Movie Review: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

It’s been a little while since I went to the movies so I told dear old dad to see the latest Indiana Jones installment this past weekend for Father’s Day. If you haven’t seen it yet, you might want to stop reading here because I’m going to give away some of the plot/details of the story.

First off, let me say that anytime I see Raiders of the Lost Ark on TV, I stop down for it. I remember going to see that, with my dad, when I was in 2nd grade (or thereabouts). It was pure greatness. Harrison Ford was great, the writing of George Lucas and direction of Spielberg was fantastic and the musical score of John Williams has since become a classic.

Then came the second installment, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. I liked this one ok but not as much as Raiders. It was a little gory for a PG movie (this was the movie that prompted the creation of the PG-13 rating) and the story wasn’t as good as it was in Raiders. However, Temple of Doom did have the best action sequence, of the series, with the chase through the mine tunnels.

Then came the Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade which was suppose to be the final film in the series (hence the name Last Crusade). I remember Harrison Ford even gave his leather jacket, whip and fedora hat he wore to the Smithsonian after this movie was released. This installment was just a tick below Raiders, as far as greatness goes. It was funnier than the first two and the addition of Sean Connery, as Indiana Jones’ father, was outstanding. The story was also better than Temple of Doom with Indy getting back on the trail of a religious artifact (the Holy Grail) just like in Raiders (Ark of the Covenant).
So, the bar was really pretty high for Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I think everyone was expecting the same level of greatness that Raiders and the Last Crusade brought…I know I was. However, after watching it, I left the theater a little disappointed.

George Lucas wrote Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and while I recognize Lucas’ greatness I think he missed the mark on this one (as he did with Episode I – The Phantom Menace). First off the story line was a bit hokey. The artifacts Indy was chasing before had nothing to do with aliens but for some reason Lucas felt the need to shoe horn an extra-terrestrial element into this installment. That was pretty hard to get by. Also, I know the previous movies in the series had special effects in them from ILM (Industrial Light and Magic) but it seemed like this one had more than the others which turned me off a little. I’m fine with a certain amount of computer animation and such but it got a little too much in Kingdom. The sequence where Shia LaBeouf is swinging through the trees with all the monkeys, like Tarzan, was just ridiculous and the movie would have been better without it. And speaking of Shia LaBeouf, I smell more installments of this series with him being the lead due to the fact that he is Indy’s son.

As much bashing as I just did however, the movie wasn’t awful…just not what I expected. I was entertained, which is the aim of most adventure movies and Harrison Ford did make me laugh a few times. And while it could have been better, it was a decent movie.