Year: 2008
Director: Steven Spielberg
Country: US
Language: English
Stumbling into an eerily empty neighborhood of a nuclear testing site, Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) finds that alarms are beginning to sound. A bomb will go off at any moment. Thinking fast, Indy shuts himself inside a lead-lined refrigerator, and the atomic explosion lands him miles away, miraculously unharmed. If you think that scene is poorly conceived, then just wait till you see the rest of this film. Shia the beef has a starring role, our manly hero swings on vines with cgi monkeys and even aliens make an appearance! Aliens!
Famed archaeologist/adventurer Dr. Henry "Indiana" Jones is called back into action when he becomes entangled in a Soviet plot to uncover the secret behind mysterious artifacts known as the Crystal Skulls
It's hard to pinpoint just when everything went to hell; you'd think Steven Spielberg would have better control over his production team which shot mostly in the U.S., so Spielberg could be close to his family. Previous entries featured exotic locales, while this film shot many of its most complex scenes on the studio backlot. Perhaps the problem was that Spielberg embraced the advancement of new technologies; after all, there had been a 19 year difference between Crystal Skull and the franchise's previous installment The Last Crusade. Its more modern look (there were well over 450 uses of CGI) left a sour taste in the mouths of fans.
Perhaps the problem is its science fiction plotline and its inclusion of extraterrestrials, given that no outwardly sci-fi elements appear in the first three films. To be upset about this seems strange however as science fiction was a significant marker of Crystal Skull's 50's atomic era setting. During that period the world over responded with B-movie entertainments that tapped into our worst fears, everything from The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) to Them! (1954).
Whatever the reason, audiences failed to connect with this fourth installment in the Indiana Jones quadrilogy. By the time Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull arrived in theaters, anticipations were already curbed by the degree of skepticism toward the project. It made $317 million in the US, but gained a poor reputation and caused dissent among the masses. Overall I really wasn't impressed by this picture. I blame Shia the Beef.
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