Indiana Jones part IV: SPOILERS

Got out to see the Crystal skull this last weekend and thought I'd give my own 2 cents review of the movie.

About the only thing you can compare this to is the other Indiana Jones movies. And in so doing, my favorites are still the original and the Last Crusade. The Crystal skull then beats out the Temple of Doom.

But thats not to say it is a bad movie, it just had a lot to live up to.

The movie uses the same basic blue print it always has. An action scene, a quick trip back to the college (missing from #2) and then back on the trail again. Does this guy actually ever teach?

Anyway, Marion's son Mutt shows up and tells him of his old buddy and mother who needed his help. They fight off some more bad guys and hop on the first flight to South America.
Indy hunts down and finds the crystal skull and is promptly caught by the Russians.

They do a long car chase/fight scene with some of the usual Indiana Jones style and end up hitting some huge ant beds after some nifty fighting by both Indiana and Mutt.

As everyone rushes for the river to avoid the ant swarms, Indy and company are in a boat, while the Russians are swimming.

Jones makes it into the lost city, still no gold, and then on into the sacred temple. Meanwhile, the traitor from earlier, betrays them again and the half drowned Russians follow them.

Finally, they make it to the final chamber where the Crystal skull was missing. This must have only been of the original 13 who came and helped the Mayans.

So the Russians pop in and the evil chick wants all the knowledge of the universe. She wasn't willing to look into the Crystal skull, but asks for it in the chamber with 13?? Well she gets what she asked for and to thank the people who restored them, the aliens sucked them all up into their inter-dimensional ship and left with them. Of course the heroes made it out alive.

There were a few logic problems with the movie. But it did have some very good flash backs to the originals. A quick shot of the Arc, the snake phobia came into play again. It explained what happened to Indy and Marion years ago and it ties it up neatly afterwards.
The fact that Mutt is Indies son, should really come as no surprise to anyone. I guessed it as soon as they announced Marion would be returning with a son.

I also liked the final scene when Mutt picks up Indy's trademark hat and almost puts it on...

I thought the acting was top notch, even if the story was lacking. My biggest problem, was that in the past Indy movies, the artifacts he found were all what history/mythology had them as being. But this, one, I've never read anything about the Crystal skulls being anything near a alien skull. And none of the Crystal skulls are shaped the way this one was. So they kind of went off in a completely different direction than the real Mayan/Aztec mythology.

Overall, it comes down to one simple question. Did you enjoy the other Indiana Jones movies? If you did, you will enjoy this one as well. Harrison Ford is definetely showing his age but no one could have ever played Indy better than Ford. So much for that long life the Holy Grail gave him. ;)

Until next time...