Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

[theradicalchild]

The fourth Indiana Jones film, which had fallen into more significant protracted development than its predecessor, opens a little under a score after its precursor in 1957 Nevada, with an (almost) immediate dive into its main plot where Soviet forces led by Colonel Dr. Irina Spalko (and I’m pretty sure her being Ukrainian won’t resound well with audiences today), having captured Indy and his friend George “Mac” McHale, visit the government warehouse where the Ark of the Covenant is in search of the eponymous crystal skull that can allegedly give great psychic power to those who return it to Akator. Like how the first three films took their inspiration from adventure serials of the 1930s-40s, the fourth movie takes its from science-fiction films of the 1950s, and for the most part it does a nice job in that respect.

Indy escapes from the Soviets and attempts to get help and at first seems to find it in a desert town, but as it turns out, it’s fake and was built to demonstrate a nuclear bomb, and he finds a hiding place in the form of a refrigerator, which alongside other lines and callbacks to the previous films gives it a significant lighter tone. Back at the college he teaches at, Jones encounters a greaser named Mutt Williams, who helps him continue eluding the Russians, the two going to Peru to seek the crystal skull, the Soviet forces continuing to give chase. In South America, Indy reunites with his old fling Marion Ravenwood, she and Mutt helping him continue their race for the skull, which brings with it some major twists and a conclusion that’s in some respects like Raiders of the Lost Ark’s.

For the most part, the fourth film did an excellent job mimicking the style of its precursors, John Williams’s musical score very much helping, with several riddles Indy and his companions follow, and Shia LaBeouf is in my mind one of the better sidekicks of the series. It’s certainly not perfect, but I think those who dislike it do so for the wrong reasons, the biggest of which is “the original films are untouchable,” and it is in respects like Raiders in that Indy could have just stayed home and nothing would be different, but there is the auxiliary effect of Indy reuniting with Marion, which is somewhat critical. I do hope they explain Karen Allen and Shia’s absences from the forthcoming Dial of Destiny, but I’m sure I’ll enjoy it regardless since I’m not blinded by nostalgia like many critics and audiences hypocritically seem to be.