(2008) Hold on to your hat, Indy! In this the fourth Indiana Jones movie from director Steven Spielberg and producer George Lucas (co-creator of the character), nearly two decades since we last saw Jones (Harrison Ford, now 65) in The Last Crusade, you just want to sit back and enjoy the rollercoaster drama (with lots of humor and cute animals) without asking too many questions.

It's 1957, Elvis on the soundtrack, with a military convoy approaching Area 51 in the Nevada desert as a hotrod of kids buzzes about the trucks; but the Russians are coming. The Red menace penetrates the US Army's high-security facility with Henry Jones Jr, professor of archaeology, and his pal "Mac" George Michale (Ray Winstone) in their custody; Irina Spalko (Kate Blanchett), a sexless Soviet scientist (she had been Stalin's favorite) of the paranormal, expects Jones to lead her to a crate inside the warehouse, containing the remains of an alien being taken from the Roswell, New Mexico, crash site in 1947.

During the ensuing fight between Indy and everyone else, an atomic explosion gets set off, from which our hero escapes by shutting himself inside a refrigerator (lead-lined). Remember, don't question how any of this could have happened. The FBI remains suspicious of Professor Jones, resulting in his losing his teaching position at Yale University. Looking like Marlon Brando in The Wild One, Mutt Williams (Shia LeBeouf - being groomed to inherit the franchise?) on a motorcycle, with a comb in his back pocket, delivers a letter to Indy while two KGB agents watch. This, of course, takes us on a crazy chase with Indy on the back of Mutt's bike.

The letter contains a riddle written in a dead language of South America, involving the legend of a crystal skull, Nazca Lines for directions, and the Spanish Conquistadors, led by Francisco de Orellana, who disappeared searching for Akator (aka El Dorado, the city of gold). Off we go to Peru, where Indy and Mutt discover a prison cell where his old colleague, Dr Harold Oxley (John Hurt), had been incarcerated and psychologically tortured, nevertheless leaving behind clues.

Once again Irina and her Soviet soldiers already on location capture Indy and Mutt; also being held prisoner are Oxley in a state of bewilderment and Mary Williams (Karen Allen), formerly Marion Ravenwood, Indy's favorite girl and Mutt's mother. In a scene where Indy and Marion are saved from a sinking sand pit, Mutt employs a long, non-venomous snake as a rescue rope, which Indy hesitates to grab hold of because of his ophidiophobia, even though he shows no fear of spiders when he crawls through tight spaces filled with arachnid webs.

Following a wild chase through the jungle, involving military vehicles, gunfire, sword fighting, vine swinging, vicious army ants, and waterfalls on the Amazon River, Oxley, carrying the crystal skull and speaking in an ancient Mayan dialect, leads the way to Akator and its interdimensional aliens. But the treasure is not what anyone expected.

Click here for links to places to buy or rent this movie in video and/or DVD format, or to buy the soundtrack, posters, books, even used videos, games, electronics and lots of other stuff. I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

Copyright © 2008 Patrick Ivers. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

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