Indiana Jones & The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Indiana Jones & The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (Rated PG-13)

Running time: 2 hrs 4 mins

Cast:

Harrison Ford
Cate Blanchett
Shia LeBeouf
Karen Allen

Critical consensus (www.rottentomatoes.com)

***1/2 out of *****

My consensus:

**1/2 out of *****



The premise: He's Back!! Famed archaeologist/adventurer Dr. Henry "Indiana" Jones is called back into action when he becomes entangled in a Soviet plot to uncover the secret behind mysterious artifacts known as the Crystal Skulls.

My review: It's been some time since an Indiana Jones film has been released. 1989 to be exact. I was 4. Shia LeBeouf was 3. Harrison Ford...was 47. Today he is 66. And the funny thing is, he hasn't lost it. He is still that same wise ass Indiana Jones we all grow to love in the earlier films. Granted, he probably, and hopefully isn't doing his own stunts this time around, but that doesn't take away from his charisma of previous films.

I'm afraid thats kind of where the fun stopped for me on this film. Crystal Skull had glimpses of the original trilogy in certain aspects, but I sort of felt this movie was made almost for purposes of a reunion. For Spielberg, Lucas and Ford and some other supporting cast. I thought it was overly cheesy in story. Don't get me wrong, it was fun and for the most part, enjoyable, but it lacked the "magic" so to speak of the first 3 films.

The first 3/4 of the movie was filled with great action scenes, a standable plot, good humor, fun and witty performances, and then the climax happened. And let me just say, I'm all about crazy story lines, weird plot twists, etc. But the direction this movie took was way to out there even for me. You do partially know the direction they were going, but when you see it in the final act, I personally was really let down. It did NOT feel like an Indy movie anymore. It felt so far off from an Indy movie. Leave it to George Lucas and Steven Spielberg to throw this..."out of this world" plot into what used to be a great adventure series of lost treasures, etc. Yes the Indy films have always had a level of "out-there-ness", but I think it went a little TOO far this time.

The characters were pretty good. Harrison Ford was great per usual. Cate Blanchett was truly remarkable I thought. There were moments when you didn't know it was her, she really made herself a character this time. Shia LeBeouf was good here. Typical, but good. Please dear God, do not make more Indiana Jones movies with him though. PLEASE! It'd done. This movie wasn't all bad. I loved the look of the film. It looked incredibly vintage. They did a great job at bringing the 1950's to 2008 filmaking. The special effects were borderline corny, but worked really well for an Indy movie. The sound effects were straight from a 1980's action movie. John Williams score was once again, never failing. It looked very much like a Indiana Jones we all great up loving. But in story and excitement, it lacked the original charisma and spark. It was good, but at the same time, rather disappointing.