Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

No bones about Jones

INDIANA JONES & THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL

Cert. 12A

Director: Steven Speilberg

Coming to the screen 19 years after the previous adventure, this fourth film in the Indiana Jones series is set in 1957.

It is the era of the cold war, atomic bomb tests, the famous Roswell UFO incident and rock and roll.

All the movies about the adventurous American archaeologist Indiana Jones have the same formula. They feature a strange archaeological artefact, a temple or place of worship tucked away in some remote and dangerous spot in which lies a great mystery which is the key to untold power. And the plot is always whether or not IJ can keep this power from falling into the hands of bad people so that the world may continue to be free. Here the archaeological object is an elongated crystal skull, the place of worship is that of a kind of ancient Mayan civilisation in the depths of the Amazon jungle, and the baddies are the Russian Communists.

Positive plots

Harrison Ford, who plays IJ, is now much older, but still a sprightly and commanding presence on screen. The opening of the film is gripping.

The action sequences have you on the edge of your seat. And, yes, as the critics carped about, the formula is the same, but who cares — it is wonderfully adventurous stuff.

Actually that familiar plot line has a lot to commend it to Christians. It indicates that there is a mystery to life which is inherently religious and the key to everything lies in the past (not the present or the future, as is so often assumed by our chronologically snobbish generation). Further this plot invites us to believe in good and evil and to go on a quest for the truth — very unusual in a postmodern society that says it doesn’t believe in these things.

Need for heroes

In this particular IJ adventure, there are also a couple of positive subplots: a younger generation in search of true heroes and the need for families to get back together. But I had better not say any more or I’ll be giving the whole story away.

I enjoyed watching. And I do hope this is not the final IJ film. How about one last adventure, Indiana Jones and the Chapel of Rest?