CANNES – Whew! Indiana Jones’ return to the screen after nearly two decades is a lot of fun – not, as many of us feared, another “The Phantom Menace,” George Lucas’ lucrative but leaden effort to exhume his other megafranchise.
“Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” which premiered yesterday at the Cannes Film Festival, is often thrilling, sometimes charming, occasionally clunky family entertainment that perhaps wisely doesn’t attempt to scale the heights of “Raiders of the Lost Ark.”
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On a satisfaction scale, it lands squarely between “The Temple of Doom,” and “The Last Crusade,” the second and third installments of the original trilogy conceived by Lucas and directed by Steven Spielberg. Fans of the series – you can include me – will lap it up, flaws and all, and likely make it the summer’s biggest blockbuster.
The filmmakers seem to signal relatively modest ambitions with the wry first shot, which has the mountain of the Paramount logo dissolving into a literal molehill.
A graying and slightly mellowed Harrison Ford, in very fine form, again dons Indy’s fedora and picks up his whip as the archeologist adventurer.
While he’s solidly middle-aged – the subject of more than one joke – and the years have moved along to 1957, Spielberg and Lucas don’t mess with a winning formula in this very eager-to-please follow-up.
As we open, Indy and a colleague of dubious loyalty (Ray Winstone) are captives of KGB agents led by Soviet parapsychologist Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett in a Louise Brooks bob and skirting the edge of camp).
The Russkies take Indy to the same vast Nevada warehouse seen at the end of the “Lost Ark” (which makes a fleeting cameo appearance) in search of an extraterrestrial artifact.
After the first of several well-mounted chase sequences that climaxes in a nuclear explosion (arguably the most original touch in the entire movie), Indy has returned to the classroom and is being shadowed by a pair of red-hunting FBI agents.
An encounter with a not-so-mysterious young man named Mutt (Shia LaBeouf) leads to an even more spectacular chase through the streets of New Haven.
Shortly they’re off to Peru, in search of the lost city of Eldorado and the titular crystal skull, whose powers promise to dwarf those of the ark.
I won’t give away much more – which is explained in far too much expository dialogue – except to report they also find Irina, as well as Indy’s old flame from “Raiders,” the oft-jilted Marion Ravenwood.
For me, Karen Allen’s return to her signature role after 27 years alone justifies this sequel, even if – or maybe because – their relationship proceeds precisely as you’d expect, right up to a fade-up that had me misting up.
Although he’s not always totally convincing as a motorcycle-riding, switchboard-toting tough guy, LaBeouf fares far better than Hayden Christensen in the “Star Wars” prequels.
Was anybody really expecting the fourth film in a series, made after a 19-year layoff to be a masterpiece? I wasn’t.
I’m just glad that “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” doesn’t disgrace the memory of “Raiders of The Lost Ark.” That it manages to do a bit more than that is probably an accomplishment.
INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL
Running time: 123 minutes. Rated PG-13 (adventure violence, scary images). Opens Thursday.