The three original Indiana Jones films have stood the test of time as three of the top ten movies I have seen in my lifetime. I watched
Temple of Doom countless times as a kid, and never tire of it even now. Revisiting Indiana Jones as a 60+ year old man, 19 years after the last installment, did not sound like a good idea when I first read about it. But I arrived at the screening hoping that I would be proven wrong. I wasn’t the only one, as I arrived 90 minutes before the screening to see the line already wrapping around the block. I was one of the last people to make it into the theater, as over 100 angry people had to be turned away behind me.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull starts off with Indy (
Harrison Ford) held captive, forced to help a Soviet psychic military leader find an old mummy that has been stored in the same warehouse we see at the end of the original Raiders of the Lost Ark. It seems that according to some legend, finding the Crystal Skulls will allow her to increase her psychic powers, and then allow the Soviets to perfect some kind of psychic warfare. This mummy will hold some clue to finding the Skull. It comes as no surprise when Indy escapes in typical Indiana Jones fashion. The movie was off to a good start, and then things really slow down.
Indiana is back teaching, until he receives a visit from Mutt (
Shia LaBeouf). Mutt has a letter that holds the clues to the Crystal Skull and off they both go on another archeological adventure, chased by the Soviets along the way. They both are captured upon finding the Skull, where they run into Marion (
Karen Allen),
Indiana’s love interest in the original Raiders. They bicker about their past relationship, but make a great team when it comes time to escape. The most exciting scene in the movie is when the escape through the forest, first on foot then by car, fighting Soviets and swarming killer ants along the way.
Indiana returns the Skull to it’s "rightful"
burial place, where the secrets of the Crystal Skull is revealed to both him and the Soviets.
Unfortunately, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is just a rehash of everything we have seen before from the Indiana Jones movies, or even the National Treasure movies. That familiarity is fine at the start, but gets tired through the course of the movie. I found myself bored whenever I wasn’t watching an action sequence. There are many action scenes, but only one great one. The movie seemed long at over 2 hours. Harrison Ford does his best to recreate that old magic, but it’s just not there. And Shia showed me nothing to give me hope that he can take over the franchise. The secret of the Crystal Skull, which is revealed at the end, struck me as completely ridiculous. This movie is sure to open huge, but the word of mouth won’t be as strong as
Iron Man. It pains me to have to say that the film is just OK, not really worth a trip out to the theater.
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