Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Review

Previously, on Indiana Jones....

"It's not the years, honey. It's the mileage." - Indiana Jones to Marion Ravenwood, Raiders of the Lost Ark

When the house lights came up while the end credits of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade rolled over a black background 19 years ago, nearly most of us present felt a sense of "This is it...this will be the end of the series.  No more Indy movies."  

After all, most of the portents were there: The movie ends with the Man in the Hat, his father, his colleague Marcus Brody, and his friend Sallah riding into the sunset...definitely not the most prominent movie cliche for Stay tuned for further adventures. And everyone talked of Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade as a trilogy, and not even the well-intentioned but unsuccessful TV series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles or rumors that George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, and Harrison Ford were on the verge of continuing the series on the big screen could dispel that sense of finality. 

Time marched on. Lucas focused his energies into the Star Wars prequels. Spielberg went on to work on serious films (Schindler's List, Amistad, Saving Private Ryan, and Munich) and crowd-pleasers such as Jurassic Park and Catch Me If You Can.  And the man who embodied Indy went on to diversify his movie roles, going from romantic comedy (Working Girl) to drama (Presumed Innocent, Regarding Henry) and action-adventure (Air Force One).  And as he reached late middle age and his leading-man roles became less frequent, it looked like The Last Crusade was going to be Ford's farewell to his "Henry Jones, Jr." alter ego.

Indy's Return:

Nevertheless, rumors persisted that Lucas, who had conceived "Indiana Smith" as one of two film projects inspired by the Saturday matinee serials of the 1930s and '40s, did have plans to reboot the dormant series after he completed Star Wars - Episode III, perhaps partially based on unused or unexplored story ideas for The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones.  There were quite a few of those around, and Lucas is notorious for not letting go of ideas he's fond of.  Eventually, Lucasfilm did reveal that the rumors were true and that Spielberg and Ford had signed on for a fourth film, which would be made as soon as a good script could be found.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull: A (hopefully) Spoiler-Free Review:

Unlike Star Trek: The Motion Picture, which clumsily tried to pretend that 10 years hadn't passed between the TV series' cancellation and the launch of the refit Starship Enterprise, the fourth movie in the Indiana Jones franchises acknowledges the reality that time has, indeed, marched since we last saw Indy and Co. riding off into the proverbial sunset. 

It's 1957.  Dwight D. Eisenhower has been re-elected as President of the United States.  Elvis Presley is taking popular music by storm, and the Soviet Union, erstwhile ally against the Nazis Indy battled in Raiders and The Last Crusade, is now the Red Menace.  McCarthy may be gone, but Cold War anxiety and fear of a Third World War are, for the time being, as part of the American mood as rock 'n' roll and Marlon Brando "wild youth" are of the American pop cultural landscape.

For Henry Walton Jones, Jr. (Ford), though, things are still pretty much the same. Though his hair is gray and his face might have a few more lines, he still has that duality about him. Part of the time he's the respected, even tweedy Dr. Jones, teacher of archaeology at New York City's Marshall College. 

Most of the time, though, he's Indiana Jones, adventurer, former intelligence operative, and "obtainer of rare antiquities," with a fedora on his head and his trusty bullwhip within reach.  And, of course, with a penchant for getting himself and his friends into sticky situations.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull  begins as  Indy and his World War II-era bud "Mac" McHale (Ray Winstone) being forced by KGB operative Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett) and a crack Soviet paramilitary group to steal a mysterious crate which has been kept for 10 years under wraps in a top secret warehouse in Nevada. The Soviets don't know what's inside, but Spalko believes it is something that can unlock secrets that will help the Soviet Union become the dominant power of the 1950s.

What follows is a complex "quest-and-chase" tale that not only has Indy and his young sidekick "Mutt" Williams (Shia LeBeauf) globe-hopping from New York's Marshall College all the way to the jungles of the Amazon in search of a legendary crystal skull, but also reunites the now 57-year-old adventurer with Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen), the spunky and luminous love interest from Raiders.

Along the way, Indy and Mutt encounter situations which not only evoke the first three movies, but also call to mind the McCarthy era, anxiety over the Bomb, and (cinematically) Charlton Heston films such as The Naked Jungle and Secrets of the Incas.

Although at first I was skeptical about Lucas and Spielberg's long-delayed project to restart the Indy film franchise with a 65-year-old Harrison Ford, it's fair to say that Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull certainly dispels any thoughts of Oh, no. Now Ford is gonna be like Stallone in the moribund Rocky and Rambo sequels.

Yes, Ford's Indy has gray hair and he has a world-weary "been there, done that, got the scars to prove it" attitude, but Lucas, story co-author Jeff Nathanson (Catch Me If You Can), and screenwriter David Koepp (War of the Worlds, Jurassic Park) mine not only the 1980s films for small but effective touchstone moments that give fans an "oh, yeah" groove, but also draws upon the Adventures of Young Indiana Jones TV series to give Indy more depth and personal perceptiveness.

Add to all this Spielberg's skills at directing action-adventure set pieces, the magic of Lucas' experienced special effects crew at Industrial Light and Magic, and, of course, another brilliant and exciting score by composer John Williams, and you end up with two hours of the adventure, excitement, and sheer joy that's expected of Indiana Jones.

Final Thoughts: While 1981's Raiders of the Lost Ark will probably continue to stand as the best of the series, there's much to like about this latest installment in the Indiana Jones franchise.   Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull takes the venerable character into a new era (both in setting and in real time) with only the slightest of missteps here and there.  The movie takes a subtle thematic change of direction from its 1980s precursors that's not hard to miss if the viewer is paying attention, but on the whole Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is very faithful to the Indy Jones stories, even those told in the 1990s television serties.  It's a fun, exciting and witty joyride, and it's good to see Indiana's back, older, grayer, wiser, but still able to save the day.