Nineteen years after Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, the franchise returns. Though this fourth installment is not a total embarrassment, it’s evident that the well of ideas from which George Lucas and Steven Spielberg first crafted Indiana Jones is running dry.

Harrison Ford is back to play Dr. Henry Jones, Jr., and to re-create a character who can still hold center stage with little effort. Sure, at 65, Ford (playing Indy at 57) moves a little more slowly, and is a bit more grizzled and wrinkled, but by golly, give him a bullwhip and he can come through with flying colors. In fact, screenwriter David Koepp makes a bit too much of Indy’s age. It’s established at the beginning that he’s no longer the young archaeologist of 1981’s Raiders of the Lost Ark, but Koepp practically drives the idea into the ground.

The plot, cobbled together from different bits and pieces, is not always cogent. Basically, it’s 1957, and some bad guys, headed up by one really bad Russian spy (Cate Blanchett, sounding like Natasha from Rocky and Bullwinkle), want to find a mysterious crystal skull that they think will give them all sorts of power, and a lot of gold to boot. Young Mutt Williams (Shia LaBeouf), who arrives on a motorcycle in full leather, à la Marlon Brando in The Wild One, wants Indy to find a missing friend and fellow archaeologist (John Hurt). Despite the age gap, Indy and Mutt bond, albeit grudgingly, and anyone with half a brain will realize what their true relationship is long before being hit on the head with it. The bad guys chase them as they run through the jungles of South America to reach their goal. And thanks to the peculiar shape of the crystal skull, the audience has pretty much guessed the nature of it long before our heroes reach it.

The main problem with Crystal Skull is that Spielberg, Lucas, and Koepp have simply recycled plot elements from the first three Indiana Jones movies. This brings with it a heady rush of nostalgia, but once that’s over, there needs to be something fresh happening to these familiar characters.

It just doesn’t happen. There’s too much banter and backbiting dialogue, not to mention at least five one-liners too many -- James Bond would blush. About midway through, I actually began to find it boring -- but then the nonstop action kicked back in, and by the time a kazillion giant red army ants appeared, much welcome adrenaline was again pumping through my system. This was what the first movie was all about: those astounding action sequences. To 1981 audiences who had forgotten the action films and serials of the 1940s, it all seemed fresh, new, and exciting. In its final act, Crystal Skull recaptures much of that feeling, only to be scuttled by a predictable ending with a coda that’s altogether too cute.

Did I mention that Indy not only finds the missing friend, but also Marion Ravenwood, his lost love from the first movie? Karen Allen is totally refreshing in her reprise of that part, and she and Ford still have good chemistry. That Allen is also a major part of the last, best third of this film doesn’t seem a coincidence.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is an enjoyable popcorn movie -- an appealing, no-think action flick. The special effects are quite good, especially the digital ants and a three-tiered waterfall, and the stunts are mostly on the level of those in Raiders. The ending leaves open the possibility of a sequel or two, though not in the way you might think (lest I divulge a spoiler or two). If there are to be any more Indiana Jones movies, however, I advise getting a new producer and director. These characters need to be subjected to new and surprising wonders. 

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