to tease out a social critique, to play out a peculiar and enthralling aesthetic vision.
It’s just damn hard to describe neatly, but I did love it, and I recommend it to you very strongly. I’d love to talk more ….
Interesting that I already have ‘Noise’ in my queue but it is the Tim Robbins movie not the one you refer to. The Aussie one is available for instant watching so I’ll try and watch it this week in between episodes of season 3 of ‘Weeds” which just shipped.
SPOILER
I found IJ4 pretty disappointing, but I’m not sure I can put my finger on the precise reason(s). It is partly that movies relying on archaeological mumbo-jumbo are much thicker on the ground now than they were when IJ1-3 were new so it seems less original. Then much of the humor and whimsy are missing from this installment. Ford’s relationship with Karen Allen and Shia LaBoeuf don’t crackle, seem forced. And I can’t explain why I find ghouls emerging from the Ark of the Covenant more plausible than space aliens bringing us the gift of knowledge, but IJ4 just went off the deep end in the last 20 minutes. I wish Spielberg had resisted bringing together this franchise with his love of aliens and flying saucers. Certainly, there are some great set-pieces, but I left wanting more.
As it happens, we just watched IJ1 and IJ3 on DVD and they still hold up as superior action-adventure movies.
Yeah, Spielberg’s homage to himself . . . short Blanchett’s saber-rattling gymnastics I thought the jungle chase sequence to be overbaked (and the CGI was just a tad too obvious) and while the series has always planted its tongue firmly in B-movie cheek, everything about this product felt overdetermined. That being said, I walked in figuring I was going to hate it and walked out feeling vaguely lukewarm. Nicola and Cate recently watched IJ1, 2 & 3. I joined them for the third installment, which felt really creaky to me.
I liked ‘Noise’ very much. I don’t know how you find these movies, Mike. There are barely any reviews of ‘Noise’ at IMDB, and none from mainstream sources. And yet this is a gem of a film that only gets better as it goes along. I kept expecting it to slip into one genre or another, but it confounds the viewer (or this viewer). Some of the best stuff is just dialogue in the cramped caravan surveillance station to which Graham, the cop, is banished. I’m not sure how seamlessly the theme of noise works its way into the various subplots, but the movie gets so many of the little details just right.
Noise is one hell of a movie–a mesmerizing, thrilling, caustically funny knuckle-biter. I’ve nothing to add to Mike and Chris’s comments. It’s just a great little psychological character study and portrait of a community best experienced via DVD. It kept me on edge throughout.
Be sure not to mix up your versions of ‘Noise’ (both 2007). The Tim Robbins one is pretty horrible. Ostensibly an account of one man’s battle with nose pollution in NYC, it cannot decide whether to be a psychological drama, a statement of social pathology, a vigilante flick, a goofy romantic comedy, or a bizarre homage to ‘Last Tango in Paris.’ It does none of them well, and William Hurt is just plain embarrassing, with some strange skin coloration and the weirdest ties I have ever seen. Choose carefully.
I know Mike battles with nose pollution, but an entire film? Still, nose pollution and a bizarre homage to Last Tango in Paris? Who directed this? Alejandro Jodorowsky?
Oops! That was noise.
so, i quite enjoyed indiana jones v. 4.0. maybe it is because i also watch things like national treasure: book of secrets, and thus can distinguish between “unoriginal but competent” and “utter trash”. this is nothing great, but certainly not bad at all. the only thing that had me wondering was how little interest ford and lebeouf had in the identity of that bunch of masked men who attack them at the first graveyard. i did like the jungle chase, especially the bits with the monkeys and the killer ants.
oh, also didn’t the joneses sr. and jr. become immortal at the end of the previous film when they drank from the holy grail? is spielberg spitting in the face of jesus christ?