Just As Easy as it Used To Be

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is awful...




...ly satisfying!


What the majority of consumers want from any popular, long-running franchise is not innovation, but consistency. This has been proven many times over the years by Coke - no matter how many new products they try, the people just want Classic and Diet. George Lucas proved that he either doesn't understand or willfully chooses to ignore this bit of basic market research with Star Wars episodes 1-3; fortunately, he doesn't have sole custody of Indy, and director Steven Spielberg knows how to give the people what they want.

I have no substantial complaints about this film. The most common criticisms I've read of it - the alien plot and CGI-based climax was ludicrous, the larger scale of the film didn't have the intimacy of the previous films, Marion's role was too small, Indy still doing all those stunts is unrealistic - I thoroughly disagree with. The larger scale was fitting to the large scale the franchise has accrued over the years, and was kept delightfully intimate by the interaction between Ford, Shia LaBoeuf, Karen Allen, and John Hurt, and the relationship between their characters. Speaking of Karen Allen, she's as beautiful, radiant, and fabulous as she was in Raiders, if not more so for having aged so wonderfully, and was an absolute delight to see again. I didn't see any problem with the scope of her role, and wonder just where the critics think it should have been expanded. Marion gets it all - action, adventure, free-thinking, concern for her son, and gentle excitement over her reunion with Indy. Fabulous. As for the plot, it was a perfect continuation of the focus of the series on the fears that gripped America and the pulps that dealt with them. I thought it was a great treatment of the space race and the nuclear fears that spawned it. As for the climax, I also saw it as the logical progress of the franchise into the 21st century - and you know, I'm usually the first person to decry the use of CGI, but I don't see it as any different from the Great Melting from Raiders, which was a big CGI climax for its time. As for the stunts, that's a useless criticism from folks who don't know that the average man's strength peaks in their 70's; anyways, seeing Indy fumble a bit more isn't some kind of "he's not as good as he used to be!", as one of the main endearing traits of the character has been that, when it comes to agility and luck, he's painfully average.

And then there are the criticisms which were extraordinarily dumb, like "why didn't they give Cate Blanchett a more sexy outfit?". Probably because Soviet uniforms weren't sexy, genius.


No, I thought this film was a great completion to the series. Most surprising was Shia LaBoeuf as a perfect little greaser. He was so awful in Transformers under the perpetually inept direction of Michael Bay; turns out, all he needs is a good director to flourish - and Spielberg is great. It makes me wonder what would've happened to Hayden Christensen had he not been subject to Lucas as Anakin Skywalker. The film was also replete, but not overly so, with classy in-jokes and nods to Raiders, Sean Connery, and even a reference to one of the best episodes of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, in which teenage Indy had the chance to ride with Pancho Villa; not to mention what could have easily been an overdone running sight gag involving prairie dogs. Yes, prairie dogs. Spielberg can do that. Also worthy of mentioning is a clever, fun, and rather unfairly maligned sequence paying homage to that essential pulp comic/serial/film series of the 50's, Tarzan. People tend to forget what Indiana Jones is - a tribute to the pulps and serials of the 50's. As such, it nods to its source material while following its tropes, and anyone whose had the chance to read comics from that era or see some classic Tarzan or Flash Gordon will recognize just how well Indy does it. As far as taking the kids, I'd say this film was as family-friendly as The Last Crusade - it's old-school in terms of the camera cutting away from gore and death, and has a solid and tender family theme involving a boy's relationship with both his biological parents and the stepdad who raised him.

Indiana Jones has aged beautifully, both in terms of the franchise and the character. On a personal level, it was great to see it in the theater, as I was too young when the original films came out, though thanks to the magic of VHS and The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, Indy was still a childhood friend. And no, there is no scene at the end of the credits, but you should stay for them anyways, if only because of John Williams' classically effortless score.

Go! Escape the heat and humidity! Enjoy yourself! See Indy!