After a painful nineteen year wait audiences are once again graced with the springtime pleasure of watching the swashbuckling Harrison Ford revive Dr. Henry Jones Jr. in the fourth and probably last movie in what has been some of the best and some of the worst memories in cinematic history over its run. As the movie starts out we fast forward to 1957 where our choice of movie villains have now changed from the ever believably evil Nazis to a barely passable Russian accented collection of KGB operatives who have some how managed to pass themselves off as American soldiers during the paranoid times of the "red scare" and infiltrate what we are left to believe is one of the most secure military installations in the country in order to steal some mysterious artifact.
While the whole opening scene lacks any level of believability from a continuity stand point, it is filled with a boat load of action, more clichs than should be allowed even in such a cult classic, and a few touching homage's. One thing that is done well in the beginning of the movie but overdone throughout the rest of the story is the acknowledgement of Harrison Ford's advanced age. It makes for interesting comedic fodder at certain times while verging on beating a long dead horse at other times. The action is consistent and smooth, interspersed with witty dialog which thankfully was free of the characteristically bad musings all too common in most works out of Lucas these days.
We find all of the basic necessities for a typical Indiana Jones film spattered throughout the movie as needed. From the "travel map overlay" to the creepy crawly creatures, all of the normal hooks can be found, most in the first fifteen minutes of the movie which quickly gives the movie the feel of a tired old retread of a fan flick in which the director goes out of his way to make sure he hits all the elements people are looking for before moving on with the rest of the story. It gives the movie a campy feel and verges on making the itself a parody of Indiana Jones movies. Once you slog your way through the old man jokes and signature Indy hooks Spielberg then takes the story forward in a completely new direction from anything even resembling an Indiana Jones movie.
Somehow the wonder team of Spielberg and Lucas meander back into the treacherously dark and gloomy world of insects, corpses and slow plots that bogged down Temple of Doom and made it the bane of the franchise. As our heroes crawl, fall, leap and climb through countless temples and ruins we quickly learn that the plot, much like the paths the actors are taking is dark, full of cob webs and something that has been forgotten for a long time, and with good reason. The ultimate end of the movie and what looks to be the franchise itself is so far out in right field as to strip any credibility whatsoever from the movie. Clearly Lucas had too much of a hand in the plot as reflected in his out of this world ending which, up until that point I would have given the movie a thumbs up and even gone to see it again. I think many people will agree that after attempting to revive the Star Wars franchise and sullying what was a wonderful series Lucas has once again demonstrated his ineptness at storytelling in his old age and now ruined the Indiana Jones franchise as well.
I would say the movie is enjoyable up until the end when the plot wraps in the typical Lucas demonstrated in most of his recent work; that is to say leaving nothing to the viewer's imagination. Lucas has once again catered to those who need to be spoon fed the plot in its entirety, thus robbing the rest of us of a good and mysterious ending and stripping any sense of reality from the movie. There are plenty of good parts, but there are plenty of squandered opportunities to make the movie better with little tweaks. Pay close attention for a tribute, then slap in the face to the late Denholm Elliot who played Dr. Marcus Brody in two of the previous films. Also pay attention for a reappearance of one of the treasures from a previous movie and a quick but clearly identifiable Star Wars reference.
The movie was enjoyable, had it not been an Indiana Jones movie and been something else it would have been more enjoyable. The fact that Lucas and the other writers made such a big deal about slaving over script after script for almost twenty years before deciding this was the right script simply boggles the mind. If this was the best they could come up with I shudder to think what the rejects must have been. I would certainly recommend fans of the series to go see it, if for no other reason than to catch a faint glimpse of a great character fading unwillingly into oblivion. It's also a great opportunity to see just how much George Lucas's story telling skills have fallen and another example of Steven Spielberg's apparent obsession with obscure occult alien mythos. Be prepared to suspend all belief in reality as our hero not only encounters inter-dimensional beings but also survives a high speed test run in a rocket sled without the benefit of any restraints and rides out a nuclear explosion near ground zero in a lead lined refrigerator. Action and suspense are abundant in this movie, but reality is sorely lacking.