Irina Spalko - Great Villain

IndyWhipCracker

New member
Udvarnoky said:
I have no qualm with Blanchett's performance - she clearly relished playing such a weirdo - but I think Spalko is one of the litany of elements that Crystal Skull leaves undeveloped. Can't call her a great villain, though I certainly recognize the potential she had to be one, and I love the unbridled pulpiness of her depiction.


I just always felt she was too over the top for me. I understand there is an "overthetopness" to Indiana Jones in general but Spalko just seemed way to over the top. I mean even her hair was over the top and extreme compared to villains like Belloq. Ram I give a pass since he was an occultist but Spalko was supposed to be a military leader. I just felt she was way to pulpy to me. :whip:
 

Udvarnoky

Well-known member
I don't mind over-the-topness in an Indy villain. It can be an asset. I think the issue was that she was never made menacing enough. It was also a real waste to introduce this idea that she could read minds but then never really go anywhere with it. Her weirdness became her only defining characteristic.
 

TheFedora

Active member
Udvarnoky said:
I don't mind over-the-topness in an Indy villain. It can be an asset. I think the issue was that she was never made menacing enough. It was also a real waste to introduce this idea that she could read minds but then never really go anywhere with it. Her weirdness became her only defining characteristic.

Yeah, I would have liked if there was a scene where Spalko actually did read someone's mind but it was left ambiguous as to whether this was real or not. Just my feeling to be honest.
 

Dr.Sartorius

New member
Star Wars Rebels Season 3 trailer:

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DoomsdayFAN

Member
I thought she was a terrible villain. She wasn't threatening in the slightest. She was actually very comical, and not in a good way. She was more of a spoof villain that anything.

When you have a female villain that works, such as in Fatal Attraction, it can be very eerie, uncomfortable, and downright crazy, but Spielberg refused to go there and kept things ultra light, so what we ended up with more of a Dick Dastardly-type villain that was just laughable. (n)
 

Indy86

New member
She seemed to respect Indy though but I think she's more the kind of villain that would use anyone and than dispose of them when she doesn't need them anymore. She was no Belloq, Ram or Donovan that's for sure, but in her own right a good villain.
 

Kai Hagen

New member
DoomsdayFAN said:
I thought she was a terrible villain. She wasn't threatening in the slightest. She was actually very comical, and not in a good way. She was more of a spoof villain that anything.

When you have a female villain that works, such as in Fatal Attraction, it can be very eerie, uncomfortable, and downright crazy, but Spielberg refused to go there and kept things ultra light, so what we ended up with more of a Dick Dastardly-type villain that was just laughable. (n)
It was the lack of seriousness in her action sequences that failed her.
 

Udvarnoky

Well-known member
She was just never established as a credible threat. Whatever the equivalent of castration is for a female, that's what they did to her during the scene where Indy and Marion have their squabble when they're reunited and Spalko just stands there with a patient, amused smirk. Can you imagine Mola Ram doing that? Donovan, of all people, shot Henry Sr. when he wanted Indy to know he meant business.

Even the heroes act like she's a joke. Spalko cocks a gun behind Marion's head, and Indy's response is another quip. The script undermines her menace at every turn, right from the first scene when she's established as a psychic whose first act is to fail to do something psychic. And as far as I can tell there's no actual payoff to justify that strange choice.
 

IndyBuff

Well-known member
I liked her as a villain but she wasn't really given enough to do. I liked that the novelization touched on her psychic abilities and desire to use the skull for more nefarious purposes. Had those points been explored more in the film I think she would have been a stronger threat.
 
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