In this era of late sequels, remakes, and reboots its easy to either disregard or just enjoy the nostalgic feeling of reliving the original film again years later. The truth is its a 50/50 shot and not all make the cut. Then again, in the end it depends entirely on the viewer.
2008 marked the return of one of the cinema’s greatest heroes, Indiana Jones. In this film, Jones (Harrison Ford) is asked by the rebellious Mutt Williams (Shia LaBeouf) to help him and his mother track down an old colleague of Jones’s who went missing while searching for a mythic crystal skull in South America. Meanwhile, a group of Soviets led by the intimidating Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett) are chasing after the skull, hoping to use its power for global conquest.
Right off the bat, you get the feeling you’re watching a sequel. But more than that, you know you’re in a different time period than the previous three films. Whereas they took place in the thirties, this one is in the fifties, and as such has more of a “Happy Days” vibe to it at points. The first films took place in an era of Nazis and Saturday matinees, this one is in the era of B-movies, atomic bombs, giant bugs, cold war conspiracies, and men from mars. So it goes without saying that the different feel you get with this film trends to make it stand out from the previous films in the series.
Superb acting on the part of Harrison Ford, who brings the charm and charisma as Dr. Jones. Along with the return of Marian Ravenwood (Karen Allen) and the newcomers of John Hurt and Ray Winstone. The good storytelling and acting overall make this a very enjoyable adventure for any fan of the Indiana Jones series.
Rating:
6.5/10
A great addition to an already great series.
Directed by Steven Spielberg
Written by David Koepp
Characters created by George Lucas
Cast
Harrison Ford…….Indiana Jones
Cate Blanchett…….Irina Spalko
Karen Allen…..Marion Ravenwood
Ray Winstone……George “Mac” McHale
John Hurt…….Professor Oxley
Jim Broadbent…….Dean Charles Stanforth
Shia LaBeouf…….Mutt Williams
As a die hard Indiana Jones and Spielberg fan, I wanted to like this, but I think I’d probably give it a 6.5 too. Reading your review, I get that they were going for a 50s versus 30s vibe, but at the time I just wanted to see Raiders again.
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