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*** Spoiler Warning ***
After more than 20 years, the man with the hat is back. It’s the 1950’s now, the Nazis are history, and the Cold War and anti-communist hysteria have changed the United States. In Nevada, nuclear bombs are being tested, and good men are suddenly suspected of cooperating with the communists. But while the FBI suspects even our All-American hero Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) to be a communist spy, hordes of KGB terrorist freely roam the galaxy … nope, wrong movie! … the American plains. Under the leadership of Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett), a bizarre mix of Rasputin, Samurai and Amazon warrior, a group of Russians forces Indy to help them retrieving an object from the very same secret warehouse where the Ark was placed in storage at the end of Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. The object is the titular crystal skull which produces an enormous magnetic field and of which Spalko believes it can grant paranormal powers when returned to the secret Golden City in South America where it came from.

The good news is that Harrison Ford still is Indy. The leather jacket, bullwhip and Fedora Hat still suit him, Indy’s fists are still hard as rock and he can still kick the evil henchmen out of trucks just like in the old days.
The bad news is that after 40 minutes the story runs out of steam, and neither Cate Blanchett (who is not nearly as threatening as Major Toht from Raiders in his black SS coat) nor Karen Allen (reprising her role of Marion Ravenwood from Raiders) or Shia LaBeouf (teenage greaser and Marlon Brando-wannabe “Mutt”) are changing that for the better. Unfortunately, it seems Lucas’ explanations in the last years why there was no Indy 4 were the truth – he couldn’t come up with a satisfactory story.
But the real problems are not the Alien plot, the killer ants right out of The Mummy, the usage of too much CGI or THE FRIDGE.
One problem is that beloved characters like Sallah, Marcus Brody and Henry Jones sr. do not return, and with them much of the human element and the humor that always were a vital part of the Indiana Jones franchise is missing in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. But problem number one is that Indy is not the driving force he used to be – solving the riddles, discovering the clues and leading the way. Instead, for most of the time, Indy is just following a crazy old man (John Hurt) who mumbles a lot of rubbish but has already done all the real work that should be Indy’s. And we don’t want to see that, just as we don’t want to see the corny illumination of the wedding scene!

Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Trailer

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 28th, 2008 at 5:32 pm and is filed under 3-star-movies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.