2008, USA
Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Sci-Fi
Perhaps more appropriately titled Indiana Jones and the Final Frontier, director Steven Spielberg reunites with his faithful whip-toting professor to explore ruins of an otherworldly nature in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
Not that this is a great departure. With a trilogy that has incorporated the magical realism of Christian and Indian religions, Indiana Jones' excavations never seem to end up in the museums that he repeatedly claims should be their final resting place. Despite constantly dismissing the legends he knows so well, his adventures require a suspension of belief or perhaps a heightened spirituality.
Spielberg wastes no time establishing the direction of the film by throwing his hero into Area 51, surrounded by...Russians? Without the enemy everyone can rally against -- the Nazis -- the hatred of Cold War Commies feels a bit dated. However, as hysteria and misdirected patriotism run rampant on screen, the archaic thinking resonates with a post-September 11 era.
This film leaps ahead 19 years (on screen and off) from the 1930s setting of the original trilogy to a postwar, apocalyptic-fearing age. Jones is not the same renegade archaeologist he once was; he is now a decorated war hero many times over who has served and spied for his country. Moving the lone wolf into the pack dissolves the romanticism that enveloped his previous adventures and removes some of the mystery from his fedora's shadow. This new history demonstrates that no one is safe when the motives of men with medals are being questioned, but the backstory is distracting.
When Indy is pulled from the classroom to track down an old colleague, Professor Oxley (John Hurt), who becomes embroiled in a dangerous South American quest, he finds himself in the crosshairs of the KGB. Leading the pack is Dr. Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett), a thinly developed character determined to tap into the potential of psychic warfare for which Ox's treasure holds the key. Farfetched, but then Spielberg and buddy George Lucas never lose sight of their comic book inspirations.
The characters show their age but have lost none of their fight. Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen) returns as Jones' (a graying but tough Harrison Ford) feisty lost love, and after much buildup their reunion feels casually amicable for having lost two decades between them. Shia LaBeouf provides new blood as the bridge between the two, and his relationship comes as no surprise. In fact, there are few shockers; it is a rather linear story dependent on nonstop action and creative visuals. References to prior films provide a few jokes, but graciously the story does not rely on old tricks. Though not nearly as clever as its predecessors, the characters have a good time getting in their last kicks.
With so much time passing since our hero last cracked his whip, this chapter feels like an extraneous whim to satisfy a final itch. Delivered with a lighthearted grin and lacking some of the more sinister undertones of previous endeavors, perhaps Speilberg is hoping to spark a new generation of adrenaline junkie excavators. LaBeouf seems up to the task.