Film Review: Indiana Jones & The Kingdom of The Crystal Skull

Indiana Jones @ IMDB

Nostalgia is a wonderful thing. It makes the past look better and sells tons of DVDs each year. But you can get stuck in the past and not appreciate what you have now.

Exhibit A: the new Indiana Jones film.

How long in the making? Oh, ages. Did we think it was going to happen? Probably not. The Star Wars Prequels didn't bode well.

But people forget that Steven Spielberg makes great popcorn films. And that's what Indiana Jones is: a great (the best?) popcorn film.

So it is that Indy returns, older, not necessarily wiser but still has a hat and a whip and some weird artifact to return to somewhere.

Start with the problems: that title. Sort of sums up the story really. Bit too long, bit too convoluted and a bit silly.

But if you go with it, it's fun. It cracks along and it's never far until the next great set piece. Harrison Ford, a little creaky admittedly, can still carry the film. Shia LeBouef doesn't let the side down despite being in the silliest part of the film. The support is great, even if Ray Winstone's part is a little underwritten. No problems with the cast at all.

The thing is this: it's not like the old Indy films. Yes, there is CGI. It's not, as Spielberg promised, an old school Indy film. Nor should it be, this is 2008. The old Indy films used all the cutting edge film making technology they could lay their hands on and so does this film. I don't have a problem with CGI if it's used properly and in this film it is. It enhances.

The silliness, however, does not enhance. And it does get silly. Silly really is the best word to describe it. The ending is very silly. Well, the bit before the end is silly, the bit after that is one of the most astonishing CGI sequences I've ever seen. The scale of it is amazing and is almost worth the entrance fee alone.

So: great film. As good as the old ones? In some ways yes, in some ways no. But it can stand beside them and hold it's own and that's all we could have asked for.

In a word? Cracking.