Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)

Idea: After Harold Oxley (John Hurt) is kidnapped, Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) teams up with Mutt Williams (Shai LaBeouf) to rescue Ox and, it turns out, Marion (Karen Allen) from the Soviets led by Col. Dr. Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett). They are all after the crystal skull believed to be the key to finding El Dorado.

Man, that was hard to write. Listen, for a straight forward action movie, there's a lot going on, and I don't want to give too much away. Actually, I want to give the entire movie away, which is why I should probably warn you know that there are spoilers ahead.

Okay, we good? People who don't want to spoiled about a movie that came out nearly a month ago have flown the coup? Great.

Aliens? Aliens? They went there? Oh, pardon me, "interdimensional beings." There's an extent to which I realize that maybe I shouldn't hold any of this against them, that I recognize that the movies are supposed to be this silly comic book-B movie hybrid adventure, and that I can forgive a fair number of flaws because Steven Spielberg remains an exciting director, at least visually. Even the concept of Mutt, Indy's long lost son, with the self chosen dog name and the Marlon Brando in The Wild Ones costume, works.

Now, I like LaBeouf. At least I think I do. I can see how he's poised to become a big star and the idea of churning out summer blockbusters for the next few years with a handful of other smaller, more serious pictures in between must be appealing to a young actor. I gave him props for making Transformers a lot more fun than it would have been with pretty much any one else in the role. But while he brings great energy to this picture, as he did with that one, there's something the matter with him. You know, besides his weird head. He lacks chemistry with pretty much anyone, and he doesn't have a lot going in the way of charisma either. Still, he's likable. Even so, I'm not sure I would want to see, as was so obviously suggested in this movie, a new version of the franchise with Mutt at the helm. I mean, would you really go see movies called Mutt Jones and the [whatever you go to after you already went there]?

Alright, I suppose previewing movies that don't even exist is beside the point. This movie's alright. It's fun and funny, making sure to poke fun at Indy's age without taking it too far. It does itself a favour by reviving Marion instead of sticking Indy with some age inappropriate partner. Mutt the concept works better than Mutt the actual character, particularly when he goes swinging through the jungle with the help of some rather kind primates, but it's not something that can't be improved with time.

Basically, it's not so bad that you that you'll ever find yourself wondering, "They restarted the franchise for that?" but not so good that you'll be able to stop yourself from wondering why they couldn't have come up with something just a little better in the intervening decades. At least John Williams' score is just as fun and as rousing as ever. B-