Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull: Review By CapisDead

Nostalgia, When it was announced that Lucas would bring back the man in the hat, everyone hoped that Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull would be the next great film in the franchise. But after watching Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull, I left feeling satisfied, but not truly happy with the final result.

This is not to say that the film is terrible, because it is not, but it does not reach the lofty aspirations set up by the first trilogy.

The first thing that one will notice is that Harrison Ford is much older than his last turn as Indiana Jones. While he does an amicable job with the role it takes a while to get used to his deeper voice and older looks. Plus, for some reason Harrison Ford channels John Wayne doing an impersonation of Indiana Jones. As for the rest of the cast, Cate Blanchett does an awesome job as the villain of the piece and Shia Lebouf does a good job as Indy's protege Mutt Williams, but I don't think his character is strong enough to carry the franchise. Plus, Mutt Williams is a terrible name.

As for the plot, it is by FAR the weakest part of the film. This is because it is a harebrained, scattered affair which sees Indy survive an atomic bomb (don't ask), Shia Lebouf swinging with the Monkeys( don't ask) and channel their Fox Mulders( don't ask). As for the villians, the Soviets are just not as threatening and evil as Nazi's. This makes it tough for one sympathise and truly root for Indy. Though, I can't wait to see Mutt fight the Vietcong in the next film.

Finally,someone needs to get Lucas away from the CGI computer stat as he filled up the film with CGI effects that detracted from the film. First, there are some incredibly fake looking scenes with CGI, (battle in the jungle) that immediately detract from the experience as all you can think of is green screen. Plus, there are scenes where the editor, in trying to get a big picture, pans really far out, as in the case of the Waterfall scene. The problem is that since it is so far out, one cannot get close to the danger and feel it. This then lessens the ability for one to sense Indy's danger and detracts from the film.

All in all, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is not a Bad film, but it has some flaws that prevent it from achieving a status that the earlier films garnered.