Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Starring: Harrison Ford, Cate Blanchett, Shia LeBeouf, John Hurt, Ray Winstone, Karen Allen
Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Produced by: George Lucas

First of, this review of mine will be different from the usual. By the end of it, I'll be giving this film two set of scores.

The story begins when a supposed American army fleet breaches a top secret army warehouse. It turns out, the soldiers were Soviets under disguise. As they open the trunk of the car, are two men... Indiana Jones, and his partner George 'Mac' McHale. It turns out, Indy was kidnapped by the Soviets to help them look for a certain artifact inside the warehouse. While the Soviets are distracted, Indy was able to secure a gun to help him and Mac escape. Much to his surprise, Mac is actually a double agent working for the Soviets. A betrayed Indy instead found another way to escape the enemies altogether. Back at the ally territory, Indy is accused of treason and is under investigation because his partner Mac was a double agent. Because of this, the university decided to give him an indefinite leave of absence. He decided to take his vacation when a young man named 'Mutt' asked for his help to find Harold Oxley, a colleague of Indy. The two teamed up and eventually learned that Oxley has found a rare artifact called the Crystal Skull, and went missing because of that. Hence, the adventure begins as the duo decides to find Oxley and unravel the mystery behind the Crystal Skull, while dodging the Soviets altogether.

Okay, here we go. In my opinion, the crowd reaction WILL be mixed. Die-hard Indy fans who've been fans from the start (me included) ARE DISAPPOINTED with this movie. While people new to the series will like the movie. So check the end for two separate scores: for old-school fans and the new crowd.

As an Indy fan, I was sorely disappointed with this movie. Twenty years of waiting and you get this?! The first half of the movie was good, with the old school Indy film's vibe. Then the second half kicked in and you're forced to sit and watch these stupidities unravel right with your very eyes!

What's in the second half? TOO MUCH CGI! You're not watching 'Indiana Jones', you're watching 'The Mummy'... except that 'The Mummy' was better! I was hoping to see more of that old school Indy scenes which were realistic and tied with quirky humor... instead, we get to see over the top scenes which were never really funny nor amusing.

The first half was good because it contained the old school realistic Indy action scenes I was saying, then the second part kicks in and you're bombarded with this ridiculous amount of CGI. It was like Spielberg directed the first half, then George 'JarJar Binks' Lucas directed the second half and decided its better to bombard the movie with too much CGI!

Also, what's up with that car chase in the Jungle?! Aside from the SO FAKE looking Jungle, who gave the idea of putting in a fake sword fight?! It was corny as hell.

And following that scene comes the MOST horrendous and CORNY scene I've ever seen in a film... I won't spoil it for you but I'll give clues: VINES. MONKEYS. SWING.

Okay, I can't help it! It's LeBeouf's character swinging in the vines like Tarzan (and it's not just a short swing, it was a car chase, so literally he was swinging in the whole Jungle just to catch up with the speeding cars!) complete WITH MONKEYS (CGI MONKEYS!!!) swinging with him!!

What the hell is THAT!? Better then, WHO thought of that!? While watching that particular scene, I was hoping that Spielberg gives the audience a big surprise and kill LeBeouf's character while he's swinging on those vines! Oh, how tragic (but redeeming!). And take those damn monkeys with him!

Another gripe was the story. In my opinion, the ending was anti-climactic. Ever since half-way of the movie, you'll realize where this movie will come to. And it sucks. The fact that Spielberg and company were saying that they took 20 years before making another Indy movie because they were waiting for a GREAT STORY, and they came up with this?! This was the story that they were waiting 20 years for!? Give me a break!! The story would've been groundbreaking if it was show in 1988... but we're in 2008 now. I won't give details of the story just to avoid spoiling people, but I'm sure most will not be very impressed.

Regarding the actors, Harrison Ford gives his best but a great actor can only do so much with a certain material. The movie spent too much to say 'Indy has aged' and can't do this and that anymore. But then they ended up making him indestructible... dodging bullets, car crashes, falls... heck, they even made him survive a nuclear blast!

But aside that, Harrison Ford is probably the biggest consolation for watching the movie. It was great seeing him as Indy again despite the obvious age difference. The supporting cast was good too, the greatest being Cate Blanchett as her portrayal of the main antagonist.

Personally, I'm on the side of the old-school Indy fans. I've been a fan of this franchise ever since I was a kid. I even have a copy of the original trilogy in LASER DISCS (yes, the BIG discs). And due so, the hype for this is overwhelming (since it was 20 years in the waiting)... and then Spielberg and company ended up with this. It is definitely a disappointment for old-school fans since most of the things that made the Indy franchise so good were no where to be found in this latest installment. They say 'Temple of Doom' was the worst of the series? Not anymore, in my opinion.

But as I've said, people that are new to the series will not be disappointed just for the type of movie this is.

New Crowd:
People who aren't used to old school Indy films will actually like this film better than old time fans. It's from Spielberg after all. It's action packed and fast paced... and people who like movies like 'The Mummy' will like it. It's a different breed of movie and as the saying goes: "They never make 'em anymore like they used to", but like what I've said, since the newer crowd are not familiar with how Indy films used to be (better), they won't be disappointed with this movie. Just watch out for the stupid Tarzan scene I've mention. Score: 9/10

Old-school:
Man, this movie is DISAPPOINTING. After almost 20 years of waiting, we get this!? The first half of the movie was promising, then the second half started and you wished that Lucas and Spielberg should've just let the Indy franchise have it's peace, and preserve its amazing franchise!

Too much reliance on CGI; some of the humor was off the mark; and a mediocre story brought this movie down. Score: 5/10 (and that's because the first half of the movie was good, and the second part was... MEH!!!)