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

Review: Indiana Jones and the Kindom of the Crystal Skull

As I was sitting there in the theater watching the same ol' trailers I've seen countless times before I thought to myself, this movie is going to be so awesome. And before I knew it, the little geek inside of me was getting excited from seeing the Lucasfilm ltd. logo followed by an old school Paramount logo. Why? I have no idea. I guess it comes from being such a huge fan of Star Wars. But anyways, the film starts out with our trusty hero held at gun-point being forced to lead a group of Russian soldiers to a crate hidden in a very large warehouse. A crate holding something that leads to something much larger that is discovered as you move through the film. Which is actually pretty good.

Over the last year, there has been much speculation as to what this Crystal Skull is all about. What is it?, Where did it come from?, etc. And during the movie it is very persuasive in the idea that it may just have to do with what many people have suspected. "It wasn't made by human hands". And just when you think the movie wasn't going to go there, it does. But don't get me wrong, even though things seem a bit out there, the movie still delivers believability and some very nice thrills.

Harrison Ford returns as Indy once again and what can I say? He was born for this role. He's pushing 65 and he's still kicking ass better than most younger people could. Now about those young people... Shia LaBeouf. The dude is awesome. I was one of the few who really got into Transformers. I thought Shia brought something to that movie that was brilliant. He does nothing different here. It's got to be hard acting next to a legend like Ford but, he nailed it. This kid is going places. And how could I forget Karen Allen. She returns as the same character from Raiders of the Lost Ark and wow did she age well. She looks great. And she was very fun to watch especially while bickering with Indy throughout their scenes.

While this movie has a very intriguing storyline and top notch special effects, there are some things that were a tad messy. If you've read any other reviews for this movie you will have heard of the infamous Shia/Tarzan scene. How a scene with Shia swinging on vines with CGI monkeys didn't get deleted in post-production, I don't know. But it was very akward and wierd. And on another note, some things were just too predictable. Some character interactions were too easy to spot 30 minutes before they happened. But just that little bit of issues wasn't enough to make this film very enjoyable.

Now after seeing the flick, I must say that George Lucas and Steven Speilberg are quite the team. They do have a very elaborate vision and it goes well on screen. And dispite having it's little disadvantages, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, ended up being a very fun and exciting way to keep the summer rolling. And to all of the fans of Indiana Jones, keep a look out for a cameo by the Ark of the Covenant in the opening scene and a little hint at the end of the movie for whats to come in future installments to the Indy franchise.

My Rating: 8/10