Steven Spielberg
Indiana Jones e il regno del teschio di cristallo

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull 

An arguably horrible title, but the allure of Indiana was too strong to resist. After all, the saga of the intrepid archaeologist could work even with a Harrison Ford over sixty, as physical strength was not the only element that characterized our hero. Plus, Spielberg's direction (who also has his age) and the story that takes inspiration from a real discovery. 

Despite all this, I had to rethink. Few if not nonexistent are the moments of pure fun in a particularly dry and uninspired script. Indiana's sidekick is nowhere near the caliber of those in the past (Sean Connery above all): a young bully as expressionless as a log. The same goes for the villains (this time Russians) incapable of delivering banter even remotely worthy of those in the past. In short, the dialogues seem to drag rather than fly off smoothly and amusingly as they once did. To compensate for this inefficiency, Spielberg has decided to stuff the film with brawls, spectacular chases, and gratuitous explosions that turn the film into the usual American action movie with an immense budget at disposal ($400,000,000). To be clear, the film flows, with the usual location changes, but the disappointment grows as the minutes pass, as I realize the absolute uselessness of the product that tarnishes an almost perfect trilogy in its genre.

The scene preceding the inevitable happy ending is particularly annoying. It's almost as if the producers realized they saved too much money compared to what was budgeted and decided to squander a few dozen million dollars on special effects that are pointless and out of place. The first 3 chapters are on another planet.

Let's hope there's no 5th.