Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
2008  PG-13  ADVENTURE  1h 59min
CAST— Harrison Ford, Cate Blanchett, Shia LaBeouf
MUSIC— John Williams  DIRECTOR— Steven Spielberg

     After nineteen long years the wait is over; Indy is back and ready for action. This time around nary a Nazi is in sight; the Russians are coming, the Russians are coming! The Red Scare is in full swing. Indiana Jones is a little older, a little wiser. When a former colleague is kidnapped, Indy breaks out the old bullwhip and is hot on the trail. As it turns out his friend was close to discovering an ancient crystal skull with legendary mystical powers. Indy’s quest leads him from an ancient tomb all the way to a city of legend, all the while treating the audience to amazing adventure, tense excitement, and of course, the now classic Indiana Jones theme, thanks to film composer John Williams. Harrison Ford is in fine form and so is the majority of the cast; what could have used a bit of punching up is the story itself. Without giving too much away, let’s just say that the film has a definite sci-fi theme going on. A little toning down in that arena would have been fine. All nit-picking aside, the film is action-packed and fun, capturing the feel of previous Indy outings. What more could you want?
OUR RATING— ***
PRECEDED BY— Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)