Guest Author - Peggy Maddox

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls (2006)
Director: Steven Spielberg
Writers: David Koepp (screenplay), George Lucas (story)

Harrison Ford: Indiana Jones, archaeology professor who punctuates his teaching with unlikely dangerous adventures in the field.

Cate Blanchett: Col. Dr. Irina Spalko, Russian officer intent on obtaining the powers of the crystal skull for her government.

Karen Allen: Marion Ravenwood, Indy's love interest from Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Shia LaBeouf: Mutt Williams, a young drop out who thinks teachers are wimps until he spends some time in the company of Dr. Jones. He is concerned about the safety of Professor Oxley.

John Hurt: Professor Harold "Ox" Oxley, a scholar of ancient South American language and culture.

For Indiana Jones fans, and by that I mean those of us who have watched the first three films so many times we can say the lines, the fourth Indiana Jones movie, The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, is a two-hour in-joke.

Professor Jones is still teaching archaeology in his little liberal arts college. We infer from his sad contemplation of photos on his desk that his father from The Last Crusade (Sean Connery) and his ditzy and loveable colleague Marcus Brody (Denholm Elliott) have died. Twenty years have passed since the Grail adventure. We're in the 1950s and the enemy is the Soviet Union.

Since Indy isn't capable of the feats he could perform in the earlier films, he is teamed with an energetic Fonzie type who calls himself "Mutt" (Shia LaBeouf).

Indy's romantic interest from Raiders of the Lost Ark, Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen) turns up in the South American jungle and the old sparks fly.

The obligatory foreign villain this time is a woman, the bizarre Russian Col. Dr. Irina Spalko, played by Cate Blanchett. She's every bit as memorable as the evil Nazi Dietrich (Wolf Kahler ) in Raiders and she comes to a suitably bad end. Blanchett's ability to drop her native accent to speak as characters of different nationalities, classes, and cultures is phenomenal.

I don't look for this Indy movie to garner any Oscar nominations. There's plenty of action and special effects abound, but the blockbuster qualities of the first and third films are lacking.

The story is meager and the special effects don't come up to those of the earlier films. But it's good fun for indy fans. The most remarkable performance is turned in by John Hurt as Professor Harold 'Ox' Oxley, the deranged professor who can communicate with the mysterious skull.