Date: May 23, 2008
Location: Muvico Boynton Beach

I’ve come to the realization that there are Indiana Jones films, and there’s Raiders of the Lost Ark. Crystal Skull is the former, and it is much like its predecessors (Temple of Doom and The Last Crusade) — exciting, corny, outlandish, funny… and not a very good movie.

Raiders of the Lost Ark is a very good movie. In fact, I’ve said I consider it a perfect movie. It has no false notes, takes no missteps. It’s one of the most spectacular feats of entertainment ever committed to celluloid. And as such, it’s an impossible act to follow.

Given that, I’ve also said that Spielberg, Lucas and Ford should have quit while they were ahead. To be sure, the second and third Indy films were a lot of fun (I remember seeing Temple of Doom five times in the theater over the course of a couple weeks — there was nothing more exciting for a 12-year-old kid). But they were deliriously flawed, each one a little less special than the last.

Crystal Skull is a little bit special. It’s a thrill to see Harrison Ford back in the hat, wielding the whip. Karen Allen is a welcome presence (though woefully underused). Shia Lebouf turns in another fine performance. There are some witty scenes and a few great action set pieces.

But the script is a weakness — hardly any time is spent on the characters and the whole crystal skull business is absurd (and the alien connection feels out of place in an Indiana Jones movie). I was really looking forward to Indiana’s reunion with Marion but it was rushed, jumping from antagonism to romance in the course of two scenes. The early action scenes are appealingly low-tech, but as the film goes on it relies more and more on CGI effects that contradict the spirit of these films.

It seems a little wrong to list problems with an Indiana Jones movie. It’s tempting to say that they’re meant to be fun, not great cinema. And that’s where the disconnect comes in between Raiders and the rest of the films. Because Raiders of the Lost Ark is great fun and great cinema. And I think I let that play too big a role in my anticipation of this film. Alex and I made the mistake of watching Raiders the night before we saw Crystal Skull. We would have been better off watching the other two films.