Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is an exciting action packed thrill ride through dark caves, jungles, and familiar warehouses. As a movie on its own it carries the Indiana Jones legacy forward and seemingly has all the pieces needed to make it a great entry into the Indiana Jones trilogy. However, how does it really hold up when put toe to toe with the other movies in the series? Read on to find out.
The first introduction to Indiana Jones was the amazing and still the best movie in the trilogy Raiders of the Lost Ark. We first meet the professor in a jungle that quickly brings us to Indy running for his life in the now classic scene involving him and a giant boulder. This movie brought the magical world of the archeologist to life and was a hit because it was a change of pace from all the dark, seedy cop movies of the time. Like Star Wars before it Lucas gave audiences something different and made audiences everywhere want to become a teacher/obtainer of fine antiquities. Indy was an everyday guy who stood up for what was right and made sure the Ark of the Covenant did not fall into the hands of the Nazis. It is difficult to put into words what made Raiders of the Lost Ark so great but it seems to be a combination of great characters mixed with an interesting tale of treasure that peaked the curiosity of audiences everywhere while mixing just the right amount of action in for good measure.
Temple of Doom is largely seen as the black sheep of the Indiana Jones trilogy and with good reason; it took the semi-realism and treasure hunting of Raiders and instead put Indy up against a cult in India. Temple is set before Raiders and includes the lovable Short Round and the not as lovable Willie Scott. Luckily Indy still has his clever one-liners and his not thinking too far ahead attitude which still makes this a great entry into the series. Viewers needed to suspend their belief a little more than with Raiders with characters such as Mola Ram able to separate unbelievers from their heart while still keeping the victims alive. Despite the story being a little more “out there” Temple still has plenty of the Indiana Jones wit and action and largely is a great movie; better when not compared directly to Raiders.
The last of the classic trilogy is aptly named The Last Crusade. Indy is back in top form fighting against the Nazis and treasure hunting with Marcus Brody and Henry Jones Sr., expertly acted by Sean Connery. The Last Crusade is great on so many levels because it takes the character of Indiana Jones and fleshes him out; we are given insight into his childhood and he spends most of the movie simply trying to impress and be noticed by his father. We finally see why Indy has such a fear of snakes and how he got that scar on his chin. It is heartwarming and hilarious at the same time to see this amazing character succeed and fail at the same time. The scene in Last Crusade when Indy first rescues his father and then promptly has to give up the diary that his father worked so hard to get away is pure genius and sets the tone for the relationship between the two throughout the movie.
So with the original trilogy held in such high regard how does Crystal Skull stack up? Well on its own it is an entertaining movie but when compared to the rest of the trilogy it falls a little short. It still has the feel of an Indiana Jones movie and definitely has the same wit and humor but it tends to feel more like a typical action filled summer blockbuster than the rest of the movies. Also while the original three movies did force viewers to suspend their belief, Temple of Doom especially, Crystal Skull is over the top. Without going into any spoilers the big discovery in the movie does not seem to fit into the Indiana Jones “lore” of discoveries. Crystal Skull does nail the rest of the “lore,” including things like Indy’s fear of snakes and his ability to always put his trust into the completely wrong people. Fans of the series should welcome Crystal Skull with open arms but not expect to feel the same level of magic as the first time they saw Raiders.
