Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

By James Vickary

This is a story of Indiana’s quest to fight off the deceiving soviets and try and find the crystal skull. While dealing with psychic powers of the skull, saving his ex-wife and newly shown up son, Indiana must look past these faults and play with the cards he was dealt with. He tries to control Ox and his ways and tries to locate the skull by the second half of the film followed by much adventurous action. I think some important sequences we have to look at is finding out Indiana has a son, trying to overcome the psychic powers of the skull, and fighting over the soviets to get back what is right. The sequences with the soviets and Warehouse 51 are to ultimately kill of Indiana.

But as you know Indiana doesn’t leave without a fight. He’ll even hide in a refrigerator to save himself in a nuclear test. The whole main reasoning behind Indiana’s actions are to flea from the Soviet’s. Not only does he have to flea, but he has to save his ex-wife and never met before son. They also find a hidden temple inside older ancient civilizations. Even though the ending is unpromising through aliens and unique portals, they still get the answer they were looking for. Lucas helped drive the story forward by these unique sequences. While focusing on the political and environmental aspect of the film, Indiana must overcome these distractions while saving his own self. Indiana assumes that this psychic power comes from ancient aliens. So when they go to the chambers containing the crystal skulls he has some sort of idea of what is going on. All of the important sequences like getting chased between the amazon jungle and overcoming the swarm of ants eventually lead up to the hidden chambers where the crystal skull is. I think there is some symbology to it when using the crystal skull as a powerful mind disruptor. The soviets are the enemies trying to prevent Indiana and his new formed team from discovering the kingdom of the crystal skull before them. They try and kill him, taunt him with psychic powers from the skull and try and rip apart his family, even though they weren’t all together in the first place. Evaluating sequences is important. What does the audience take from each sequence? What do they learn from each sequence? I’d like to think that each sequence helps drive the story forward in one way or another. Whether it is Ox getting the soviets to come help them in quicksand to the Amazon jungle chase where the skull is tossed around like a sac of potatoes. Of course these sequences are filled with huge action and special affects, as Lucas tends to do, but these sequences have meaning behind them. The importance of the crystal skull in this movie is similar the importance of Dr. Jones’ diary in the Last Crusade. It is something within un parallel importance and drive. It is something that holds hints and answers to future findings and discoveries. Yet it seems to always get tossed around and ends up in many different hands. It is important that Lucas uses his symbology in all of his movies. It takes the focal point out of all the action and allows the audience to look for something more than just steep cliff drops and killer swarms of ants. He purposely places these situations and symbolic instances together so that the characters have to deal with these struggles.

These sequences give that audience an unsteady feel. The feeling that nothing can be right unless Indiana settles it. I think that these sequences test the audiences ability to follow the story and to pay attention to the minor details. I think that Lucas allows the audience to sort of put two and two together when evaluating sequences. He allows the audiences imaginations to run wild and conduct answers for themselves. In the end the aliens actually help out the gang and help them exit the temple through a portal. Lucas uses his imagination when coming up with a payoff. He knows how to drive the characters forward by knowing their strengths and weaknesses. But does he know how to reward the characters for their struggle? I think the payoff is helping out the aliens and escaping the temple alive and with his family. I think that Lucas was thinking about his technological techniques when he was writing about the end of the movie. He abuses these sequences. He tosses them around and shows what mischief characters can get into. He ends up having the characters succeed successfully and helping them come out alive and well for the finale. I think that George does a great job with his organization and plot formation. He uses the right timing with the right material. He informs the audiences of the problems and comes up with a reasonable solution in all of his films. George is a professional when it comes to his organizational skills and techniques. He knew what would sound right and what would not. He knew what sequences would work not only for this film, but for Harrison Ford’s character as well. He accommodates the movie in a way we can’t explain. After all he is the master mind of Star Wars and Indiana Jones. Sequences in these films can make or break the trilogy. It is a matter of opinion as to what Indiana Jones movie was the best or what worked better. But after all Lucas discovered a way to make it work. He knew what was intended and he executed it with style. Indiana Jones and the kingdom of the Crystal Skull was a unique film with many different aspects of special sequences followed with a natural payoff. George Lucas helped generate a new wave of cinematic sequences. He stood out and played the cards he was dealt with. I think that we need to look at these Indiana Jones movies as films that are apart of our history.