Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Review

God... it's hot out. Sitting inside a chilled movie theater sounded like a bit of heaven on a swealtering Virginia day, so off I went to see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Really, it's an absurd title that promises the film will be about mindless action twaddle. The good news is that it delivers on that promise in spades.

As most of the world knows, Henry (Indiana) Jones is a famous archeologist who occasionally gets up to his neck and then some with field work. In this film (set in 1957), he is dogged by violent Soviet special forces types led by Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett), who could easily be mistaken for Joseph Stalin's dominatrix. Maybe it would be no mistake. One big action scene leads to another as the movie spins dizzyingly to Peru and some hidden temple of doom... no wait, that was another film. In this case, the secret temple of doom has strange crystal creatures, and getting there involves crazed locals, friendly monkeys, huge ants, snakes, sucking sand pits, car chases and sword fights. It's really quite the ride.

This sounds like I'm condemning Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull with faint praise but I enjoyed it a great deal. It was lots of fun, done with buckets of good humor and wonderfully entertaining. I was not looking for anything more than entertainment, so I got everything I wanted. It was terrific to see Harrison Ford back on the screen with his bullwhip and quick wits, equally good to have Karen Allen back as Indy's plucky friend Marion. Cate Blanchett made the most of her chance to chew the scenery as a tightly wound Soviet military scientist. To give the younger crowd something to look at, the producers offered up Shia LaBeouf as a James Dean-ish motorcycle mechanic who is Marion's son.

I enjoyed the heck out of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and recommend it. In fact, it made me want to see the earlier Indiana Jones movies again so that I could relive those pleasures. On top of all this, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is pretty much squeaky clean. Any kid over 10 will be well entertained for two hours and want to see it again.

If you haven't seen it, take a look. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is a lot of fun.