Crystal Cleared

Indiana Jones and the gang make a triumphant return.

by Shaun Brady

Recommended

KEEPING UP WITH THE JONES: Harrison Ford's still got the touch. (CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION)

To answer the obvious questions off the bat: Yes, there's too much CGI; no, it doesn't ruin the film; yes, Harrison Ford both recognizes his age and still manages the requisite action; no, Shia LeBeouf isn't intolerable; and yes, this is a worthy successor to the original trilogy capable of being embraced by lifelong fans.

Those condemning this revival as an act of cinematic grave robbery miss the point of the entire franchise. From its beginning, the series has been an exercise in nostalgia, conceived by George Lucas and Steven Spielberg as a modern elaboration on the cliff-hanging serials and rip-roaring adventure flicks of their own childhoods. So returning Indy and company to the screen after a 19-year hiatus is the inevitable culmination of that urge, allowing the pair to not only once again relive their youths but also their own younger filmmaking days.

Ford is an actor of severe limitations, but what he does well found its ultimate expression in Indiana Jones. The rugged swagger combined with human stumbles make him the ultimate kiddie hero, brave and charismatic as they'd like to be, as full of clumsiness and self-doubt.

Ford's strengths come through most powerfully in a simple moment: His reaction when Karen Allen is reintroduced as Marion Ravenwood, his love interest from the first film, is priceless, a split-second flurry of emotions commingling shock, giddy excitement and unadulterated joy. That single reaction acknowledges the passage of time far more profoundly than Ford's wisecracking asides about his age.

That's not to say the action is missing. The lengthy chase scene through the Amazon rain forest is a masterful juggling act that draws inspiration from nearly every action genre ever committed to film: It's got car chase, fisticuffs, sword-fighting, gunplay, animal attacks, waterfall plunges and Tarzan-like jungle maneuvering.

While Spielberg and Lucas have assembled a strong supporting cast, most of them are given precious little to do — especially Ray Winstone and John Hurt, who barely make an impression in stock roles. LeBeouf makes for a worthy sidekick and Cate Blanchett is a serviceable villain in severe haircut and Natasha Fatale accent, but this is Ford's (and Allen's) show, and a welcome return.

(s_brady@citypaper.net)

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Directed by Steven Spielberg

A Paramount Pictures release