Well, it's not Raiders of the Lost Ark, but it's not National Treasure 2, either. It shines with the heritage of the Indiana Jones stories, willing to let Indiana show his age (it has, after all, been nearly thirty years since the last Indy installment was made), but still giving him all the heroism he had in his earlier stories. Shia LaBeouf puts in a good performance as Indiana's teenage shadow, Mutt, and even gets a few slick action sequences of his own.
The Indiana Jones saga has always been willing to play with the mystical and supernatural. Whether it's the Hebrew Ark of the Covenant melting people's faces off, or the Holy Grail that can age people super quickly, there's never been a hesitancy to jump into a realm that for most movies would send it into a sci-fi/fantasy realm. The same holds true here. From early on in the movie, it is clear that we are heading into another tale involving things humans cannot explain or understand, but somehow in Indiana's world, we're okay with it. (I had to smile, however, when Indy claims that "there's always another explanation." Really? There wasn't for the ark...) While it's not the smoothest of the series' plots, it plays fair.
The action sequences are slick, smooth, and lots of fun. I am not a fan of action sequences, but these managed to draw me in. The swordfight on top of the side-by-side cars was a highlight.
Where does this fall in the series? I liked it significantly better than the very-disappointing Temple of Doom, but this is far from being a classic. It's a well-made, fun, fairly mindless action movie that is well worth watching but probably not worth buying. 3.5 stars.
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