Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull -- a report

Cheryl and I took in the new Indiana Jones movie. Like many our age, this was sort of a pilgrimage. After all, Raiders of the Lost Ark came out when we were in our early 20s -- even before we met. So, even if this isn't Raiders, it's still an Indiana Jones movie.

I won't offer a critical review, but I'll give a sense of the movie. In someways it's a bit of an Indiana Jones meets Close Encounters of the Third Kind. It has all the action and the mystery of an Indiana Jones movie, with just enough space alien stuff to mess with the plot. The return of Karen Allen as Marian is a good addition. We'll see if Shia LaBeouf can carry the franchise -- as the new Junior.

There's plenty of action, and Harrison Ford does his job, though he does show a bit of age here. Nonetheless, the wit is still there.

As for the villian -- Cate Blanchett does a nice job as the Stalinist Russian agent seeking to find the crystal skull. Being that the movie pushes the story line into the late 1950s, it's no wonder that the nemesis will be the Soviets, but the Soviets don't have the same sinisterness as the Nazi's that Indiana had to battle in the first three movies.

I won't give the plot line -- but if you understand that this isn't Raiders, you'll enjoy it!