Review of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) by Harrison M — 15 Jul 2017

Even when he's phoning it in, Spielberg is twice as exciting as the next director, and his usual visual flair carries the movie, even as the plot escapes into the hokey. Reflective of a wider trend in Hollywood towards an extraterrestrial and big-budget kind of sci-fi-a trend, of course, kicked off by the early work of Spielberg and his co-producer, Lucas-Indy IV gives up the ghosts and ghouls and spiritualism of the original trilogy for alien technology and the nuclear era.

We're somewhere new, no longer in the old world of Egypt or India, and we're as much aliens there as our crystal-skulled visitors. Gone our the ancient religious texts, displaced by the gods of CGI, and the movie suffers for it, overly stuffed with goofy moments and lazy choices.

Yet, nevertheless, the ride is enjoyable, even if a little bumpy with bad props and sloppy set design.