If the saga of Indiana Jones was built as a very good book, then Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is the epilogue. Is it necessary? No, but it's like the gravy. It's a little extra dose of what makes the movies wonderful. Prof. Henry Jones, Jr. has been hurled into the 1950's with the Russians replacing the Nazi's, Howdy Doody on the TV and Elvis on the radio. By the same token, the inspiration for the film has changed with the times as well. The serials that inspired the original three films have been replaced with the bastion of 1950's pop culture- science fiction (I find it mildly amusing that Ed Wood may have influenced as multi million dollar project 50 years after his hey day).
Harrison Ford owns the role of Indiana Jones. There is no denying that fact. Seeing him on the screen again after close to twenty years is like seeing a long lost uncle for the first time since you were in grade school. He may be grayer and slower but the personality is still there. Even at social security age Ford still pulls off being Indiana Jones.
On the red side is Cate Blanchett as the Russian "paranormal scientist" that provides Indiana with an adversary. Blanchett plays the role like Natasha from Rocky and Bullwinkle and why shouldn't she? The series hasn't shied away from stereotypes before. Ray Winstone, John Hurt, and Karen Allen round out Indy's posse. Allen's return is a welcome change of pace for the recent reemergence of the 1980's action heroes who either kill of their love interests (Mr. Balboa?) or casually mention them (Die Hard anyone?). It's nice to see a male star have a female love interest that's actual in the same generation.
The person I know everyone is dying to hear about is Shia LeBeouf. This has been the one aspect of the movie that has worried me for months. Shia's performance was OK. Ok you ask? What I mean by that is the character of Mutt Williams seems to just be filler, a person that Indiana Jones explains things to so that the audience knows what the hell is going on. So when I say that Shia is OK, he doesn't really seem to have much to work with and when he does feature in a scene it is usually very campy (For myself, I would have found the rumor of the part being a female played by Natalie Portman could have made the film a little more interesting from that standpoint). One of the few problems with the film is that Indy has enough sidekicks in this one to start a basketball team.
Once again Spielberg is Spielberg. Great direction, though there are a couple of times that it seems that he's trying a little too hard to be unique. People are complaining about the CGI. I would like to ask those people to wake up, trash their VHS tapes and realize that it's 2007. If Lucas had airbrushed one wrinkle off of Harrison Ford's face some baby would scream that Lucas had gone CGI crazy. For a movie like this I think it's very CGI light.
In general, this is Indiana Jones. It's a summer blockbuster popcorn movie that everyone wants to see (I waited in a line with people that ranged from pre-schoolers to seniors). Crystal Skull is just as entertaining as all the others and it does play homage the previous movies (and a little gift for the Star Wars geeks) Indiana Jones is like riding that same old roller coaster you ride every summer at the amusement park. Parts of it may be the same, but it's still one hell of a ride.
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