Who Killed the Electric Car?

I watched this movie tonight, nearly two years after its initial release, and I felt absolutely compelled to pontificate or spout my environmentally liberal side about how absolutely ludicrous this government has become in its approach to the protection of wealth and the wealthy. I am not usually one to show my true colors, this my friends can attest to. When I saw Sicko, I was politically moved, but regarded it as another Michael Moore ultra-liberal plot to make the current administration look foolish (bravo Moore, you have compounded the damage done by Farenheit 9/11 to make our country seem almost third-world in its treatment of citizens).

Who Killed the Electric Car is a maddening look at the auto/oil consortium that controls our free market economy enough to sway state government officials to overlook the greater good in deference to corporate financial gains.
General Motors, which I am ashamed to admit is the producer of my current car, created the EV-1 (Electric Vehicle 1) in the late 1990's, and it was wildly successful among is lessees. Unfortunately, the company (and competitors) began to see the financial disincentives attached to the ownership of such an efficient vehicle (no gas, no internal combustion engine = no oil/parts service) and scrapped the whole concept despite no recorded consumer complaints or compliance issues. It was simply too advanced for its time.

GM disallowed continuation of contracts with its lessees, despite numerous offers to purchase the vehicles. The consumers were met with hostile legal threats and the cars were confiscated. Further investigation showed that these vehicles were destroyed with no apparent paper trail or reason.

Only money could be behind the absurd decision to move forward into hybrid technology which (surprise) isn't much better than regular internal combustion engines, or for car companies to explore an undetermined time line of hydrogen cell technology which has significant obstacles to its own viability. The answer is the electric car, and the technology is available for an affordable vehicle with a 100 mile daily charge. As battery technology advances (better, smaller) that number will increase as the cost decreases, but as it stands today, it would still be disturbingly reasonable.

There is only one reason for the national conspiracy to suppress technology, and that is money. I would highly recommend this documentary as required viewing for anyone falling victim to the raping that is currently taking place at the gas pumps. There are few conspiracy theories to which I am a subscriber, but oil/auto company conspiracies is one of them. Anyone who has a genuine concern for the environment and the future needs to be aware of this film and the lies that have been told and the truths that have been buried. With rising fuel costs and greater awareness about the state of the global environment, this is going to be the most anticipated change in consumer behavior since the advent of indoor plumbing or central heating/air conditioning.

By no means is this a great film. In fact, it is quite the contrary. On a scale of 1-10 I would probably give it a 4-5 for its cinematic appeal. The content however is something that is absolutely magnetic. Further fueling the skepticism of this country's collective leadership conscience, I can only shake my head at the utter waste of potential that is on display. Maintaining the status quo is certainly a beneficial business model, but when contrasted with the sustainability of our environment, or on a greater scale, our civilization, it is a small price to pay, right?

I highly recommend this film for the message and the information that the American public needs to be made aware of. Hybrids and Hydrogen cars are not the future, they are a way for the auto makers and oil companies to continue posting record profits. Electric cars are the future of clean fuel transportation technology. Take a look at Tesla motors in California as a pioneer in the clean fuel industry. I rarely find a documentary that sparks my passion, but this one is a tribute to true American technological innovation (and a bit of an outlet for pent up frustration) 7/10.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

The familiar feeling of impending adventure. The now rare Lucasfilm logo flashing on the screen with its glimmering green aura. The Paramount Pictures mountain morphed into a lowly prairie dog mound in the Nevada desert in the 1950's. Such is the irony of anticipation and expectation that rides the coattails of the unprecedented success that two of the action film pioneers; George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, have created over the past three decades. They have reached the top of the mountain, and everything they do from here forward is a blank canvass of self-effacing work that in no way can be compared to their classics. Take the new trilogy of Star Wars for example. Disappointing to the millions of fans, it still grossed in the billions, and was Lucas' personal project for decades. I feel the same way about the resurrection of Indiana Jones.

Indiana Jones is as iconic a franchise as James Bond, with a hero as timeless as Harrison Ford himself. Millions of today's generation will be exposed to the childhood hero of every man in his late 20's to mid 40's. Raiders of the Lost Ark was one of the great action adventures that spawned hundreds of copycat protagonists throughout the 1980's, but none had quite the mystique or charisma that Indy had.

Jones is quintessential Ford, played this time with a bit of "I'm getting too old for this s*%t" sarcasm, and there is a refreshing blend of aging heroes, and franchise spin-off youth. The story begins in Nevada in the early 1950's and Jones is dragged into the hunt for an elusive artifact called the Crystal Skull by a band of Soviet military baddies led by Cate Blanchett. Her face looked every bit the part of the Russian masochist, but her accent was pretty awful. Not to pass judgment, she made the journey fun until the bitter end, but Russian? A little predictable.

Indy meets up with LaBeouf and they head to Peru to find the artifact. There are lots of dangerous near misses, many ludicrous escapes from peril and some pretty good action scenes. There are also some plot twists that have probably already been spoiled all over the Internet, and the obligatory creepy crawlers. For sentimental reasons, it just isn't quite the same as the first three. I fully appreciate the cinematic vision of Lucus and Spielberg, and Ford does a great job reprising his role at the ripe age of 65 (gray hair notwithstanding, he could easily pass for 50).

It must have been a wonderful treat to work on this film, but the filmmakers show their age a bit with some of the editing, special effects, and most importantly, the speed of our aging hero's actions. Everything seems to have been slowed down a pace or two, and the running and jumping that used to be so suspenseful is now elaborate schemes that lack the death-defying element. Spielberg seemed to be going through the motions a little bit. Of course, I could just be 20 years older with a less child-like imagination.

Channeling the young, adventurous archaeologist in all of us, this film satisfies on the level of the character and the world that Indiana lives in. Raiders of the Lost Ark is the gold standard, and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is in contention for the silver with the Last Crusade. Temple of Doom falls to fourth, no contest.

Ever entertaining, but impossible to reach the level of expectation from those of us who were raised on Indy. 8/10.