I love Indiana Jones. Raiders of the Lost Ark is easily one of my favourite movies ever and The Last Crusade is an excellent conclusion to the trilogy. I have mixed feelings about Temple of Doom, but two excellent movies in a trilogy ain’t a bad track record (and it should be noted that a lot of people love Temple). But Indiana Jones isn’t a trilogy; it hasn’t been for some time now. But thanks to some less than favourable reviews and a wild reaction to the fourth entry, 2008’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, I avoided it for all these years. The series remained a trilogy in my eyes. But with the Dial of Destiny around the corner, I figured I should take the plunge and check out the fourth Indiana movie and see if all the hate was really warranted after all this time. Our writer Eric has a piece on Crystal Skull up on the site as well, but I really wanted to tackle this from the perspective of a first-time viewer.

Due to the nature of the internet and my being so ingrained in the pop-culture conversation, I was very aware of the reactions to the movie and the ridiculousness of certain scenes. When looking at the movie from this point of view, it’s easy to form a preconceived bias. People say it’s awful, it’s stupid, the CGI is horrendous, etc. While some of these comments certainly are valid, I actually enjoyed Kingdom of the Crystal Skull more than I thought I would. Not to say it’s a fantastic movie or anything and it’s still my least favourite of the four (to date; we’ll see what I think of Dial of Destiny when it releases), but it was by no means the unwatchable train wreck I thought it was going to be.

But before saying what I did like, I want to quickly address what I didn’t like. I say quickly because most of what I didn’t like has already been addressed by dozens upon dozens of critics and fans over the years. I think a huge issue in the movie is the really poor CGI and the extremely overlit shots, which makes the VFX appear shiny. It’s really distracting and is perhaps most noticeable with the jungle chase sequence, specifically when Shia LeBoeuf’s Mutt Williams swings from vine to vine like some sort of leather-clad Tarzan. This comes off as a huge shame, as Steven Spielberg was once a champion of practical effects with the likes of E.T. or Jurassic Park or, gasp, the original Indiana Jones trilogy. So to see the director take the easy route and have the results be less than spectacular was a blow.

The story also feels tired and worn out, much like Harrison Ford’s appearance in the movie. Neither feels like they’re phoning it in, but neither he nor the script written by George Lucas feels like it’s doing anything new or fun with the character. Plus the movie just has plenty of dumb moments, chief among them the nuclear test sequence (shocking, I know). So coupled with poor CGI and an otherwise ho-hum story, the film can overall end up feeling a bit lifeless at times.

But there is some entertainment to be had here. Despite the excessive use of bad CGI, there’s no doubt that director Steven Speilberg knows how to frame an action sequence. From the opening chase in the warehouse to the motorcycle escape from the campus to yes, even the greaser brawl in the diner, everything is staged in a most entertaining fashion with great camera work and stuntmanship. In fact, the opening act, from the warehouse sequence to the reveal that his buddy Mac (Ray Winstone) is actually a double agent working for Cate Blanchette’s menacing Irina Spalko, is a great and memorable portion of the movie.

The movie knows how to have fun too. There’s a diner brawl scene that feels heavily inspired by Back to the Future that leads into a great motorcycle chase sequence. The fencing match on top of moving jeeps, while ridiculous, is still entertaining enough despite being a bit of an eyesore.

Crystal Skull feels like a tired music group hitting the road to make a few bucks while their glory days are far behind them. They’re a little rusty, but they’re playing all the hits and the hits are good. The movie has a lot of familiar trappings found in the other three films and it doesn’t do them quite as well, but the movie is still entertaining in that dumb, three-stars-on-five kind of way. The CGI is quite bad, which is a shame as the previous three have a reputation for having great practical effects and sets, and sometimes the actors don’t feel like they’re giving it their all. Oh, and the alien subplot is dumb, but despite all that, this movie is definitely not the trainwreck I’ve been led to believe it was. That’s mainly because the movie still knows have to have fun.