Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

My biggest fear when I first heard about this movie was that they would ignore the fact that Harrison Ford is in his mid sixties, all of his stunts would be with a CG Indy, and any time they bothered to use the real actor he would be so covered in make-up that we'd all hang our heads in sorrow. Although they did use more soft focus than a two-bit wedding video, they fortunately decided to do the honorable thing and make it with a strong I'm-old-and-not-quite-the-stud-I-used-to-be-but-I've-still-got-some-good-punches-left-in-me story. This whole movie went to great lengths to pay homage to it's past, but to also be its own thing. And with a few exceptions, I think it did a good job. The thing I liked best about this movie is that in many ways it's still an Indiana Jones movie like all the others. It has action, danger, humor, fights, and far away exotic places. The story itself, though a bit more sci-fi than any of us expected, is decent and very fun.

There was even romance... not a sizzling one, but a romance that fit the whole "I'm older and more seasoned now" theme. This movie had a whole lot of family time in it. Indy and his old fiance, the old fiance and her son, the son and his step father, even a family of monkeys... family all over the place. I would like to have seen more tension between Indy and Marion of the Han Solo/Princess Leia ilk. I would also like to have seen more butting of heads with young Mutt. Indiana Jones is intelligent and quick witted, and Shia LaBeouf has proven again and again that he can play that sort of character as well. I feel that there was all sorts of extra fun to be had, not to mention even stronger character development, with these two bickering back and forth.

So we all thought that this was going to be a big passing-the-torch movie so they could James Bond this franchise to death, but it ain't so! I thought that Shia LaBeouf did a pretty good job of being part of the story without stealing the spotlight. I also think that he could have actually sold that whole swinging through the trees bit if only he's said, "Let's see if that Tarzan is full of it!" or some such wisecrack.

One thing I thought was a bit odd about this movie was that there were parts that had no apparent connection to the rest of the story. The CIA¹, for example, makes a big deal about how they don't trust Indy, then just let him go running around the world unsupervised. Also, if Mac was such a traitor for turning on Indy after their years working together, why was he allowed to tag along after just a punch on the nose as punishment. I think the Natives had too small a part in this movie as well. They were creepy, expert fighters, and seemed to have all the makings of high quality peril, but were too easily beaten, and didn't show up enough. I wish the Russians and the Natives would have had roughly equal screen time.

Some of the action sequences in this movie were a bit slower and less believable than they should have been, but one can argue that with an old man and a rookie adventurer that's to be expected. This film had two strong undercurrents of family relationships and aging, which I think in this case have a bit of a chicken-and-egg relationship. Best of all, this movie was fun... not the best one ever, but still tons of fun. And I dare you to not hum or whistle the theme song for at least 48 hours after you see it!

high points: Old Indiana Jones acting old(ish), Nukes Away!, pass me that snake!, get your own hat son.
low points: Fonzy of the Apes, CG hat, the dinos of Jurassic Park look more realistic than the groundhogs of today, you left me at the altar and I'm mostly ok with that you poo-head, psychic Commies are as scary as Nazis are clever.

1) My best guess is that this is a poke at McCarthyism and the Hollywood Blacklist.