This evening a few of us interns (and by a few, I regretfully mean only myself and the National Security interns, Maggie and Dan) ventured away from the hustle and bustle that has been our first week at CAP and caught the opening day showing of “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.”

To be quite honest, I wasn’t expecting much.  I mainly ended up going because Dan seems like a nice guy and he had been talking this film up all week.  Additionally, and probably the most pure reason for why I made an effort, my social life thus far as been considerably lame as work has left me surprisingly exhausted. Every night I crawl into bed by nine or ten, usually falling asleep with the lights on, yuck!  (Note:  I said “surprisingly” for all of you who might be screaming at your computers WTF? you’re just the video guy!)  But my apparent lack of stamina doesn’t have me worried because I figure that, just like the gentle ascension climbers must make up Mount Everest, it seems I too must acclimate; adapting my college, “concert or keg till 4am”, lifestyle to the grueling 9-6 of this pseudo “real-world” internship. 

Anyway, I digress.

What made me so skeptical of Indiana Jones IV?  It wasn’t Harrison’s Ford age (see his other over-the-hill flicks: Patriot Games, Firewall, Air Force One), but rather the heavy amount of CGI I found in the trailer, the evident history of George Lucas’ knack for absolutely destroying great trilogies, and most importantly…Shila Labeouf. 

Now I know what some of you might be saying (mostly because I actually heard you say it at the intern lunch) that you thought he was “awkwardly cute in Even Stevens” and “funny,” but to tell you the truth, I’ve never been able to get past Shila’s dopey mo-fro hair cut and that goofy half-charming stutter his character, “Louis,” carried while on the Disney Channel.  I mean honestly I have nothing against a stutter, I think I just really hated his hair, oh and that excuse for a movie they called Transformers.

But if there ever were a sappy child-actor turned up-and-coming stud, Shila Labeouf just might be it.  An hour into the film, after my awareness of a reality outside the theatre disappeared, and with it my personal opinion of Labeouf’s awful theatrical past, I realized that I actually liked Shila in this movie. I thought he was really good.  He played his character to perfection, never obnoxiously exaggerating any trait while also successfully complementing Harrison Ford quite well; I think he really grew up in this roll and “for the first time in my life” I can say that he was cool.  In fact, I’ll go as far as to say that in a few years, once he is no longer typecast as “the side kick,” Labeouf may very well be the next McConaughey or Ledger, except for the exquisite physical stature and the fatally consuming habits.          

But enough about Labeouf.  The man of this hour and fifty two minutes was Harrison Ford, who at 65, proved that he still had enough guts and grit to knockout a few heavy accented, but English speaking Germans, or were they Russians?  Who knows.  What I am certain of is that Ford, who reportedly performed his own stunts (albeit they likely took place in front of a green screen), delivers a stellar show - swooping, climbing, kicking and whipping - his way through every climatic scene.  The only real sign of aging which I could discern is that Ford’s hips seem to be showing some wear, as a few scenes of him running were reminiscent of the those 90-year-olds you see jogging to the finish line, 15 hours into a New York City marathon. 

Another positive aspect of this film is that George Lucas (thank God) didn’t stray too far from the formula which has already proven itself to work in the past.  There was no Jar Jar Binks adding unnecessary comic relief, so if you liked the previous three films, then you will already be familiar with the plot. 

Jones et al. stumble upon a mysterious supernatural artifact and must race across the globe to keep the relic out of foreign hands which will most certainly use its secrets for world-destroying evil.  The film ranges from crowded city-street chase scenes to natives in loin-cloths guarding abandoned jungle temples.  Like I said, Lucas doesn’t stray too far from proven success.

Interestingly enough, the film makes a brief stop to drop off some relevant social commentary.  At one point, Jones, who is being fired from his university for being investigated by the FBI says that he might as well leave the U.S. to teach elsewhere because “once they start coming after the academics, there isn’t much reason to stay” (paraphrase).  Cough cough David Horowitz, cough cough.

All in all, if I were going to rate this movie, I’d give it 4.35 stars out of 5, but that might make readers mistake this for a serious attempt at a review, which it is not, so never mind.  Let me just finish up then with this realization I had while proof reading.  When I met Dan in the lobby, he seemed rather anxious to get off to the movie without necessarily waiting for me to come along…now that I think about it, sheesh, I hope didn’t unwittingly persuade myself into becoming an unwelcome “third-wheel.”  Perhaps I was so captivated by the mesmerizing fantasy of Indian Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, I was totally unaware. 

Cheers.