Indiana Jones' (Harrison Ford) newest adventure begins in the desert Southwest in 1957 during the height of the Cold War. Indy and his sidekick Mac (Ray Winstone) have barely escaped a close scrape with nefarious Soviet agents on a remote airfield. Now, Professor Jones has returned home to Marshall College only to find things have gone from bad to worse. His close friend and dean of the college (Jim Broadbent) explains that Indy's recent activities have made him the object of suspicion, and that the government has put pressure on the university to fire him. On his way out of town, Indiana meets rebellious young Mutt (Shia LaBeouf), who carries both a grudge and a proposition for the adventurous archaeologist: If he'll help Mutt on a mission with deeply personal stakes, Indy could very well make one of the most spectacular archaeological finds in history -- the Crystal Skull of Akator, a legendary object of fascination, superstition and fear.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal skull is a hard movie to review because everything that was good and right about the movie could easily be countered with something that was wrong about it as well. The film is a lesson another movie it was seems like a long line of movies that just didn’t know when to say enough was enough. Dragging Indy out of the closet for one more go around and dusting off the moth balls on that famous fedora seems like a good idea until you sit down and realize a lot has happened and some of the magic has just disappeared over the years. They give a valiant effort and for the most part the movie is highly enjoyable. It has everything you would expect from and Indiana Jones movie from plenty of action, to mystical and archeological finds and just a pinch of history all mixed around that great John Williams score. But there are so many flaws to the movie that you can’t help but think they might have just been better off letting the series die at three wonderful movies.

The main problem with the movie is the story and without going into too much depth as not to ruin the movie for those who haven’t seen it but a day later I am still shaking my head thinking what kind of crack were they smoking when they came up with the plot for the movie. I mean this thing went through ten years of rewrites and rehashing and this is really all they could come up with for a fourth story in the Indy saga. After you see the movie you will understand what I am referring to and likely be scratching your head as well thinking maybe George Lucas has finally gone off his rocker. I am just blown away that 19 years and numerous tries to write a story for Indy netted the end result that the movie comes up with. How did all those involved with the movie finally come to an agreement that this is what the fourth story would be. You keep thinking they can’t possibly be going where you think they are going and sadly yes they are heading exactly where you feared and you can’t do anything but shake your head at a plot and story that gets very ridiculous at times.

I do like and appreciate that they did not try and ignore time. It has been nineteen years since the Last Crusade and Harrison Ford has aged those nineteen years but rather than try to ignore or cover up this fact they embrace it. The movie takes place in 1957 amidst the fears of the Soviets and cold war and it fits an older Indiana very well. He has aged, he has seen a little more of the world and the movie references everything that came before even the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles the short lived TV series in the early 1990’s. Gone are the Nazi’s which were getting kind of thin by the end and in are the ruskies a new set of bad guys and villains. Recognizing that we all have to get older and you still got to roll with the punches the movie does a very good job of embracing that.

I am slowly falling out of favor and starting to really like Shia LaBeouf. Sure he has had a couple good movies but I am not sure what Spielberg sees in him to think of him as the next biggest thing. I know that his off screen antics make me like him less and less every day and it’s hard to get past that at times. He does an ok job in the movie but it seems like they were trying to herald him in as the new Indy and he just doesn’t have Harrison Fords chops. Ford is once more perfect in his iconic role and even takes getting older in stride and with a laugh and a jest very Indiana Jones like. I miss Sean Connery as he added so much more than Shia was able to add and it’s a shame he didn’t come out of retirement for one more go around.

The movie is fun, it is also silly but still very fun and yes it is worth seeing but don’t go in expecting a lot or to be getting the old classic Indy instead like everything else that Lucas has touched in the last few years this Indy had to be cleaned up and shined before coming out of retirement.

Grade: B-