‘Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’ Review

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (12A)

Cast: Harrison Ford, Ray Winstone, Cate Blanchett, Shia LaBeouf, William Hurt, Karen Allen, Jim Broadbent
Director: Steven Spielberg
Running Time: 122 minutes

I’m a big Indiana Jones fan and was in two minds about this film being released. At first I thought that Harrison Ford would be too old to give us a decent action performance, and because of what George Lucas did to Star Wars, I was nervous. But on the other hand, I really wanted to see another Indiana Jones film. But I was surprised by just how good Harrison Ford still is at action films.

Age is no concern in this film. There are a few remarks made about his age which is a nice touch and not over the top like a lot of American films can go. The introduction of new and old faces to the franchise is nice, with a return for Marion from Raiders.

There are a few cheesy moments in this film (even for Indy) which I thought were pointless. One of them being the whole ‘gopher’ thing!! When the film started, I thought I was watching a daft advert, but it turned out to be some poor CGI gophers thrown into a blockbuster film for kicks is seems. Why? Maybe the studio had some spare cash and thought, “Hey!! I like Gophers! They’re cute! Lets throw some in their and give ‘em some screen time”. Its Indiana Jones for God’s sake, what the hell was George Lu…….

Moving on!

The rest of the CGI is top notch and although people say that there was too much, maybe they should look back at the original Indys, as I noticed quite a lot of SFX thrown in when reliving the golden days and it all added to the experience.

The action scenes are good with the usual one liners from Harrison Ford which will make you chuckle, but there is the odd part (including the gophers) where you think George Lucas must have had a hand in it. Shia LaBeouf swinging like Tarzan with an army of monkeys through the jungle had me thinking, what the…..It’s Indiana Jones not George of the Jungle, which is probably why Mr. Lucas did it!!

However, the main storyline is strong and is helped along by a brilliant cast including great performances from the ever impressive Shia LaBeouf, and our very own Ray Winstone. William Hurt plays his part well, but doesn’t have that many lines as he’s lost his marbles, but Karen Allen reprises her role as Marion Ravenwood like she’d never stepped out of character.

My personal best part of the film is when Indiana Jones utters the line, “You’re from Leeds, England”. Being from Leeds myself, this line made me wet my pants!

I thought that the ending was bittersweet. It was a good ending, but I don’t think that it was an Indiana Jones ending as it seemed a little far fetched.

It’s a good film that’s definitely worth seeing on the big screen and one that will be added to my DVD collection. Just don’t expect it to be an Indy classic.

3 out of 5

Ender