Lucas, Spielberg and Ford dust off their Eighties franchise for one last hurrah. Despite the skepticism I had for the three major participants, they pulled it off and made me sad because this looks like the final adventure for everyone’s favorite archaeologist.
Nineteen years have passed since Indy, his father, Sallah and Dr. Brody defeated the Nazis from their acquisition of the Holy Grail in 1938. WWII took care of Indy’s primary antagonists from the first and third movie but in 1957 the Soviet Union has filled the void. Seems Stalin shared Hitler’s obsession over mystical artifacts. Uncle Joe may have died four years earlier yet his main paranormal scientist Spalko continues the quest to find a crystal skull tied to Roswell and a legendary city in the Amazon. Much like the Ark, whoever controls the object(s) in question will rule the world, be invincible, and so on.
Indy’s reintroduction to the audience is a roller coaster of frenetic action but tempered with his advanced age (60) when he can’t pull off the same stunt with his trademark whip. I did like the quick explanation and tribute to Brody, his old boss from the first and third movies; the actor died in 1992. Same goes for Dr. Jones Sr. yet Sean Connery is quite alive; Scotland will shut down for a week when he passes. Joining him on this adventure is a Brandoesque biker named Mutt (LaBeof, a fave of Spielberg’s lately) to provide comic relief, hipness (for the Fifties), blade skills and contrast; to emphasize how many years have gone by. Marion from Raiders returns too. She’s Mutt’s mother and seems to be the only woman Indy couldn’t forget.
I think this film worked for me because Spielberg’s directing countered Lucas’s over-dependence on special effects and lame suggestions. Spielberg’s past flicks tend to be cliche or heavy-handed yet he can coax better performances from the actors than Lucas. You need to pay attention to the cameos of other items and creatures too, the last one might be obscure.
Worth Seeing?: Yes. The Summer releases need large screens, dark rooms and huge sound systems to project their immensity, especially when they’re great. Crummy ones use it to cover up their shortcomings. My only complaint is that there were no more adventures between Crusade and Skull because Skull‘s ending gives the franchise a feeling of closure; Indiana Jones has finally hung up his famous fedora, settled down and will stick to teaching until his passing.