Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Reviewed by:
Eric Alt

Directed by: Steven Spielberg

The Skinny: Almost 20 years after The Not-So-Last-After-All Crusade, the fourth Indiana Jones chapter finds an older Indy struggling to come to terms with a 1957 Red Menace America very different from 1930s World War II America. This time, he's trying to beat the Russians to a mystical skull that may have ties to ancient Mayan civilization…and beyond.

The Good: From the start, the tone is right on—Indy's a man out of his element and out of his era, so his creaks and cracks are meant to show. Ford seems happy to be back in the fedora. And even at its silliest the movie reminds us that, despite all the geeks' obsessive nit-picking, this stuff is meant to be fun. Shia LaBeouf is a good foil for Ford; the movie's best scenes revolve around their rapport.

The Bad: For a franchise that prided itself on stunt work, the use of CGI here, in a word, sucks. We could have done without the CGI gophers (thanks, George), the CGI Tarzan sequence (seriously, Lucas, retire), and the green-screen sword fight (Steven, you do know you can say "no" to him, right?). Commies are a weak substitute for Nazis, and this is also the laziest Indiana Jones story—characters and plotlines come and go without consequence.

There's Being Inspired, and Then There's Being Nagged: Spielberg said he finally relented and made Indy 4 after years of fans begging him to do it. Now, those same fan boys are ripping the movie for being uninspired. Guess what, guys: It's your fault.

Theater, DVD, or TNT in Five Years? There's no avoiding it, so grab some popcorn and enjoy. Not everything has to redefine your life.

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