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

A magical opening on a desert road as teenagers in a hot rod challenge a pair of military vehicles to a race. Elvis Presley wails on the car radio as speedometers hit the roof. The sense of innocent fun is irresistible.

Director Steve Spielberg has worked that ol’ black magic of his, bathing us in a golden glow of bright colour, bringing bittersweet nostalgia sharply home. Nostalgia for Spielberg’s special places in special times. Peggy Sue Got Married with its yellow painted sidewalks comes to mind.

George Lucas’ screenplay recalls American Graffiti.

Nice touches.

A few minutes later, Indiana Jones stumbles upon through a nearby fifties subdivision of modest, commercial-ready homes filled with fifties people – who turn out to be mannequins. It’s a testing ground for nuclear experiments to study a blast’s impact on the average American town.

It seems you might have wandered into the wrong theatre – the look is so modern and sundrenched, it’s vintage middle Americana, and, yes, that IS Jones watching Howdy Doody on TV.

It’s a momentary illusion of course as Soviet soldiers bear down upon him, lead by a whippet thin, ram rod Cate Blanchett in full officer drag. It’s 1957, the height of the Cold War and the Reds are after a crystal skull they believe can give its owner unlimited psychic powers – enough to rule the world.

Jones masterfully maneuvers his way to safety, leaving the Soviets in the dust of a nuclear mushroom cloud. He acknowledges to his partner (Ray Winstone) that he’s not as young as used to be, getting us over that hurdle right off the bat. 

Wonderful line way in, after Indy out thinks and out battles the Reds, uttered by an astonished young Shia LaBeouf’s Mutt ‘You’re a teacher?!’ Yup, he’s grey and a bit grizzled but he’s still a pioneering yet imperfect hot shot.

Mutt finds Indy at college just as he’s been given the heave ho. He hands him a letter sent by his mother who is being held hostage in the Amazon. It’s filled with cryptic markings and what look like cave drawings; something puts the adventurer’s twinkle back in Indy’s eye.

They head off to the Amazon on the next airplane, an action covered by a nostalgic map over which an old-fashioned prop plane sputters. Cute!

Much adventure lies ahead, a succession of ever-larger breath takers running the gamut from attacking red ant armies, knights of a certain round room and shifting mountains.

Karen Allen is back and she has a secret. What a pleasure to see her again and Indy couldn’t be happier. John Hurt doesn’t get to do much; his seer character is in a state of apparent post traumatic shock, held together so loosely that he has trouble differentiating friend (Indy) from foe (Reds). 

The film seeks to entertain us with knowledge – archeological, historical, mythical, practical and political – and in that way stands out against the other franchises. Whether any of its information is true, though ….

Indy is a university professor after all, and we become as passionate as he is in his thirst for glimpses into the universe. We admire his moral courage too – he is an old-fashioned hero to the core.

The original Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark came out in 1981 and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull definitively shows us that Indy and the whip he swung in on are as vital as ever.

God bless Steven Spielberg for his fond look back, Lucas for his intelligent story and Ford for still being everything we want in an Indy.