There is a distinct difference between revisiting a franchise and just mooching off one and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is sadly a trademark example of the latter. A revisit would have required the recognition of the passage of time from The Last Crusade (which, based on this film, should have stayed true to its title). At last, despite having many of the trademark amusing ingredients from the past films, the ultimate folly of this fourth film is that it acts like a man in a midlife crisis – one who only wishes to recapture his greater youth without admitting his own true age.
Before people bark at me saying that I am not a true fan of the earlier films, I will first clarify that I admire all of the first three Indiana Jones films and believe that Raiders of the Lost Ark in particular is a goofy action masterpiece (with The Last Crusade coming pretty close). Although I questioned the clamoring need to make yet another one, I was certainly game for another chance to see Harrison Ford cracking the whip, evading his paralyzing fear of snakes and decoding more indecipherable clues. It is disheartening to see that director Steven Spielberg and writer George Lucas cannot provide enough of a distinctive joyride here turn the answer to that question into a resounding yes.
In this film, following the Nazis, Chinese gangsters, and an ancient terrorist cult in India, the Russians get their turn to face off against Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) in 1957. True to its predecessors, of course, the title already gives away the crucial object both parties are looking for. The head of the villains, Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett), a former hire of Stalin and now an elite KGB agent, apparently believes that the crystal skull will grant infinite knowledge and paranormal powers to whoever retrieves it.
Indiana Jones barely escapes the first extended attempt on his life after a close friend of his has betrayed him and even manages to avoid the effects of a nuclear blast by locking himself in a refrigerator (I am not sure that would necessarily help but it goes without saying that logic is never warranted in an Indy film). He returns to teaching as an archaeologist professor but is suddenly given an indefinite leave of absence after his friend’s betrayal leads the police to suspect that he may also be a Communist sympathizer. Soon thereafter, he is approached by a young hotshot biker, Mutt Williams (Shia LaBeouf) who shares his own interest and knowledge in the crystal skull and informs Indy that a close professor friend, Harold Oxley (John Hurt) has been kidnapped. Along the way, he also runs into a past flame, Marion (Karen Allen, from the first film).
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