Though I have The Joker’s pencil-trick from The Dark Knight imprinted in my memory and similarly can’t forget the shocking sight of Jet Li peeing on Jackie Chan in The Forbidden Kingdom, the most mind-shatteringly astounding moment in film 2008 is to be found in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Finding himself in a mock-up plastic town that – uh oh – turns out to be a nuclear test site, Dr. Jones dives into a fridge to save himself from atomic obliteration and, thanks to the kitchen appliance, survives. You see: they were built to last back in the 1950s. Indy survived an atom bomb by hiding in a fridge! Ha! Let’s not forget that in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, the ace archaeologist lands safely in a life raft despite leaping from a certain-death plane crash scenario over the Himalayas. He also escapes the fearsome Thuggee cult in an epic rollercoaster minecart race; by comparison, does his preservation from atomic incineration through the power of a lead refrigerator really take suspension of disbelief to hitherto unreached limits? There’s no harm in having an odd spontaneous swerveball in a summer blockbuster once in a while to keep things fresh and shock the viewer. I eagerly look forward to the movie moment over the next 12 months where something totally outrageous happens when I wasn’t expecting it in the same way Indy IV did last year. But what will be the ‘nuke the fridge’ sequence of 2009, and in which big blockbuster release will it be found? An even bigger sci-fi franchise finding itself back on screen over the next twelve months is Star Trek. J.J. Abram’s eponymous movie addition has the potential to spark fresh life into the Trek series, or alternatively. could anger and cause global unrest as Trekkies rise up and riot in disapproval. Not being a Trek head, I’m not sure what kind of step would constitute a ‘nuke the fridge’ moment for fervent franchise fans and I’m not even going to try and guess. In my ignorance, it’d be an even further insult to the Trekkies who suffer enough social stigma and can do without further worry from someone who’s not in the know as they gnaw at their fingernails in the anxious lead up to Star Trek’s May release date. Gran Torino, Clint Eastwood’s emergence from a self-imposed acting hiatus has been proclaimed by critics as being haunted by early works in his oeuvre (most notably Dirty Harry) with Squintin’ Clint drawing on the personas of The Man With No Name and Harry Callahan characters we all love. It’s to be hoped, though, that in harking back to earlier, infamous roles, Eastwood doesn’t end up embarrassing himself for the sake of cheap, knowing-but-not-funny gags by uttering some line about a punk asking himself if he feels lucky. Remember the scene where Robert De Niro painfully parodied his “you talkin’ to me?” Taxi Driver monologue as he played Fearless Leader in The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle? If not, forget about it and move on: quickly… James’ previous column can be found here. 26 December 2008
