INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL

Pictures courtesty of Paramount Pictures and Lucasfilm Ltd. Cinema’s most famous archeologist is back, and finds himself caught between comrades, companions and communists in the action-adventure, INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL. Harrison Ford returns as Indy, and Steven Spielberg slips back into the director’s chair for the fourth installment of the INDIANA JONES series. In this adventure, following a shoot-up at the military’s infamous Area 51, Jones finds himself on the short list of communist assailant suspects, and at the same time catches wind of a rare artifact known as the crystal skull. With not only an excuse, but now a reason, to flee the states, Jones embarks on an overseas adventure with his artifact informant Mutt, played by Shia LeBeouf.

It’s hard to teach an old dog new trick, which not only seems to be a blessing, but a curse for Spielberg. INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL features nearly as many terrific high-octane, well-orchestrated and humorously driven action scenes as RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, even if the driving force behind CRYSTAL SKULL seems as dead as a skeleton. There isn’t much for Indy to hang his fedora on when it comes to plot, so Spielberg seems intent on devising a series of action sequences that deliver plenty of excitement, suspense and laughs. CRYSTAL SKULL gets off to an exhilarating start with Jones under assault at Area 51, followed by a trip to a dangerous, but unassuming village, but after this brilliant beginning the film drifts in and out of entertaining action moments and less than stellar relationship entanglements between Indy, Mutt and Indy’s old love interest Marion, reprised by RAIDERS Karen Allen. The final revelation is something less than the sum of the parts, a bit of a rehash from the climax of RAIDERS, but a combination that shouldn’t come as a surprise for Spielberg fans. With that said, the highly improbable, yet utterly believable action-adventure moments deliver anything and everything a JONES fan could want, and justifies the means to the end.

Grade: B