Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Hits Cannes

by Joe Leydon | Published May 19, 2008

Actors Ray Winstone, Shia LaBeouf, George Lucas, Karen Allen and John Hurt arrives at the Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of The Crystal Skull premiere at the Palais des Festivals during the 61st International Cannes Film Festival. Photo: Francois Durand/2008 Getty Images

The immensely entertaining Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull gives you the same sort of pleasurable rush—a potent mix of nostalgia-fueled glee and in-the-moment excitement—that you can get from a really great concert by a favorite band that first started charting in the 1980s. That is, provided it’s a concert where (a) the original players are obviously and unashamedly older, but still at the top of the their form, (b) they play both the oldies and the new stuff with the same full-out, rock-the-house energy, (c) the new members of the group fit in seamlessly because they’ve got the same beat, and (d) a bandmate who left the group a few albums back makes a welcome return midway through the performance.

Here’s a tip of the fedora to Steven Spielberg for offering no fewer than three sly tributes to the late, great Denholm Elliott, the actor who played Indy’s friend and colleague in Raiders of the Lost Ark . And another hat-tip to Cate Blanchett, who isn’t content merely to be a good sport while playing the villain of the piece. Instead, she insists on being a good actor—and makes Irina Spalko, a Cold War-era Soviet femme fatale, an altogether worthy opponent for the whip-cracking, wisecracking hero.

Take my advice: Go. Now. Enjoy.

Posted courtesy Joe Leydon’s Moving Picture Blog: http://movingpictureblog.blogspot.com/

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Comment by patrick on 5/21/08 at 6:46 pm: it seems like the recipe of a good Indiana Jones film would be 1 part Nazis and 1 part biblical artifact… the Soviet army does a pretty good job of replacing the Nazis, but the other ingredient…
Comment by Stan Raydeau on 5/23/08 at 9:46 pm: The story line is adequate. The action sequences are uneven, the scene transitions are below average. And the acting/dialog is surprisingly poor. It is time for Ford to retire from action movies. He can’t perform anything strenuous, is doubled in every scene requiring any sort of movement; Dick VanDyke or Andy Griffith could have played the role as well as Ford. As for Allen...? What has she been on the last 20 years? The cheeseburger and gin diet? What a poor performance.
Shia at least showed some energy, and Kate, well, she’s amazing in anything she chooses.
A solid grade “C.”
Comment by Steve Rosam on 6/03/08 at 7:01 pm: This particular movie freak was very disappointed. Seems that all those rumours about the story problems were true. A royal mess. I was actually embarassed for John Hurt in a couple of scenes, but I’m sure the cheque made it all better. Honestly, you kind of expect this stuff from Johnny come lately summer action flick directors du jour, but Steven - what were you thinking? Were you thinking? Very little wit, and Janusz looked like he was struggling. Damn, I LOVED Indy! I’m upset. I’ll keep watching ‘Raiders’.