Comp. II Assigment - Movie Review : Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - Review

In the fourth movie of the Indiana Jones series, Harrison Ford once again stars as Indiana Jones. This movie has high expectations due to the excellent reputation of the previous Indianan Jones movies. The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is directed by Steven Spielberg and its script is written by George Lucas. Set in the 1950's, the movie opens in the Nevada dessert. Soviet agents force Indiana Jones into a heavily guarded US hangar. They were trying to find an artifact with seemingly great powers. Then both the Soviets and Indiana Jones escape. Indiana Jones then starts his journey around the world in a wild goose chase looking for a crystal skull of great power in competition with the Soviets. In the beginning of his journey, he meets “Mutt Williams”, acted by Shia LaBeouf. He a feisty character who helps him in his chase to find the Crystal Skull.
The movie has many classic Indiana Jones themes. Yet, it does not compare with the original brilliance in the first three movies. For instance, there was only one snake scene. Yet, there were many encounters of spooky creatures. The special effects in the movie were well done. The special effects in the final climax were well done, making the unbelievable look believable. The unbelievability of many of the scenes made the movie even more exciting. The moving stone defenses and contraptions were brilliant. They added to the excitement, but they did not become the focus.
The good and the bad characters were well defined from the start. There were not many surprises regarding what side the characters were on. There was almost no conflict between the characters and no fatal dilemmas. The story and plot were very shallow in terms of character conflict, unlike the previous Indiana Jones movies. The plot mostly served as a buildup to the final, exciting climax, but not for a buildup of conflicts and ideas.
However, Harrison Ford's acting of Indiana Jones was well done. He was able to keep much of the contrast between his life as a professor and his life as a adventurous archaeologist. He also played the part as an older Indiana Jones quite well. He didn't overact the role of being an old Indiana Jones. However, the role of Mutt Williams was not well done. In the beginning of the movie, he was a young man in the city, then, as it progresses, he becomes much like Indiana Jones without any progression. However, Cate Blanchett’s acting the role of the evil Dr. Irina Spalko, was well done. In the movie, she accurately portrayed the traits of a ruthless, sharp, and determined stereotypical Soviet.
The editing and score of the movie added to the suspense. The classic Indiana Jones theme song showed up when he was victorious. The editing was not overdone, but the movie moved rather quickly. The scenes should have been longer and built up more conflict and ideas.
This movie has the typical Indiana Jones violence and scary scenes. The Soviets were ruthless, and they did not mind killing others. There were plenty of guns, handguns in the movie were used a tool for threatening, and the machine guns fired everywhere but rarely hit their target. There was a lot of fist fighting and fencing. As in all of the Indiana Jones movies, there were a plethora of scary scenes and creatures, and this movie is no exception.
Overall, the movie was a good continuation of the series, but there was nothing outstanding in regard to the story. It is worth seeing as a good adventurous follow up to the Indiana Jones series. The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was a great action adventure, however, I wish it would have had a better plot and conflict between characters.