When were about seven years old, we saw a film that changed our lives forever. It took two shy, agaraphobic little boys who were afraid of just about everything, including leaving the house, and transported them on an exciting trip around the globe, bringing them into the heart of an adventure that was beyond imagination, and because of it, movies, and their power to take us places and make us experience great wonders,  would forever become an obssession. That film, of course, was Raiders of The Lost Ark.

 

Our entusiasm was such that we saw Raiders well over then times at the old Villa Theatre, which became sacred ground to us. That enthusiasm continued through Temple of Doom and especially Last Crusade, which almost surpassed the original. And it even extended to watching every single episode of "The Young Idiana Jones Chronicles" (now available on DVD, and if you haven't had a chance to check these out, you are missing something). As such, our level of anticipation for The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was through the roof. We have been living for this movie. We were setting ourselves up for a crushing disappointment.

The thing, is we weren't disappointed. At all. It didn't reinvent the adventure film like Raiders did (how could it? Every adventure movie from the last 27 years is riding on the coattails of Raiders). The plot is not as fleshed out as Last Crusade (we'll even admit the story is a little weak in spots). But the warmth and humor very much echoes the third film (Last Crusade is the entry we would most compare this to in tone). And we haven't found ourselves so excited by a series of action set-pieces since Jurassic Park.
 

The story begins in Nevada in 1957, with the requisite dissolve of the Paramount logo into something else--in a wry bit of humor, Lucas and Spielberg literally turn a mountain into a molehill. A group of Russian Communists are breaking in to a top secret military base, and they have brought along two kidnapped men who have been there before and can help them find what they seek. The first is George "Mac" McHale (Ray Winstone, who may not look as good as he did in "Beowulf," but can still command the screen).  The second is a grizzled, cantakerous old man in a brown fedora. We also meet Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett), one of Stalin's own. Irina is a very stereotypical Russain baddie, but with a twist--she believes herself to possess Extra Sensory Perception, and is obessessed with the notion of physchic warfare.

 

After an unforgettable opening action sequence that is worth the price of admission in and of itself, Indy returns to his other job, teaching at Marshall College.  There, he is approached by his friend and colleague Charles Stanforth (Academy Award Winner Jim Broadbent), who essentially has taken the role of the late great Denholm Elliot, who's character, Marcus Brody, is honored with a portrait and a statue. Stantforth informs Indy that the government has their eye on him, and that he is being put on an indefinite leave from the college - in short, he's being blacklisted.

 

But Indy has other troubles. He is soon approached by a young man named Mutt Williams (Shia LaBeouf), who informs Indy that a mutual friend, Dr. Harold Oxley, has been kidnapped, along with Mutt's mother, who told her son that Professor Henry Jones, Jr. was the man to go to for help. Indy doesn't know this kid, but nevertheless agrees to help him out.

 

We're not saying anything beyond that, plot wise. Just sit back and prepare for a thrill ride that will make you feel like a kid again. The venerable old star, whom we have made something of a running gag out of referring to as "the late Harrison Ford" on this site, proves defininitely that it's better late than never. He doesn't miss a beat, and never for a second will you feel that he is too old for this. Indy wears the years and the mileage as comfortably as his beloved hat, and Ford appears to be having so much fun that it is postively infectious. In addition, Blanchett, who has been itching to work with Spielberg for years (having had to drop out of Minority Report to do The Lord of The Rings) throws herself into her role with great relish, clearly having the time of her life as one of Indy's toughest adversaries.

 

As for Indy's young tagalong, LaBeof keeps up in Indy's footsteps nicely, deftly handling the action and the deeper character moments. This kid showed us way back when he did Holes that he has great promise, and he more than lives up to it here. But make no mistake, this movie belongs to Ford, and more importantly, to Lucas and especially to Spielberg, who is at the top of his game in a glorious return to his "old school" blockbuster style.

 

Janusz Kaminski, who has shot every one of Spielberg's films since Schindler's List, is faced with the daunting task of filling in for Douglas Slocombe, the great British Cinematographer who shot the previous three Indy films, but he does it so seemlessly that if the old man were still working today he couldn't have pulled it off better himself. And of course, the great duo that has made every Indy film, and most all of Spielberg's films, so perfectly polished, Editor Michael Kahn and composer John Williams, are in perfect form. Every time we heard the "Raiders March" or other recognizable themes, we felt like we had died and gone to heaven.

 

The screenplay, by David Koepp (Jurassic Park, War of the Worlds) is smart and funny, moving at a brisk pace, and includes some nice references to previous entires in the series without ever getting bogged down in them. In particular, we were overjoyed at a very deliberate nod to the very first Episode of "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles," which felt like a reward that George Lucas had included for those of us who followed the series.

 

To sum up, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of The Crystall Skull is a MOVIE movie. It's everything we love about the medium. It's an adventure for the ages, and one journey we will take again and again.

 

It is rated PG-13 fo violence, supsense and mild profanity.