Indiana Jones 4 Review

This is an Indiana Jones movie and it isn't. While the movie entertained me, it was missing a lot of the magic that made the previous Indy films so fun. It is hard to nail down exactly what is missing though.

You have Harrison Ford and Indiana Jones and despite the 19 years, he doesn't miss a beat with the looks, lines, and expressions. You have the return of Karen Allen as Marion Ravenwood, once again playing the role with the usual fun and appeal. The movies has the interesting villains in the form of Russians (fits the red scare times of the 50s) and leader Irina Spalko, played well by the beautiful Cate Blanchett. You have the quest, the mysterious Crystal Skull and the resulting world wide trip in the hunt for it. You even have a nod to the Ark from the first movie in the first 30 minutes of the movie. All the elements of a great Indy movie are there. Yet something is missing.

The problem though is the elements are fantastic but how they come together not so much. The actors do their jobs, the sets are great, the special effects are stunning but ultimately the failure is at the script level and while the writer can be blamed there were a lot of cooks in the kitchen that seemed to miss some of the fundamentals. Sure the first 30 minutes had it but after that things fall apart.

The problem I think is the focus. In the past the focus was the quest (the Crystal Skulls) rather then the chase (the bad guys) and how Indy was either always just a step ahead or always figuring out a way out of a jam. In most cases everyone was reacting to his actions rather then vice versa.

In this movie, the quest is incidental. Actually the quest was pretty irrelevant considering that John Hurt's Prof. Oxley had already found the skull and the temple and Indy was just retracing his steps. Instead the movie focused on the relationship between Mutt Williams (Shia LaBeouf) and the chase. Because of this, Indy was often reacting to what they where doing instead of taking the lead on things. In all that, much of the magic was lost.

Now I am not saying don't see the movie, just saying the rush isn't there and don't go in with too high expectations. Go in just wanting to be entertained and save a few bucks by seeing it at a matinee.