Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
dir. Steven Spielberg
2008

"Indiana Jones. Always knew some day you'd come walking back through my door. I never doubted that. Something made it inevitable."
- Marion Ravenwood, Raiders of the Lost Ark

"It's not the years, honey. It's the mileage."
- Indiana Jones, Raiders of the Lost Ark

"I love you."
"I know."
- Leia and Han, The Empire Strikes Back

Indiana Jones is like a member of the family, a prodigal uncle who shows up every few years with outlandish stories and presents from places like Marrakesh, El Dorado and the moon.

In Raiders of the Lost Ark, we see young filmmakers Lucas, Spielberg and Kasdan waxing nostalgic over the lost serials of their youth. This Indy was a wisecracking cartoon duck, a model of roguish adulthood for ten year olds and an archetypal bit of nostalgia for their elders.

What did we know about Indiana Jones? He was a professor of archeology and he dumped his last girlfriend in Nepal without first checking to see if she had any medallions he might need. That was about it.

In Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, we see a different Indiana Jones: Henry Jones, Jr.

All of the must-haves are there: a comic side-kick, a riddle written in an ancient language, an undiscovered secret chamber with hidden treasure beyond imagining and a single-minded nemesis bent on acquiring said treasure, all moving from one improbable chase to the next until we reach the firey climax.

What is different this time is Indy himself. Where the first Indiana Jones was a nostalgic reference to the childhoods of Kasdan, Lucas and Spielberg, this Indiana Jones is a nostalgic reference to the childhoods of their fans.

Indiana Jones no longer references Flash Gordon, Tarzan or The Lone Ranger. Indiana Jones now references, well, Indiana Jones, as well as American Graffiti, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Star Wars, The Outsiders and Jaws.

What we seen in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is older filmmakers Lucas and Spielberg reflecting on their own contribution to the world of cinema, to the revival of the Saturday morning serial they started 30 years ago and that hasn't subsided since, a tradition that's given us everything from John McClane to The Transformers.

But, in the end, too much history, too much water under the bridge, too much baggage weighs Herny Jones Jr. down. Throughout Crystal Skull, Jones is confronted by the trail of human wreckage he's left in his wake, the disappointed and abandoned partners, counterparts and loved ones.

For someone whose life is spent digging up history, he seems all too eager to abandon his own.

"It seems," his colleague says at one point, "that we've passed the point where life gives you things and entered the part where it takes things away."

Perhaps, but it also seems that Jones was never very interested in the things life had to offer.

Which gets us to the Oedipal conflict. Steven Spielberg appears to have father issues.

In Close Encounters, Richard Dreyfuss seems to have no conflict at all about abandoning his family and hunting for the aliens that put the mountain picture in his head.

In Jaws, Chief Brody puts himself deep into harm's way (and risks depriving his family of a father) so he can hunt a shark that, now follow me here on this Chief, HE IS NOT QUALIFIED TO HUNT. When hunting a monster shark in a tiny boat, it does help if you know how to tie a goddamn bowline, Chief.

And the list goes on. From ET to War of the Worlds to Minority Report to Munich, Spielberg's fathers are absent or have other priorities.

In Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, these issues were worked out from the point of view of the inadequate son. Henry Jones Sr. is a task master and a stern judge of character.

In Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, we see Henry Sr. reflected in his tired, lonely son's eyes.

Does it really matter if we get the mcguff and return it to the temple where the icon of the elder power will bring about the big CGI finale? No. We're glad that's there and we want to see it and DAMN those ants are scary, but ultimately, no.

What we want to see is some recognition by Henry Jr. that life is for the living, and that's what this chapter delivers. Of all the treasures Indiana Jones has ever pursued, the one he attains here is by far the most precious. And it's not a crystal skull.

Three stars. Jason Jones Jr. says: I'm making this up as I go.