Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Is Actually Good

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is often dismissed by fans, but there is a lot of great stuff about the movie.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is certainly a divisive film in the overall franchise. Released in 2008, audiences had waited 19 years for Harrison Ford to reprise his role as the famous archeologist. Despite positive critical reaction at the time of its release and its position as the second highest-grossing film of 2008 at the worldwide box office, the perception of the movie quickly shifted among fans. The film was heavily criticized for its overuse of CGI, the addition of Shia LaBeouf's character as Indiana Jones' son Mutt, and the addition of aliens to the franchise. One scene in the film coined the term 'Nuking the Fridge,' now used to describe when a film franchise has gone off the rails. It appears nobody likes Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

With the release of the new Indiana Jones trailer for the latest and possibly final film in the series, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, the franchise is back on everyone's mind. By the time Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny opens in theaters, it will have been 15 years since Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of Crystal Skull, almost the same gap between Crystal Skull and Last Crusade. Audiences are hoping for one final great adventure for Indiana Jones, but that means it's time for some reevaluation, and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is not as bad as its perception may lead one to believe. In fact, it is actually pretty good and a worthy addition to the franchise.

The first three Indiana Jones movies were a throwback to adventure serials of the 1930s. Fittingly, the films were all released in the 1980s and keep the trilogy firmly set in the 1930s. Needing to account for the 20 years that passed in real life, the filmmakers bring the franchise into the 1950s. The filmmakers decided to embrace one of the dominant forms of B-movies of the 50s, the science fiction story.

Related: Every Indiana Jones Movie, Ranked

Science fiction films of the 1950s were famously allegories for American's fear of Communist Russia, at the height of the Cold War so the filmmakers not only pit Indiana Jones against the KGB but find a McGuffin that ties in with those alien invader stories: the crystal skulls which have had alien origins theorized about them for years. As it is the Cold War, it makes sense for the Russians to be after a weapon that never has to be fired. Spielberg uses the time period to inform both the genre of the story but also the McGuffin and tying that in with the primary antagonist. It is a perfect combination of accepting the real-life time jump and marrying the central McGuffin with the anxieties and fears of the era in which the film is set.

By the time Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was released in theaters, Harrison Ford was 64 years old. Much was talked about the actor's age, and the film wisely acknowledges that fact up front but also weaves it into the story. In the original three Indiana Jones movies, he is a young, attractive adventurer with a new love interest in every movie. It is the wish-fulfillment fantasy of young boys, and while that playboy lifestyle might be cool for a character in his 30s, it would just be sad if it was someone in his 60s.

The thematic question is stated early on — "We've reached the point where life stops giving us things and starts taking them away." Yet the film decides that instead of this being the final sad goodbye for Indiana Jones, it will be a celebration. Just when he thinks he has lost everything, that theme is refuted because Indiana Jones finds himself with family: a son he never knew he had and the love of his life. Life does take away, but that does not mean it has to stop giving.

Related: Indiana Jones: Where Does The Franchise Go After Harrison Ford?

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is where the power fantasy grows up; Indiana Jones is not a young man anymore, and the film gives him the dignity to grow up rather than being stuck in time. Steven Spielberg and George Lucas allow Indiana Jones to not only mature but also get a real win, to settle down and have a family. This may not have been what audiences wanted, as seen by the reaction to Luke Skywalker in The Last Jedi — some audiences don't like their characters growing too much and do want them to stay stuck in time when their best memories are. Yet that isn't how real life works.

By the time Spielberg returned to Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull he was a drastically different person and filmmaker. He was now no longer the hot maverick, but the established voice. He was a father and grandfather. He had won two Academy Awards for Best Director and famously had shifted to directing more nuance somber fair in the early 2000s like A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Minority Report, and Catch Me If You Can. He was a drastically different filmmaker and while he was trying to return to the roots of making the original films, he cannot help but bring with him some new shifts in world views.

It's worth noting that when Spielberg made Raiders of the Lost Ark, he was not a father; by the time Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade opened in theaters, he was. That film is about Indiana Jones grappling with his father, at a time when Spielberg was also likely coming to terms with his parents and parenting in general. By the time Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was released, not only was Spielberg a father, but he was also a grandfather and a new perspective. The relationship between Indiana Jones and his son Mutt Williams is a nice inverse of the relationship between Indiana Jones and Henry Jones Sr and both were informed by the same filmmaker at different points in his life.

Notably, Indiana Jones is the one franchise Spielberg returned to multiple times. He passed on making Jaws sequels, and while he did direct one Jurassic Park sequel he quickly handed the reigns over to other filmmakers. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny will mark the first time someone other than Spielberg has directed an Indiana Jones movie. In many ways, Indiana Jones is an avatar of Spielberg, and the character's movies reflect what the filmmaker is going through in his life at a given time. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was a peak into a legendary filmmaker who, as he got older, decided to have one more fun adventure with his friends for old-time sake.

Editor and writer for MovieWeb. Graduated from Arizona State University with a bachelor's degree in Film and Media Production.Contact him at [email protected]