The Film

Steven Spielberg and Co. probably should have known better than to try and make lightning strike in this same place — and for the fourth time. Indiana Jones will forever be a fixture in American film history, a character so iconic he overshadows the films himself, which are still among the best adventure movies ever made.

But nostalgia has a habit of getting in the way of common sense, I guess, and that’s probably the best explanation for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, a film that manages to often match the original trilogy in high-octane energy, but rarely in wit, ingenuity or entertainment value. It’s not nearly bad enough to sully the franchise’s good name, and the legions of fans who haven’t revisited Indy in years will likely find it pleasant enough, but I have a hard time believing this is the best story they could come up with.

Yes, the verdict of underwhelming has to fall squarely on the shoulders of the story and screenplay here. You can’t fault Harrison Ford, who seems to be remarkably spry for a man his age and slips back into the leather jacket and fedora quite comfortably. You can’t fault Karen Allen, who is clearly having the time of her life reprising Marion and pulls off the verbal spars with Indy like a day hasn’t passed since 1981. And you can’t fault Spielberg’s direction — there are a number of scenes that recall the excitement of the original films, and the rest are at least handled capably.

These elements work. Unfortunately, George Lucas ran out of good ideas somewhere in the last three decades and no one has bothered to tell him yet. The plot centering on inter-dimensional beings – no, they’re not aliens, even if they look exactly like aliens – is dull and requires a lot of wordy exposition that will mean nothing to most people. At least we had some frame of reference with the Ark of the Covenant and the Holy Grail.

Making matters worse is a script full of sodden one-liners that are quite happy to fall flat on their faces and too many unfocused supporting characters. I suppose a lot of fans will just be happy to see Indy in an all-new adventure, and there are moments where the nostalgia outweighs the film’s flaws, but there are too many of them to not feel like Indy got a little gypped this time around.