Crystal Skull hits nearly all the marks.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull opened yesterday to much hype and anticipation. I really wanted this film to be as good as Raiders and The Last Crusade, and for the most part it is. There are some spectacular set pieces throughout the film as is the same with the previous Indy instalments. There are some great character moments also, what bugs me slightly are that there are some really absurd elements to the film. I will get to those soon. I have to say that it was great to see Harrison Ford back in the role that would have been shit had Tom Selleck actually been Indiana. Ford takes the character to the next stage considering that he is now in his sixties.

Minor Spoiler alert.
So as I said Indy is back in full swing, bullwhipping his way from stunt to bad guy to supernatural McGuffin. I was unsure when I walked out of the theatre if this was as good as the other Indy films, not that I have had a few days to think about it I have to say, ‘yes it is’. It has all the hallmarks of what makes Indy, Indy. We have the Paramount mountain logo dissolve to a real representation of the logo, we have an adventure sequence to start with. We have an interesting bad guy and Cate Blanchette does a good job as Indy’s nemesis. She is complex, focused and like her predecessors a little bit insane. We have a big huge henchman that Indy has to go toe to toe with and boy does he ever. We have two fights that Indy has to endure. Finally we have an ending that is a bit fantastical, just like Raiders, Doom and Crusade. I have to keep telling myself that the other three movies all had supernatural artefacts as the main quest and this is no different.

The Good Stuff.
Harrison Ford is back as Indiana, this is great.

Harrison Ford is more than capable of handling the stresses of Indiana Jones.
Acknowledgement of Indy’s father and Marcus Brody were a welcome sight.
John Williams score was right in line with the themes of the other films and hit the mark everytime. Queues were right on, we heard Last Crusade Themes and Raiders Themes.
Getting to see the Ark Of the Covenant in the Warehouse was a welcome sight.
The whole first 25 minutes was great fun. Loved it.

The Bad Stuff
Mutt’s jungle escapades were a bit over the top. That includes the bit with the monkey’s and the sword fight. It was a bit to fantastical for my liking, not really real enough for Indiana Jones .
Ray Winstone’s character was a bit wasted, he’s a good actor but he wasn’t really given a lot to work with.
The bit with the snake was a bit silly, we all know that Indy does not like snakes but a snake rope.... come on.
The Crystal Skull looks like a plastic case with screwed up plastic inside. And it does not look very heavy either.
So as you can see the bad stuff is not ingrained throughout the film and does not make it a bad film experience, I was able to put it aside and enjoy the rest of the movie for what it was, a good solid Indiana Jones flick. When I left the movies I had it at a 6.5 out of 10, but now I am up to 7.5, maybe an 8.