Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

***1/2 Stars

This fourth Indy flick is destined to become the love-it or hate-it film of the year. You can either ignore its flaws and enjoy its bombastic theme park of a ride, or you'll whittle in self-disappointment. For me, I had the ability to let my inner-fan step in before I went over the edge. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is no Spiderman 3 or Phantom Menace, and manages to live up to its massively unprecedented and unfair hype.

Steven Spielberg and George Lucas are getting older by the minute, but they are still the same visionary filmmakers that made them famous. While Lucas has expanded into the digital age, Spielberg is still old school and only uses his visual effects when they are part of the story. Combining the two once again is a majestic and heart -pounding adventure. And adventure is what Indiana Jones is all about. It has its flaws, but they are disguised behind a wall created by its fantastic cast, including the man of the hour: Harrison Ford.

Ford has embraced his old age. There is no denying that the man is pushing the limits with each challenge of subterfuge. In fact, the film can only work because of his aging. Combining with the fast-moving career of Shia Lebeouf, a slick grease wannabe, the two riff off each other the way Ford and Jonathon Ke Quan (Temple of Doom) never had the chance to do.

During the captivity of Irina Spalko, (the wig-headed, cartoonic-badass Cate Blanchett) a Soviet villain out to find the mysterious Crystal Skull artifacts, and after being betrayed by his long time war buddy 'Mac' George McHale, (Ray Winstone of Departed and Beowulf fame) Jones must find a way to escape. The beginning has some of the best scenes in the film, as Jones cracks that whip and flies high into a nuclear testing facility, only managing to survive the atomic blast so he can get back to teach his lecture about the Mayan Civilization.

After Jones gets fired from teaching for being accused of helping the Soviets maintain clues to the Skull (he only helped to escape) he is stopped by Mutt Williams (Lebeouf) who claims that Jones is the key to saving his kidnapped mother. The two are forced into figuring out why the Crystal Skull and its Kingdom are the reasoning behind the Soviet's mission and the key to saving Mutt's mother.

Along their adventure, they are taken hostage again by Spalko and her troops, who is also carrying Jones' old girlfriend Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen) as a hostage. When the two reunite, it is like no time has passed. They argue and disagree, until Jones realizes that he can never win a fight against her. It is just that simple. For the rest of the film, the adventure continues on to an ending that will test audiences for its deep imagination. My advice for the film and its ending? Just go with it. Sometimes a conflict of interest can give both the film and yourself an opportunity to explore something we haven't seen before. Kingdom of the Crystal Skull gives us that old fashioned romp, but still rolls the dice after nineteen years of solitary confinement. There is little rust on this baby.

So before the country gets lost in rumors of a possible fifth Indy flick, lets all slow down and enjoy the fourth installment of a classic hero's story returning to the big screen.