This past weekend, the key word was “Nostalgiaâ€. I believe this was the only reason to bring out a forth installment in the Indiana Jones series. The first three Indiana movies all had record breaking box office performances. So what do George Lucas & Steven Spielberg do, after 19 years since the last sequel? They decide it’s time to dust off Indy’s fedora, and bring the action hero back to the big screen.
In this one Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford), teams up with a kid named Mudd Williams (Shia LaBeouf ), to find a dear friend, Professor Oxley (John Hurt). Professor Oxley has found a crystal skull that is the key to an ancient city of gold. It is also promised in the legend, that whoever returns the skull to its rightful place will have great power. This great power is something that the Soviets want, especially they’re leader Irina Spalko ( Cate Blanchett). On they’re adventure which takes them to South America, Indy is reunited with his true love Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen), who happens to be Mudd’s mother. Along for the ride is “Mac†George Michale (Ray Winstone ), who has his own greed in mind, when helping out our adventurers. The story has its usual visually stunning ancient ruin sites, which have been the keystones to the Indy movies, with its puzzle entrances that Indy always figures out. There is enough action to keep you interested, and a lot of chase scenes as the Soviet agents are always a step behind of our group. What the movie was lacking was anything really new. I went to see this movie because I greatly enjoyed the first three, but maybe 19 years was too long to make a forth. It just didn’t bring back that breathtaking excitement that it had all those years ago. Now I’m sure it will make money, because people loved these movies, and want to see what Harrison Ford can still pull off. The only thing is, he’s doing it at a much slower pace in this one. I wasn’t totally disappointed, but I can only give this movie 2 skulls out of 4. Some treasures should be left buried, and with the success that the first three had, they should have been satisfied with they’re original fortune. The movie runs 2hrs & 3mins, which is way under the 2&1/2 plus hour movies of the first three. It’s PG-13 for adventure violence and scary images. It was written by George Lucas, and directed by Steven Spielberg. It was distributed by Paramount Pictures.
