Movie Review – Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)
We thought that the Indiana Jones movies ended with Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade back in 1989.
As much as we hoped and pleaded for more Indy movies, it seemed for the longest times that a fourth movie just wasn’t going to happen. But then serious rumors were flying around the Internet, and in 2007, the fourth Indiana Jones movie was finally being filmed.
Big questions were being asked when the project was officially announced to the public. Was Harrison Ford too old to return as Indiana Jones? What would the plot be for the movie? Was it really a good idea to make another Indiana Jones movie after all of these years?
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull premiered on May 22, 2008.
Kingdom of the Crystal Skull begins in 1957 with a kidnapped Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) being taken to a U.S. military base in the southwestern desert. The Soviets had captured Jones along with his friend, George “Mac” McHale (Ray Winstone), and brought them to a structure known as “Warehouse 51.”
Leading the Russians is Dr. Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett), a psychic warrior and person with an unquenchable thirst for knowledge and power. She is able to persuade Indy to search for a special magnetic box in a warehouse filled with thousands of boxes. The reason she needs Indy’s help is that Indy was one of the scientists called upon to assist the U.S. government with a crash that took place back in 1947. An extraterrestrial spaceship crash in Roswell, New Mexico.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls (2008) – (c) Paramount Pictures
Using gunpowder, Indy is able to quickly locate the specific box in the warehouse. Irina Spalko and the Soviet troops open the box to discover a mummified alien corpse. Indy snatches a rifle from a Russian soldier and attempts to keep them at bay only to discover that his longtime friend and trusted accomplice, Mac, is really a Soviet agent. Mac double-crosses Indy and holds him at gunpoint.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls (2008) – (c) Paramount Pictures
Acting fast, Indy quickly escapes from Mac and the Russians, and a massive fight takes place in the warehouse. Indy uses all of his tricks and displays some tremendous athletic abilities to escape from the Russians. One of the jeeps accidentally hits a crate a breaks it open, revealing the lost Ark of the Covenant from Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls (2008) – (c) Paramount Pictures
Indy evades most of the Russians, but a big one, Colonel Antonin Dovchenko (Igor Jijikine), fights Indy, and the two of them fall down to a lower level of the warehouse. A rocket sled’s timer is accidentally triggered, and a few moments later Indy and Dovchenko are both blasted out of the warehouse on a high-speed rocket ride. The rocket comes to a stop and a stunned Indy staggers away, staying low and evading more Russians in pursuit.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls (2008) – (c) Paramount Pictures
Indy wanders the desert and comes across a small community. It seems like a perfect place to live except that the “people” are actually mannequins. It’s a dummy community. When an alarm begins blaring off in the distance, Indy quickly realizes that the community is about to be vaporized by an atomic bomb test. With seconds to spare, Indy hides inside of a refrigerator and survives the blast. He’s later seen being cleansed of radioactive material by a nuclear decontamination team.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls (2008) – (c) Paramount Pictures
Indiana Jones is then debriefed by the FBI who believe that he may also be a spy like his friend, Mac. Indy returns to Barnett College only to find that he’s been indefinitely suspended because of his alleged connections to the Soviets. Disheartened, Indy boards a train to set off in a new direction. Before the train leaves the station, a young man on a motorcycle, stops Indy and delivers him an important message. Indy’s longtime colleague, Harold Oxley, had been kidnapped after discovering a crystal skull in Peru.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls (2008) – (c) Paramount Pictures
The young man is Henry “Mutt” Williams (Shia LaBeouf). He and Indy sit in a diner while Indy tells him the legend of the crystal skulls, including their ability to give their owner supernatural powers. Mutt gives Indy a letter which Oxley wrote a riddle in an old Native American language. Soviet agents interrupt the meeting, and Indy and Mutt make a getaway through the Barnett College campus. They’re able to ditch the agents and board a flight south to Peru.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls (2008) – (c) Paramount Pictures
In Peru, Indy learns that Oxley was held in a mental hospital before being kidnapped by the Soviets. He and Mutt visit his cell. Oxley left them clues which lead Indy and Mutt to an old graveyard. After fighting off some natives, they find a secret tunnel and chamber with the grave of Francisco de Orellana, a famous conquistador who disappeared while searching for the mystical city of Akator. It’s there in Francisco’s grave that Indy and Mutt discover a crystal skull, the very skull that made Oxley go insane.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls (2008) – (c) Paramount Pictures
Soon afterward, Indy and Mutt are captured by the Soviets and taken to their campground. There, Irina Spalko attempts to use her psychic powers and the crystal skull to read Indy’s mind, but she fails. It’s there at the campground where Indy is reunited with Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen), his old flame and the mother of Mutt. Indy doesn’t help the Soviets until Oxley (John Hurt) comes forward, rambling mysteriously and talking in circles. Indy is able to figure out what he’s talking about, but instead of helping the Russians, he, Oxley, Marion and Mutt escape into the jungle.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls (2008) – (c) Paramount Pictures
Indy and Marion quickly get trapped in quicksand. While sinking, Marion reveals a big secret to Indy: he’s really Mutt’s father. Oxley runs off to fetch some help, and much to Indy and Marion’s dismay, he returns with Soviet soldiers. They’re re-captured, and while tied up in the back of a jeep, the adventurers ride along with the Russians deep into the Amazon jungle.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls (2008) – (c) Paramount Pictures
But the adventure doesn’t stop there.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls (2008) – (c) Paramount Pictures
In a lengthy action sequence, Indy, Marion, Mutt, Oxley and Mac (convinced by Indy to be a double-agent) battle the Soviet troops in the jungle and make an escape in a “duck” amphibious vehicle. Their journey takes them over a massive waterfall and to a long-abandoned city. But it’s a structure inside of the city that holds the biggest of secrets.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls (2008) – (c) Paramount Pictures
As most people know, this installment of the Indiana Jones movies involves aliens. Yes, there are aliens in the end of the movie. And yes, you do see their spaceship.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls (2008) – (c) Paramount Pictures
So does it make it a hokey movie?
That, my friends, depends on your point of view. Depending on how you view religious artifacts, the first three Indiana Jones movies may be just as believable or “hokey” to you. Would the “magic” rocks from Temple of Doom be any more believable than an alien spaceship in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull?
Personally, I think that Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is a great movie. It’s not an outstanding one like Raiders of the Lost Ark, but I like it as a whole. Then again, I’m into alien conspiracies and all that stuff.
One of the interesting parts of the movie is the 1950s setting. Here we have an aging but still ass-kicking Dr. Jones, the Atomic Age, the Soviets, and the 1950s American society as a whole.
As far as science fiction and flying saucers, we have to remember that the 1950s were the glory days for those types of science fiction movies. It seemed like every few months had a new sci-fi movie released detailing an alien invasion or attack by flying saucers. As much as people didn’t like it, using a flying saucer in the Indiana Jones universe works, especially in that time period.
Perhaps it’s best that we really don’t see a whole lot of the flying saucer or aliens in the movie. This allows the movie to concentrate on so many other sub-plots while reaching to the ultimate goal with the crystal skull. This was handled well, and watching Kingdom of the Crystal Skull feels like almost any other Indiana Jones movie.
My biggest complaint with Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is that for an old man, Indy is capable of taking one hell of a beating from the Soviet troops. He’s able to absorb many hits that could have easily broken his bones and incapacitated him. He also looks to be more athletic than during his younger years. But when he’s not fighting, Indy still looks and acts like that classic Indiana Jones that we know and love.
My other problems with this movie deal with the Mutt character, surviving the falls down the waterfalls, and of course, the refrigerator and the atomic blast.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) – movie trailer
I just don’t like Mutt or Shia LaBeouf. To me, he’s kind of annoying and seems to play the same type of character in most of his movies. In other words — boring. Repetitive. Here in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, I was hoping that he would fall off the duck when sword fighting with Irina Spalko and get killed. His swinging from vines scenes after that was also laughable, another problem with the movie.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) – TV spot
Despite Shia LaBeouf’s character and a few other issues, I still like Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I don’t think it was worthy of such a big build-up or lengthy wait from Last Crusade, but it’s still a good Indiana Jones movie. I rank it behind Raiders and Last Crusade, but before Temple of Doom.
Dr. Irina Spalko – “No defiant last words, Dr. Jones?”
Indiana Jones – “I like Ike.”