Indiana Jones and the Whoist Whatist?

It's not the years, it's the mileage: Harrison Ford and company prove there's some life left on the odometer

There are certain great moments in movie going in my life and one of them was Raiders of the Lost Ark. I went in excited and completely mystified by what I was going to see, all I knew is it starred Han Solo and was made by the guys who did Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Star Wars. I came out of that theater blown away, a feeling I would only have a handful of times from a movie theater (the other times were Star Wars, Close Encounters, Broadcast News and Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. Yes, the last one is hard to believe). I ate up the sequels like monkey brains and ancient wine and was satisfied with the conclusion of the Last Crusade.

Rumors of a fourth Indiana Jones movie have floated around for years so I never thought it would actually happen. But with declining film revenues in recent years, Hollywood pulled out all the stops for 2008 and one of the crown jewels is another round of Raiders. So how did Dr. Jones and the boys do this time?

Harrison Ford returns to his signature role as the intrepid Arcaheologist who can put bodies in the ground faster than he can unearth them. Now in his 60's, there was some question if Ford would be to aged and creaky to pull off the part. He allays those fears in the first 20 minutes following a round of whip swinging, bullet dodging and car crashing that fondly recalls Indy's best moments. Ford still has "it" and carries the pic even in its draggy expository scenes (as a general rule, puzzle solving is not fun to watch on film unless you can share in the epithany of figuring it out. I'm not an expert on Mayan culture and I doubt most people are). For most of the movie I couldn't figure out why they were going places or doing stuff but as long as people got hit and things blew up I was fine.

Wisely, the movie takes place well after the last film left off in 1957 when the Red Scare and Macarthyism are in full swing. The Russians are after the Crystal Skull which they believe will lead them to ultimate power. Led by the always great Cate Blanchett as an oddly Nazish Commie, the Russians come off as good a threat as the baddies in previous flicks and add to the sense of 80's revival (back when the bad guy in every movie was Russian. Except the Raiders movies because it was set in the 40's).

Speilberg brings back the touchstones of the prior films to add to the nostalgia (planes flying over maps, "I've got a bad feeling about this", mummies) and still knows how to set up action scenes with a sense of gee-whiz fun (a motorbike chase early on was the best). It's that sense of fun that separates Indy 4 from the other three films, the whole movie has a wink-and-a-nod feeling. The new setting gives Spielberg a few pieces to reference as Greasers, Brando in the Wild One, Tarzan and early Rock N Roll all get screen time. But with Indy it always comes back to the action, which this movie delivers even if the chase scene mid way through goes a little off the deep end (it was actually a little remiscent of the speeder bike chase in Return of the Jedi in terms of physics). Nearly two decades after the last movie, watching the biggest boys play with the biggest toys can still be entertaining.

The stumbling block Indiana Jones runs into is the MacGuffin. A MacGuffin is what Alfred Hitchcock used to refer to as the object everyone is after. It can be anything and not even be real, just as long as all the characters agree it's important and that they would kill to get it. In this case, the Crystal Skull is the most distracting MacGuffin I've seen in some time. It's so implausable that it makes the previous MacGuffins seem real. And it leads to such a far fetched conclusion that it was hard to take the ending seriously. I won't say what the movie is ultimately about in case anyone hasn't seen it yet, I'll say I didn't know the main plot point until I saw it today.

So it's not as good as the previous three movies, but then again so what? Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull does remind you of why you liked the Indy movies in the first place and is a nice victory lap for a deserving franchise. Adding Karen Allen back in the mix as Marion Ravenwood and bringing in Shia LeBouf as Mutt Williams brings warmth and a family feel to the proceedings. The action is fun and generally well staged, Ford can still pull off fight scenes and offset intensity with low key brusqueness and a good dose of merryness lightens the mood.

As far as 80's film series revivals go, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is a good one. Sure, the plot is unrealistic and mind boggling but that's not what it's about anyway. Lucas, Spielberg and Ford have built up enough good will that I was able to not think too much about it and enjoy the ride. A pleasant Summer distraction.