Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)

Directed by: Steven Spielberg | 124 minutes | action, adventure | Actors: Harrison Ford, Shia LaBeouf, Cate Blanchett, Ray Winstone, Karen Allen, John Hurt, Jim Broadbent, Alan Dale, Andrew Divoff, Pavel Lychnikoff, Joel Stoffer, Igor Jijikine

Ta-tata-taa… ta-tataaa! The unmistakable signature tune of our favorite archaeologist will once again be buzzing in the minds of movie viewers around the world for days or even weeks. Because finally the time has come: after a silence of nineteen years, Indiana Jones is back on the silver screen. With Harrison Ford back in the title role and the Spielberg-Lucas duo as the creative duo behind the camera, it’s as if nothing has changed. This is partly correct: skeptics who thought that Ford has grown too old and therefore would no longer convince in the role of the charming adventurer. Of course, the sixty-five-year-old Ford no longer moves as smoothly as it did twenty or thirty years ago, but the leather jacket and cowboy hat still fit like a glove. The direction and story elements are also familiar, but on closer inspection still show quite a few disturbing cracks. The script and characterizations in particular lag behind the rest of the production. ‘Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’ is still a feast of nostalgia, but as a film on its own unfortunately does not manage to achieve the magic and excitement of the previous parts.

As a viewer, you hold your breath for a moment when the film opens with cute rodents that raise their heads in the desert while a car races past. Is this still the same familiar Indy with rousing action and sarcastic one-liners, or has it become a cuddly children’s film? The concerns seem unfounded when a classic showdown with the bad guys takes place at the end of the opening sequence. And then, in one of the next shots, a hand appears and picks up the iconic cowboy hat and places it – made visible through a shadow – on the owner’s head while John Williams’s signature tune is gently played: a shiver runs through the viewer . Indiana Jones is back!

Still, it takes a while before the film has found its familiar rhythm again. And strangely enough, this moment happens when another character is introduced: sidekick Mutt Williams, played by the famous Shia LaBeouf from ‘Disturbia’ and ‘Transformers’. Through a perfect hero shot, as Marlon Brando in ‘The Wild One’, he drives onto the platform on a motorcycle, from the smoke caused by the departing train. He is looking for Dr. Jones – who is on the departing train – to lead him on the track of the crystal skull from the title. The interaction between veteran Indiana and the young, unruly Mutt gives the film momentum and dynamism. They have the same kind of chemistry as Ford had with Sean Connery in ‘The Last Crusade’ while Mutt also plays the part of the inexperienced tomboy that must be kept in check. Just like Short Round in ‘The Temple of Doom’. Indiana once again says that his buddy should not touch anything when they enter a temple together. And when some villains are comically eliminated, Mutt laughs and Indiana is “not amused”, a role reversal of a similar situation with his father in ‘The Last Crusade’.

They are references that work well in the film itself and evoke nice memories of the previous films. Actually, all visual references are a wonderful blast from the past. It is familiar to Dr. Jones again in the same jacket and tie in front of the class, to see the Ark storeroom from the first film, and to see that same red stripe running across the world map when Indiana is once again on a journey to an exotic location.

The problem is that this nostalgic aspect extends throughout the entire production and offers little more than a cozy family reunion. For example, it seems like a great choice to reunite Indiana with Marion Ravenwood, the woman he had such exciting chemistry with in part one, but she gets little interesting to do, and tantalizing dialogue and interactions are hardly present anymore. . When she smiles broadly, the old Marion is briefly visible again, but now she is mainly an emotional anchor for Indiana, resulting in an ending that can be compared in sentimentality to the moment Frodo wakes up in a pristine white environment at the end of ‘The Return of the King’. Top actor John Hurt is also severely underused in a (grand)father role that has to be a kind of replacement for the absent Sean Connery. For three quarters of the film, he can only be seen as a stammering old man, who has become captivated by the crystal skull. And then there’s Ray Winstone, who takes the place of Sallah (John Rhys-Davis) as Mac and who may have questionable morals.

It may be a nice group together, but there is hardly a character that comes into its own. Including Indiana Jones, who is no longer the driving force of the story, but just part of a somewhat messy whole. This movie would have worked better if the relationship between Indiana and “apprentice Indiana” Mutt had been given the absolute emphasis, which is now also somewhat overshadowed.

Another problem is that the story just isn’t exciting enough and there isn’t enough danger for Indiana. Irina Spalk is a villain who is portrayed nicely pulpy by Cate Blanchett with a fat Russian accent, and she is frequently and very active in the film, but there is too little threat from this character to make her really memorable. Furthermore, as a viewer you hardly get the feeling that Indiana is really in danger, or that you really have to put in a lot of effort to solve the puzzles.

The campaign has been varyingly successful. A long chase through the jungle – similar to a level from the video game ‘Uncharted’ – is quite spectacular, as is a motorbike chase at the beginning of the film. Also, the “tomb raiding” aspect of the film, where Indy once again enters an old temple or tomb is again old-fashioned amusing – with skeletons, booby traps, and macabre humor. It’s an atmosphere that movies like ‘National Treasure’ don’t really evoke. However, Stephen Sommers did quite well in ‘The Mummy’, a film from which Spielberg even seems to have taken inspiration for a sequence with bloodthirsty giant ants, whose behavior resembles the scarabs from ‘The Mummy’. It makes for tense moments as both the heroes and villains have to stay away from these deadly insects.

But there are also bland additions to the film like the returning rodents from the opening shot, monkeys swinging through the jungle that inspire Mutt to a similar Tarzan swing – it would have been more fun if he had spontaneously grabbed the thing, like a native Indiana Jones -, and a slapstick scene with a snake. Last but not least, the ending of the film is disappointing. On the one hand predictable and on the other not entirely fitting within the Indiana Jones universe. Also plagued by mediocre digital effects, which also stand out in some of the other scenes in the film, despite Spielberg’s assurances not to rely on digital trickery.

In short, despite the delight to see Harrisson Ford convincingly (enoughly) step into the role of good old Indiana Jones again, and get glimpses of the old magic, it must be noted that ‘Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull’ is not. can meet the high expectations. Passages in the film show that the formula can still work, so another sequel – perhaps with Shia in the lead role – would not necessarily be unwise. This film can perhaps best be seen as a set-up for a new Indiana series. Like glue between two trilogies, perhaps, and not like the lightning that failed to strike a second (or fourth) time.