INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL

Director: Steven Spielberg
Stars: Harrison Ford, Cate Blanchett, Shia LaBeouf, Karen Allen, Ray Winstone, John Hurt
Year: 2008
Rating: PG-13

The negative reviews about this movie have been both a surprise, yet also expected. If comparing Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull to any of the first three films in the series (yes, even to the fairly lame Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom), you're bound to be setting yourself up for disappointment. When away from a character and story arc for that long, with filmmakers who've gone on to make many other films and have developed both their style and craft to a different level, you're bound to be unable to recapture the exact same magic you did in the "good old days" (did George Lucas and the Star Wars prequel series teach us nothing?!).

But if you just sit back, chill, and try to enjoy this film as the summer-time popcorn treat of a movie that it's intended to be, there's plenty to enjoy by way of action, humor, and plot (although plot is maybe the weakest of the three Indy elements here).

Harrison Ford - mostly definitely looking older - is back as Henry Jones, Jr. - Indiana Jones, famed archeologist and world explorer. This time, befitting Jones' becoming more curmudgeonly, the setting has jumped ahead to the latter half of the 1950's - where the Cold War was just taking its grip on America and college campuses were often dotted with protestors carrying anti-Communism signs.

The film opens up with a bang, as Indy has been kidnapped by a military Russian group - headed by villainess Col. Dr. Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett, in a performance that ALONE makes the film worth watching) - and is being forced to head to Area 51 in Roswell, New Mexico, to secure for them an artifact called the Crystal Skull. Spalko will stop at nothing to get the skull (and show it throughout the film), which - much like with the Germans in Raiders of the Lost Ark - could eventually help her mother country take over the world.

All of this, while at the same time Indy's being hired by a young greaser kid on a motorcycle named Mutt Williams (Shia LaBeouf, whose actually pretty great here - contrary to some bitter-sounding reviewers) to find his mother, who's been kidnapped in the Peruvian jungle. When Indy learns his mother is Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen) - the woman he's always loved yet can't quite commit to - he has no choice but to help the young Mutt ... and the two storylines collide in some great action sequences that stretch believability (to put it mildly) ... yet never fail to entertain.

Without giving anything away (not really), the reason why Col. Dr. Spalko seeks the Crystal Skull in Area 51 is, yes, for THE obvious reason - and it was a bit of a letdown that Spielberg and Lucas chose to center their main storyline around alien creatures. But that said and done, the film is still a really good action flick, with lots of CGI that remains fun to watch and not overly in the way as special effects. For about the first 20 minutes of so of the film, I thought NO WAY was Ford still going to be young enough to pull off Indy, but soon I was able to settle into the ride, and buy into this 65-year-old man who could still dodge both bullets and boulders (not to mention one hell of a colony of the most evil ants you will ever see in a film!). Cate Blanchett is brilliant in the film, funny and playing her role just over the top enough to fit into the action-film motif, and Karen Allen back along for the ride was a nice revisit to Nostalgia-land, as well.

It's a movie to have fun with, and on that level it scores. And while it might not satisfy the Indiana Jones-of-old lovers who may just be living too much in the past - as a straight-up, old-fashioned action picture, you won't find many better today. ***1/2 - Reel Cool-Reel Awesome