It’s been almost twenty years since Indiana Jones went on his Last Crusade, and now the esteemed adventurer and archaeologist has returned to venture to the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. The film brings back almost all the hallmarks that make for an Indiana Jones movie: Harrison Ford, Steven Spielberg as director, music by John Williams, a sidekick, a love interest, multitudes of creepy animals, and a villain representing an evil national government. Just like old times.

A lot has been said about Harrison Ford’s age affecting his role as Indy. He’s a bit grayer, to be sure, but he’s still able to do the trademark fight scenes that Indy just barely scrapes out of. Another source of concern I had going into the film was the addition of Shia LaBoeuf as a sidekick. Personally, I haven’t cared for the guy — not a slight against him, mind you — he just seems to play every role with the same sarcasm and double-take stammer. It worked in Disturbia as a troubled youth, and it kinda worked in Transformers as a kid joining forces with giant robots. For Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, he’s actually pretty good, though. He was able to speak the lingo of a ’50s era greaser and not make it sound corny. He also did fairly well in his fight scenes, with the exception of the slapstick gag during the jungle fight. No spoilers, but that was a bit over the top for me.

Steven Spielberg’s direction was wonderful, as usual. A few scenes seemed like afterthoughts, though … where they just put up a set, locked down the camera and shot the actors from fifty feet away. Perhaps it won’t seem that distracting on a repeat viewing. Janusz Kaminski, the Director of Photography for almost every Spielberg film in the last decade, succeeded the 95 year old Douglas Slocombe, who worked with Spielberg throughout the 70′s and 80′s. I missed the touches that Slocombe would add to the scenes, but Kaminski did amazing work, particularly with the more lush environments later in the film.

The return of Karen Allen was much appreciated, and offset the loss of Denholm Elliott’s Marcus Brody. Allen herself seems to have been scarce the last several years, but she drops back into the role of Marion Ravenwood with aplomb. Although I do have to say that her capability in the action scenes must have been diminished after all those years of drinking burly patrons under the table at her Nepalese bar. She is, however, the evolution of the character we last saw walking arm-in-arm with Indy at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark, so a good job overall.

I don’t want to go into story, for fear of spoilers, but as the title suggests the object at the center of the plot this time around is a crystal skull. The skulls are based on real life artifacts found throughout the early 20th century, although they’ve been fictionalized a bit more for the film — but then we don’t expect the Ark of the Covenant to actually melt the faces off Nazis, an Indian priest to rip the still-beating heart out of a slave before a sacrifice while he’s still alive, or a drink from the wrong grail to instantly age a Nazi stooge.

The film certainly shows the transition from the old optical effects processes of the 80s to the digital effects of the modern era. The backgrounds are much more lush and detailed, and old-school matte paintings replaced by new digital mattes. It’s a bit unsettling at first for an Indiana Jones film, but it does complement the action.

The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is another worthy competitor to the 2008 summer releases, standing alongside the big movies of the season. It is a traditional Indiana Jones film from my youth brought into the 21st century. I have renewed hope that Harrison Ford can always don the Fedora, and hopefully he’ll get that chance with yet another sequel.