Steven Spielberg hasn't lost his touch either as director. Nor has George Lucas, as originator of the yarn and producer. You could almost say "the gang's all here," as Karen Allen also appears as Marion Ravenwood, Indy's flame from the first film. New to the cast is Shia LaBeouf (The Greatest Game Ever Played) as Mutt Williams, who is really ... I'd rather not say, as that would spoil some of the fun. Let's just say he acts as Indy's unlikely sidekick. Cate Blanchett (Lord Of The Rings) makes a wonderful and striking villain. And who are the bad guys this time around? The Russians fill that role quite nicely in Red-obsessed, nuke-fearing Nineteen-Fifties America. Every Fifties icon and stereotype you can imagine is here, from the Brando/James Dean look, which LaBeouf sports somewhat uneasily, to uptight FBI agents.

The action starts out on a desolate military base in New Mexico, where Russian soldiers have brought the well-worn but die-hard Indy to help them find a certain artifact in an immense government warehouse - the one from the first Indiana Jones movie, where the Ark of the Covenant was finally stored. (We even get a glimpse of it.) There is a clever but unlikely device used to find the artifact. When they do, the Russians become so distracted with it that Indy is able to make his inevitable escape. He ends up in a proto-typical American neighborhood that has been built in the middle of the desert to test the effects of a nuclear explosion, which is being counted down at that very moment. The way he survives it is very clever indeed - but what else would you expect from Indiana Jones?

As he's leaving New Mexico by train, Indy meets Mutt Williams, who accompanies him back to the campus of Marshall University, where Indy is a professor; and that section is pure fun - one of the best in all the Indiana Jones films. It is like Back To The Future meets Indiana Jones, with a super chase through the campus on motorcycle. Williams has a letter from one of Indy's old colleagues that contains a riddle in the language of the Inca (?) that leads them to South America. This section starts out well, as they end up in a very scary graveyard looking for - you guessed it - the crystal skull. But from there the story becomes less interesting as we endure a highly predictable chase through the jungle - complete with a ridiculous sword fight - a very uncomfortable attack by giant ants, and an even more predictable float down the Andes River over three waterfalls.

At last the party ends up in the Inca ruins to which the crystal skull and Indy's old colleague Professor Oxley, played by John Hurt, has been leading them. I won't spoil the ending, but just let me say that it is probably the weakest of all the Indiana Jones movies. There really is no point to it. All the other films had a moral of some kind, especially the third one, in which Indy's father, played by Sean Connery, teaches him the importance of having faith. But this one has absolutely no take-away. So, there is no feeling of satisfaction at the end. Instead, we are left with the feeling, "Oh, well" - which is a really crummy way to end a movie. Nevertheless, the ride along the way to get to that weak ending is exciting, especially the first half, and deserves 5 out of 5 stars, in my opinion.



Waitsel Smith, May 23, 2008

Text © 2008 Waitsel Smith. Image © 2008 Paramount. All Rights Reserved.