Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Starring: Harrison Ford, Shia LeBeouf, Cate Blanchett, Karen Allen, Ray Winstone, John Hurt, and Jim Broadbent

Written by: David Koepp Based on a story by: George Lucas and Jeff Nathanson

Directed by: Steven Spielberg
“It’s not the years, honey it’s the mileage”

After nineteen years Indy had two new villains to fight.  Anticipation and hype.  Many feared this would be another Phantom Menace, the first Star Wars prequel which was undeservedly received poorly overall due in part to the same enemies.

So how did it fare?  Is it worth going to see Indy on the big screen after such a long lay off.

Unabashedly yes!

While there are certainly a few missteps, and some now characteristic over-reliance on CGI, Crystal Skull ends up fitting along well in the Indy mythos.

We open with a tribute to the times.  Now that it is 1957, we get a good rock and roll car chase between some teeny boppers and an army caravan, not betraying the overall storyline.  It seems almost innocent.  The caravan turns off though and the innocence as lost as they open fire on US security guarding an important installation of some kind…it turns out to be Area 51.

The caravan comes to a halt and they drag two bodies out of the drunk and throw them sprawling to the ground.  In a classic intro, one of the men grabs a fedora that has also sprawled and we see the iconic shadow, along with the wisp of the famous John Williams score.

And that’s all it took for me.  I was back. The only problem from the get go was a conscious choice Spielberg made.  In an interview I read, Spielberg stated that he had considered trying to make it look like the old trilogy, grainy and dirty.  This new Indy is very clean and pristine looking.  It’s difficult to get the feel of the film that way, but Harrison Ford makes it easy.  Despite his advancing age, he definitely still has it.  And it got more apparent as the film developed.

New villainess, Colonel-Doctor Irina Spalko, played brilliantly by Cate Blanchett, makes her appearance demanding that Indy and friend, Mac (played very slickly by Ray Winstone), help her and her fellow Russians find a certain box that he helped investigate ten years ago.  Indy, patriotic of course doesn’t want to help, but as usual he desires knowledge and the thrill of the hunt so he gives in to searching.

He finds what they are looking for, and after opening it it turns out to be the apparent remains of an extraterrestial being.  While the Soviets are distracted, Indy and Mac turn the guns on the Soviets…until Mac betrays Indy.  Shades of the Raiders beginning in that, which made me smile.  Indy is able to escape after he drops his gun and it goes off, causing confusion, starting a chase that brought the action back to the forefront and proved that Indy may be older, but he could still lead a chase.

Humorously of course.

Indy finally takes a vehicle and rams it through some boxes and the wall out to the outside, leaving a partially open box to show the audience a treat.

After escaping a nuclear test town by hiding in a refrigerator, Indy is brought in by the FBI questioning his association with Mac and what he was doing helping Soviets in an American facility.  After a higher up comes in to vouch for him, Indy retires back to his teaching position, where Indy really looks much older.

It’s not long before Indy’s friend Dean Charles Stanforth, played by the as always sublime Jim Broadbent, informs Indy that he is being asked to take a leave of absence to avoid being fired while the FBI investigates him.  It leads to a touching scene where we really see Indy age before our eyes.  As he packs his things to move to London, we see him fondly remembering Marcus and his father who have both passed away.

Just before his train leaves we are treated to the introduction of Mutt Williams, played by Shia LeBeouf.  Mutt is a greaser with a cocky attitude.  He informs Indy that an old colleague, Harold Oxley (John Hurt), has disappeared in Peru after discovering a Crystal Skull.  Further more, his mother Mary Williams was kidnapped too but was able to send a letter to him, so that he could give it to Indy, because Indy would help.  Before we discover why, some more Russian thugs attack and it leads to a car-motorcycle chase which was reminiscent of the boat chase in Last Crusade.

What makes the movie work in part, is something that just as easily could have sunk it.  The chemistry between Ford and LeBeouf, if awkward or false would have had serious repercussions, but the two are brilliant together.  They play off each other well and it wouldn’t surprise me, if we get the further adventures of Mutt with Indy playing the Sean Connery in Last Crusade part.

In Peru, the duo discover that Oxley had been locked in an insane asylum due to his rambling incoherently until men with guns broke him out.  While searching the cell, which Oxley had continuously written upon, they discovered the trail to the grave of a conquistador who had gone missing while searching for the famous city of Akator or El Dorado, the City of Gold in the Amazon.

At the grave site, the duo find the crystal skull which someone had found and put back for an unknown reason, all in typical Jones style, defeating a few protectors of the grave as well as finding secret antechambers.  It all seemed very comfortably Indy, another reason the film succeeded.

Of course, the Soviets are waiting for them at the gravesite and the two are brought back to their camp.  At the camp, Mac tries to make nice with Jones even after he breaks his nose…hey he warned him.  We also get reintroduced to an old friend, Marion Jones.   Mary.  We quickly learn with Indy that Marion is Mutt’s mother.  The catching up sequence is funny and seems like a senior version of their catching up in Raiders, minus the sock on the cheek, which I was honestly waiting for.

The Soviets have Oxley who is still muttering incoherently and they want Indy to translate for them or else they’ll kill Marion.  Mutt causes a distraction helping them to run off but Indy and Marion get caught up in dry quicksand, which Indy is kind enough to explain the difference between it and regular quicksand.  While Oxley and Mutt go to find help, Marion admits the truth to Indy, that Mutt is Henry Jones, III.

It’s something that you completely see coming, but at the same time you don’t care and are just waiting for it.  The reveal is handled very well.  Mutt returns with a large snake being the only thing he could find for them to pull out of the sand.  It’s a little stretch on the credibility as it is obvious that it is there just for Indy’s fear of snakes…but yet I still laughed and that’s what was important.

The Soviets discover them after Oxley brings back “help”, and place them prisoner again.  After a sequence reminiscent of Indy and his father in Berlin, Indy and Marion fight just before turning their aggressions on their captors and capturing a truck in the convoy.  This leads to a spectacular jungle chase sequence that involved trucks, rocket launchers, sword fights, vine swinging, giant killer ants, waterfall travels, and Mac revealing that he’s a double agent.

All in all, a typical fun Indy jaunt which leads to the discovery of the temple holding the city of gold.  After another typical Indy adventure getting by the protectors of the temple and a few booby traps, they discover the secret temple, and we learn that Mac is a triple agent, leaving clues for the Soviets to find them.

The ending may be one that people have a problem with.  While Indy has always had leanings towards the supernatural, with the Ark, the Holy Grail, sacred magical stones, etc, but they’ve always been done kind of light and in a mostly realistic fashion.  Crystal Skull on the other hand really commits to the supernatural in the climax here.  Given where we began the film, it’s not quite a stretch to envision what goes on.  Of course there are two nods to Spielberg and Lucas’ prior works.  The whole ending is somewhat reminiscent to Close Encounters of the Third Kind and in a more quick, humorous nod, Indy turns into Han Solo for just a moment, announcing…

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this”

So some may have a problem being taken out of a film that is by far the least realistic of the saga, but you have to remember, Indy has always been adventure-fantasy, and what’s always been paramount to these films is the fun, action, adventure, and characterizations — not the story or the macguffin driving it.

After the climax, Indy and Marion decide finally to get married and there was the risk of a very cheesy sequence, where the wind blows open the door and Indy’s hat rolls to Mutt’s feet.  Mutt picks up the hat and in a passing of the fedora he begins to put it on…

Until Indy snatches it on the way out and puts it where it belongs as if to say…Not yet junior.

The cinematography was beautifully handled, the score as always masterfully done by John Williams throwing in pieces of all the previous films, and the action sequences were up to snuff.

Overall, If I had to rank it I’d put it ahead of Temple of Doom and maybe just behind Crusade and Raiders.  It may not be quite as solid as those two, but it certainly holds it own.  And you know what?  After Phantom Menace, I ranked it ahead of Return of the Jedi but behind A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back…so for me?  Crystal Skull DID end up like Phantom Menace for me…and that’s a good thing.

B