Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is a 2008 adventure film. It is the fourth film in the Indiana Jones franchise, created by George Lucas and directed by Steven Spielberg. Released nineteen years after the previous film, the film acknowledges its star Harrison Ford's age by setting itself in 1957. It pays tribute to the science fiction B-movies of the era, pitting Indiana Jones against Soviet agents – led by Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett) – for a psychic alien crystal skull. Indiana is aided by his former lover Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen) and their son Mutt Williams (Shia LaBeouf). Ray Winstone, John Hurt, and Jim Broadbent are also part of the supporting cast.
The film languished in development hell because Spielberg and Ford disagreed over Lucas' original concept, which featured a more overt focus on aliens. Screenwriters Jeb Stuart, Jeffrey Boam, Frank Darabont, and Jeff Nathanson wrote drafts, before David Koepp's script satisfied all three men. Shooting began on June 18, 2007, and took place in various locations: New Mexico; New Haven, Connecticut; Hawaii; Fresno, California; and on soundstages in Los Angeles. To keep aesthetic continuity with the previous films, the crew relied on traditional stunt work instead of computer-generated stunt doubles, and cinematographer Janusz Kamiński studied Douglas Slocombe's style from the previous films.
Marketing relied heavily on the public's nostalgia for the series, with products taking inspiration from all four films. Anticipation for the film was heightened by secrecy, which resulted in a legal dispute over an extra violating his non-disclosure agreement and the arrest of another man for stealing a computer containing various documents related to the production. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was released worldwide on May 22, 2008, and was a financial success, grossing over $786 million worldwide, becoming the second highest grossing film of 2008. The film received mostly positive reviews from critics, but fan reaction was mixed.
Plot
In 1957, Indiana Jones and his long-time partner George "Mac" McHale are kidnapped by a group of Soviet agents led by the psychic Colonel Dr. Irina Spalko. The Soviets infiltrate a government warehouse in Nevada and force Indiana to find a crate containing the remains of an extraterrestrial life form that crashed ten years prior in Roswell, New Mexico. After finding the crate, Mac double-crosses Indiana, having been bought off by the Soviets. Indiana manages to escape into the desert, where he stumbles upon a nuclear test town and survives a nuclear explosion by hiding in a lead-lined refrigerator. He is later found and debriefed by the FBI because of Mac's Soviet ties. Shortly after returning to Marshall College, Indiana is offered an indefinite leave of absence to avoid being fired because of the incident.
At a train station, Indiana is stopped by greaser Mutt Williams, who tells him that his old colleague Harold Oxley was kidnapped after discovering a crystal skull in Peru. Indiana proceeds to tell Mutt the legend of a skull found in the mystical city of Akator, in which whoever returns the skull to the city would be given control over its supernatural powers. Mutt gives Indiana a letter from his mother, who was also kidnapped, containing a riddle written by Oxley in an ancient Native American language, which leads them to the Nazca Lines in Peru. There they discover that Oxley was incarcerated in a psychiatric hospital, having suffered a mental breakdown from the powers of the skull, until he was kidnapped by the Soviets. In Oxley's cell, they find clues that lead them to the grave of Francisco de Orellana, a Conquistador who went missing in the 16th century while searching for Akator. They discover the skull at the grave, with Indiana reasoning that Oxley had hidden it there after finding it.
Shortly afterward, Indiana and Mutt are captured by the Soviets and taken to their camp in Brazil, where they find Oxley and Mutt's mother, who turns out to be Indiana's old love, Marion Ravenwood, and reveals that Mutt is Indiana's son. Spalko believes that the crystal skull belongs to an extraterrestrial life form and holds great psychic power, and reveals that the specimen stolen from the warehouse also has a crystal skull. She also believes that returning the skull to Akator will grant the Soviets the advantage of psychic warfare. After a fight between Mutt, Indiana and Marion, a Russian soldier gets fed up and puts a gag in Marion's mouth (a nod to the first Indiana Jones film), but she continues to shout furiously though her voice is muffled. Indiana, Marion, Mutt and Oxley manage to escape from the Soviets into the Amazon, where Mac claims that he is actually a CIA double agent working against the Soviets and joins the group.
The five reach the temple of Akator where they survive an attack by the Ugha warriors defending the temple. As they enter the temple, Mac, who is actually still loyal to the Soviets, secretly leaves a trail of homing devices for the Soviets to follow. The five enter a chamber containing thirteen alien crystal skeletons, one missing a skull, seated on thrones in a circle. After the Soviets arrive and again reveal Mac's complicity, Spalko places the skull onto the headless skeleton. The aliens begin communicating to the group through Oxley in an ancient Mayan dialect, promising to reward them a "big gift". Spalko approaches and demands to "know everything". The aliens grant her request and transfer their collective knowledge into her mind, activating a portal to another dimension. Indiana, Marion, Mutt and the now-sane Oxley escape the temple, while Mac and the other Soviets are sucked into the portal; the skeletons, meanwhile, form a single alien which overwhelms Spalko with its knowledge, causing her brain to ignite and her body to disintegrate, her scattered essence absorbed into the portal. The temple crumbles, and a flying saucer rises from the debris and disappears to the "space between spaces". After they return home, Indiana is reinstated and made an associate dean at Marshall College, and he and Marion are married. At the ceremony, Indiana's trademark fedora hat blows off a hatstand towards Mutt's feet. However, before he can put the hat on, Indiana grabs it from him, indicating that perhaps one day Mutt may inherit his adventuring ways – but not just yet.
Cast
- Harrison Ford reprises the role of Dr. Henry "Indiana" Jones, Jr. To prepare for the role, the 64-year-old Ford spent three hours a day at a gym, practiced with the bullwhip for two weeks, and relied on a high-protein diet of fish and vegetables. Ford had kept fit during the series' hiatus anyway, as he hoped for another film. He performed many of his own stunts because stunt technology had become safer since 1989, and he also felt it improved his performance. He argued, "The appeal of Indiana Jones isn't his youth but his imagination, his resourcefulness. His physicality is a big part of it, especially the way he gets out of tight situations. But it's not all hitting people and falling from high places. My ambition in action is to have the audience look straight in the face of character and not at the back of a capable stuntman's head. I hope to continue that no matter how old I get."
Ford felt his return would also help American culture be less paranoid about aging (he refused to dye his hair for the role), because of the film's family appeal: "This is a movie which is geared not to segment of the demographic, an age-defined segment We've got a great shot at breaking the movie demographic constraints." He told Koepp to add more references to his age in the script. Spielberg said Ford was not too old to play Indiana: "When a guy gets to be that age and he still packs the same punch, and he still runs just as fast and climbs just as high, he's gonna be breathing a little heavier at the end of the set piece. And I felt, 'Let's have some fun with that. Let's not hide that.'" Spielberg recalled the line in Raiders , "It's not the years, it's the mileage", and felt he could not tell the difference between Ford during the shoots for Last Crusade and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull .
- Shia LaBeouf plays Henry "Mutt Williams" Jones III, a motorcycle-riding greaser and Indiana's sidekick and son. The concept of Indiana Jones having offspring was introduced in The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles , in which Old Indy is shown to have a daughter. During development of Kingdom of the Crystal Skull , this idea was incorporated into Frank Darabont's script, with Indiana and Marion having a 13-year-old daughter. However, Spielberg found this too similar to The Lost World: Jurassic Park , so a son was created instead. Koepp credited the character's creation to Jeff Nathanson and Lucas. Koepp wanted to make Mutt into a nerd, but Lucas refused, explaining he had to resemble Marlon Brando in The Wild One ; "he needs to be what Indiana Jones' father thought of – the curse returns in the form of his own son – he's everything a father can't stand".
LaBeouf was Spielberg's first choice for the role, having been impressed by his performance in Holes . Excited at the prospect of being in an Indiana Jones film, LaBeouf signed on without reading the script and did not know what character he would play. He worked out and gained fifteen pounds of muscle for the role, and also repeatedly watched the other films to get into character. LaBeouf also watched Blackboard Jungle , Rebel Without a Cause and The Wild One to get into his character's mindset, copying mannerisms and words from charact
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