INDIANA JONES 4 and the Mystery of the Miscast Script

Upon walking out of INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULLS, I had a odd taste in my mouth. Not a horrible taste. An out of place taste. One of those tastes where you take a sip out of a pop container thinking it's Coke but find out it's root beer. Expecting one thing but getting something else entirely that I can't classify as bad...just unexpected.

Indy was his usual Indy self cracking his whip (albeit done in such a way that it seemed like Spielberg put the movie together and realized "Aw crap! I forgot to have Indy use his whip! Let's just have him snap it a couple times and swing from something."). There were the usual creepy caves, snakes, insects, and half-decayed corpses. There were sequences of Indy going back for his hat when he should've just gotten the heck out of there. And there were the narrow escapes before he gets thrown off a cliff, killed by collapsing walls, giant red ants, and disappearing stairwells. All that is great and tasted perfectly well of Indiana Jones. And you know, as old as Harrison Ford is, he made Dr. Jones feel young again despite looking a little past his prime on the opening shot.

It's the Crystal Skulls part that ruined what could've been a great movie.

Steven Spielberg and George Lucas have said since the closing credits of THE LAST CRUSADE that they'd never do another Indiana Jones movie without the script being perfect. I should've realized then that with each of their track records (Spielberg with ET, CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, AI, JURASSIC PARK; Lucas with STAR WARS) a perfect script usually meant sci-fi.

Liberties have been taken before in Indiana Jones. The 2000 year old sentry guarding the Holy Grail in THE LAST CRUSADE for example. But all of them fit (more or less) into the Indiana Jones mythology. THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULLS does not.

The characters were fun. The action was great (with one glaring monkey swinging exception). And the cinematography was top notch. It was the script that was miscast.

It was a story better suited for the likes of Mulder and Scully (X-FILES 2 coming in August!) than it was for Indiana Jones. Not a bad story just not what you'd expect.

I went in expecting Coke and I got a mouth full of Root Beer. Now that you know it's Root Beer, it may not leave a funny taste in your mouth after you leave the theatre.

8 Crystal Skulls out of 10