Review: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Same old, same old?

Regrettably, even the tried and trusted hasn't remained wholly intact. Indy fans had been told that CGI wouldn't be overly prominent and that traditional stunts would maintain an authentic feel. Yet, despite numerous prior assurances from cast and crew, CGI sequences are in plentiful supply, and as awkward-looking as fans had feared. One particular sequence, showcasing a sword-fight between Williams and Spalko is particularly over-animated and whilst managing to look spectacular, loses all sense of peril.

Then there's a matter of unbelievable acts, which the fourth Indiana Jones movie is littered with. The spectacular opening sequence is immediately followed by a moment of over-imaginative story telling that sees Indy escape a nuclear explosion with the aid of a refrigerator.

There's a fine line between miraculous stunts that Indy can and cannot do. Sure, he can outrun a giant ball, he can escape being surrounded on a narrow bridge and he can outsmart a military tank with a horse and a few rocks. Nonetheless, escaping a nuclear blast is a step too far.

Similarly, a pulsating jungle-chase sequence could have been worthy of inclusion in any Indy movie, that is, if it wasn't interspersed with miraculous escapes. Williams swinging from tree to tree in Tarzan-esque fashion and Ravenwood driving straight off a cliff, onto a tree, and lowering herself safely down to the water, are just two of many stupendous scenes.

An area in which the movie does excel, is sound. Each and every one of our hero's punches are met with the familiar "thwack" we've become accustomed too, and Williams' stirring score is as pleasing as ever.

Williams' work aside, Indy fans will have wanted a lot more, and sadly, the Crystal Skull fails to deliver. The movie's numerous references to the much-loved trilogy prove to act only as a reminder of how brilliant the series once was.

The fourth Indiana Jones movie has been a long time coming, and is said to have been delayed on numerous occasions in search of a suitable script. Screenwriters such as M. Night Shyamalan and Frank Darabont had their attempted scripts rejected, and the movie finally settled with David Koepp's screenplay, adapted from George Lucas and Jeff Nathanson's story.

If, after 19 years of searching, this is the best they could come up with, we had better hope there isn't a fifth movie. Despite Ford's best efforts, Indiana Jones struggles to make us believe in a meandering plot that's better suited to Mulder and Scully.

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External Links

Official Indiana Jones website

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull on IMDB

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I saw it last night and there were quite a lot of loud(ish) laughs from the audience.

I had read other reviews of it and tried to keep an open mind while watching it.
Overall, I really enjoyed it. Sure it's no raiders but it's still a good film in it's own right.

I do have to agree with 1 thing a lot of reviews have said, at no point did you think Indy was in any real and serious danger that he might not get out of. It seemed a bit too easy to get away from anything he needed to. Harrison did look like the old Indy again though(apart from a couple of parts where he was in normal clothes rather than his Indy stuff and he then looked a lot older).

I think they also underused the CIA(or should have cut them altogether). There was a part(after his nuclear escape) where they said they were keeping a very close eye on him and then you don't see them for the rest of the film.

This film will obviously do well at the box office and it's a film I enjoyed. I do think the main problem though it everyone building it up too much before seeing it. Because of this, a lot of people will feel a bit disappointed by it. Not because it's a bad film(which it's not) but because it would never be able to live up to any pre-concieved expectations you have(it's like phantom menace all over again, but Indy is still better).

I'm now off to watch raiders again….

That's a real shame. I think I'll wait for this to come out on DVD.

Went to see this yesterday and thought it was great.

Yes it is just more of the same but I don't see why this is such a problem? That is exactly what I wanted, I didn't want the formula pushed ‘forward’ or changed, this is Indy as it should be, good honest fun.

It may have a couple of unbelievable parts (the bomb + fridge being very silly) but you soon forget about it as the charm of the film carries it off.

Personally I would say 4/5 and definately worth the visit to the cinema (especially for the sound) and for me that is saying something as I normally never go to the cinema due to the rip off prices.

I really liked it. Myself and a few friends watched them all back to back last Thursday and while it does have a few annoyances, it holds up pretty well against the other three. It's at least on par with Temple of Doom.

I thought the stupendous moments ruined the film a little (the car driving off the cliff into a tree was just as silly as the fridge moment really - They should have changed both of those elements). However overall it's a good film - the inerplay between Mutt Williams and Indy was well executed.

Kate Blanchett's Russian accent is awful, unless she's playing a russian who was brought up in England.

I'd probably rate it about 7/10 - its enjoyable enough, but the edge is taken off by some silly scenes and a bit too much CGI in places.

As the article says - they've been looking for a suitable script for years and I was hoping the script that was eventually accepted would have been up there with Raiders, so maybe people's expectations are high, but rightfully so with this franchise really.