Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull review

In general it's nice to be reacquainted with old friends you haven't seen for awhile. The intervening years have a habit of adding a rosy hue. And there's always that curiosity about how time has treated them. Indiana Jones' return after an absence of 19 years has certainly been eagerly anticipated. One of cinema's iconic heroes, his initial arrival in 1981's Raiders of the Lost Ark ushered in a new wave of action adventure films. So, has the wait been worthwhile? Hardly.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull sticks closely to the blueprint formulated first time around, providing occasional evidence of why the trilogy was so popular. The elaborate sets, the mythical storyline and the sardonic wit are all here. But ultimately you begin to question your assessment of the original films. In the same way that George Lucas diluted the legacy of Star Wars with the latter episodes, it's hard not to feel the same applies here in what is more an exercise in nostalgia than riveting filmmaking.

This is established from the beginning when, in a nice moment of iconography, we first see Jones (Harrison Ford) in silhouette as he picks up his famous fedora and places it on his head. He and his colleague Mac (Ray Winstone) have been captured by the KGB who are acting under orders from the icy Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett), Stalin's favorite scientist. To pre-empt audiences' quips, there are several references to Jones' advancing years and, despite Ford's age (65), he still appears sturdy and agile enough for all his energetic adventures.

Spalko forces Jones to unearth a box stored in a military warehouse. The contents of which appear to be some form of alien being. After discovering Mac to be a double agent, Jones escapes, returning to his post as an archeological professor. He is then sought out by the cocky, pompadoured Mutt Williams (Shia LaBeouf) who arrives on his motorbike looking like Marlon Brando's The Wild One, juggling a switchblade and obsessing about his hair. Declaring his mother to be a "friend" of Jones, Mutt passes on a letter from Jones' old colleague Harold Oxley (John Hurt). The piece of paper, a jumble of ancient writings and strange symbols, provides clues to the whereabouts of a mythical city in the Amazon and the crystal skull which will imbue special powers on whoever returns it to its rightful place. So Jones and Mutt head off to Peru where, in addition to encountering all kinds of extraordinary creatures, they find some familiar faces including Oxley, Mac, Spalko and a romantic surprise in the form of his old flame Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen).

In the last 19 years, the art of special effects has come a long way. And director Steven Spielberg was obviously keen to take advantage of all that the technology offers. The result being that the film is packed with extravagant sets and visual trickery, but not altogether in a good way as the all too obvious CGI moments only serve to undermine any authentic sense of splendour or danger. Indeed, so durable is Jones, who is able to survive an atomic bomb by hiding in a fridge, that at no time do you ever fear for his well-being. But as resilient as Indiana Jones is, even he struggles to overcome the prevailing sense of disappointment his cinematic return brings.

Kevin Murphy