Movie Review: Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull

The Short Of It: 4 out of 8 Nations

The Long Of It:

Indiana Jones was an iconic character and memory from my childhood; nevertheless, I had my reservations when I heard Lucas and Spielberg and co. were making movie #4 in the franchise. This was mostly because of a) Harrison Ford's age, and b) I thought the ending scene with Indy, Dr. Jones Sr., Brody and Sallah riding off into the sunset was the perfect visual to end the movie franchise with.

Still, this was one of the movies I was looking forward to the most this summer. And one month after it opened, I finally got a chance to catch it last Friday with TJC.

In the end, it was not that bad, nor that great. It certainly was the worst of the entire series, but those first 3 were a tough act to follow.

I liked the shout outs to the past Indy movies: a) the brief cameo of the Ark, b) they worked in Indy's fear of snakes yet again, c) the return of Marion Ravenwood, and d) Indy calling Mutt, his son, "Junior" the way his own dad did to him in The Last Crusade. Heck, even Mutt is a shout out - Indiana was the name of the Jones family dog (and the name of Lucas' dog in real life), so Indiana's son, of course, was a Mutt.

I was glad that they acknowledged Indy's age, and was saddened not only by the absence of Sallah, but the deaths of Dr. Jones Sr. and Brody. Shia as Mutt did not annoy me like I thought he would (don't get me started on the Tarzan vine swinging scene though, ugh). And Cate Blanchett - I would watch her in anything. If she were to go on stage and read the recipe for Oreo cheesecake, I would sit enthralled.

Harrison Ford was great as Indy, but the story just did not feel right. It did not seem like an Indiana Jones movie, you know what I mean? Maybe it's because all three previous Indiana Jones movie had religion as the backbone of its tale (the Ark in the first one, cults in the second, and the Holy Grail in the third), that a tale about aliens just seemed out of place. Yes, the aliens were worshiped as gods by the ancient mayans, but it still felt different to the touch, compared to the previous Indy movies.

I did not feel much suspense or tension either from the moment Indy's crew went on the river til the end, but maybe that was just me. The scene with Cate Blanchett's demise was very reminiscent of how Belloq met his maker in Raiders though.

The "happy" ending Spielberg loves so much, with Indy and Marion's wedding, seemed kinda forced too. But I guess there was no way around it ending that way. That was a nice touch though - just when every Indiana Jones' fan worst nightmare was about to come true, with Mutt about to put on the fedora, Indy comes sweeping in and takes it out of his hands and puts it where it belongs.

All in all, it was nice to see Indiana Jones and Marion again. I doubt this is the end of the series since it made a kajillion dollars worldwide. But if it were, I wish they would have ended it with Indy, Marion, Dr. Jones Sr., Brody and Sallah all involved. Unfortunately, that will never happen. But here's hoping we go back to a more "religion oriented" Indiana Jones story in the future.