In Defense of Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

    For those who haven't seen the Indiana Jones movies, stop reading now and watch them. For those who have, you probably like Raiders of the Lost Ark the most. It's a valid opinion, but not the correct one. To set the record straight; my favorite is The Last Crusade because of its perfectly polished storyline, amazing acting and delivery, historical """realism""" to the environment at the time, and the monumentally important relationship between father and son which would serve as the basis for the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles TV show.

    That said, I don't think Lost Ark is the second best. I give that to Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Why? Let's take a deeper look into the movies. Raiders of the Lost Ark was the first attempt at this franchise, and the first use of 1930s Han Solo. It was a great movie, with an incredibly strong plot and concept. However, it was clearly the first. Some of the depictions would change and become streamlined over time (even visible by Temple of Doom, another fan-favorite), and the goal of realism would become stronger.

    This is why Kingdom of the Crystal Skull beats it out for me. Playing off the iconic father-son relationship in The Last Crusade, it depicts Indy as a man who ended up becoming exactly like his father. This is realistic, and adds a depth to the character that goes beyond the womanizing, academic adventurer. It's subtle in some ways, and overt in others. My personal favorite is the motorcycle sequence, where Indy's interaction with Mutt is an exact 180 of his interaction with his father during The Last Crusade while escaping the Austrian castle.

    The movie also benefits from depicting Indy as an American spy against the evil Soviets, which was a very real and very important social depiction during the Cold War. This is unlike Lost Ark or The Last Crusade, where the villains are Nazis who search for ancient treasure to use as weapons. That isn't a bad villain concept, but it leaves out the whole "war" part. Of course, the TV show returns some of this by depicting Indy's experience in the Belgian army during WWI, but who's actually watched that?

    By depicting Indy as one country, and pitting him against the soldiers of another, the movie personifies the political atmosphere at the time. Ironically, he's once again going against a sect of the army that looks for mystical artifacts. This is a limitation of the premise beyond Indiana Jones, but still doesn't outdo his fight against Dracula in terms of ridiculousness.

    That's most of my spiel, but it is true. I really enjoy Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and I think it was a great movie. Unlike most modern sequels of 80s franchises, it wasn't the soulless cash-grab remake. Instead, it was a fresh look continuing the same story, written by the same people, playing off of the content of the original movies while writing new content to depict the different world the film is set in.