Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Certainly I can't be the only one to find George Lucas overrated, but sometimes it sure feels that way. He has either personally created or been a force behind two trilogies which seem to make a far better impression on nine-year-old males than they do on me. The first, of course, is "Star Wars". The second, of course again, is the Indiana Jones trilogy. (It's a shame that "Howard the Duck" was never extended into multiple parts so that I could have a trilogy of trilogies to write about here.)

Don't get me wrong; the Indiana Jones films are perfectly entertaining, impeccably staged pieces of popular entertainment. Because they were actually directed by Steven Spielberg and not by Lucas himself, they feature actors doing real acting. The shots follow one another gracefully. The action sequences are so carefully plotted that it is generally possible to storyboard them in reverse and arrive at essentially what Spielberg himself conceived before shooting. But I didn't see an Indiana Jones film until my early 20s, and even now I haven't viewed enough classic adventure serials to be truly familiar with the style of filmmaking that Spielberg is harkening back to. I enjoyed the films thoroughly, remember little of them years later, and haven't been stricken with a desire to rewatch them in the intervening years.

That being said, this newest Indiana Jones caper essentially revisits the same territory. Our hero looks a bit the worse for wear and occasionally makes quips to that effect, and he has been given a sidekick, a chimpanzee with extensive knowledge of fighting techniques. Oh, sorry, that last bit actually belonged in the "Speed Racer" review. Indy's sidekick is actually a scowling adolescent played with the usual LaBeoufness by Shia LeBeouf, an actor second only to Keanu Reeves in his ability to subtly display all facets of human emotion. In a rarity for a Lucas or Spielberg production, the women in this film are given quite a bit to do. Cate Blanchett has finally finished digesting all the scenery she chewed in "The Aviator" and has come here for seconds. Her villainous Irina Spalko is a military Russian interested in harnessing paranormal phenomena for possible use in weaponry. She and Indy race each other for possession of a mysterious crystal skull that can give the bearer knowledge of all human wisdom.

It was on this lone but major plot point that my disappointment with this movie rests. If everyone in the movie had only begun this fight twenty years later, there would have been no movie, because the skulls would have been shown as human creations not more than one hundred years old. The presence of aliens, discredited skulls, and other ideas that I heard tossed around by people in macrame vests at Phish concerts drags the overall quality and believability of the film down.

The polar opposite of Blanchett in appearance and acting style, Karen Allen makes a welcome appearance, providing fans with the return of an earlier character and proving that an older woman can still play an action heroine and love interest with fire and conviction. She steers a rowboat through numerous waterfalls and pilots a jeep through the film's thrilling jungle chase centerpiece, all while making Indy fall in love with her all over again. Allen has expressed delight at her casting in various media outlets, and I for one think that (aside from Harrison Ford) she deserves much of the credit for making the film feel as comfortable yet exciting as it does.

Ford himself should be given a solid pat on the back, once it is no longer sore from all of his stuntwork. Watching his landings and jumps, it is obvious that he did much of this work himself, and his ability to make Indy seem both iconic and human is crucial to the film's success. Spielberg shows his touch with a few shots of a fedoraed silhouette or tricks with a whip that could easily tilt into camp but don't, and Ford deserves credit for these moments as well.

If you're a fan of the Indiana Jones films, you don't need to have read this far. Just go see the movie. If by some strange stroke of fate you missed the first few, you can jump in here without studying the Indiana Jones mythos and leave the theater entertained.

If you're not a fan of action movies at all or have something in particular against the Indiana Jones films, may I recommend the Masterpiece Theatre adaptation of "Sense and Sensibility" that I recently watched? It's about as far from this film as you can get.