Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Joseph Smith | 26 May 2008

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Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Paramount
Rated M

Dear Mr Spielberg, what is with you and your aliens?

The new Indiana Jones movie has aliens. No, it’s not a spoiler. Don’t worry. You find out about half way through and lots of internet fan sites have been talking about the aliens for a while.

In fact, it appears that the inclusion of aliens was producer George Lucas’ idea and was actually resisted by Spielberg. But I blame Spielberg for the aliens because he included them in his 2001 film Artificial Intelligence, which was wonderful, until the aliens came out of nowhere and added nothing to the story.

So too with the new Indiana Jones film, the aliens seem to not fit thematically with the previous three films and would have been better without them.

Think about it. E.T., Close Encounters of the Third Kind, War of the Worlds… I reckon Spielberg has an unhealthy obsession…

But enough about how much I hated the aliens.

Excusing the extra-terrestrial plot intrusion, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is a thoroughly enjoyable addition to the original Indiana Jones trilogy.

Harrison Ford once again brings the fun mix of charm, humour and excitement to the Indiana Jones roll. You wouldn’t think it was 19 years since Ford last portrayed Indy on the big screen. You also wouldn’t think Ford was 65.

In Crystal Skull it’s the Russians who are the bad guys. Set in 1957 during the era of the Cold War and nuclear experimentation, evil scientist Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett) has found a material with the capability of causing destruction far beyond that of any bomb.

Irina has discovered an ancient weapon – the crystal skull – that allows her to control minds. With this item in the palms of her hands, Irina has the potential to commit all kinds of destruction though psychological warfare.

The plot is really just an excuse to have a bunch of great chase scenes. And believe me, they are great! There are chases on foot, there are car chases – one of which includes sword fighting, there is a young lad chasing a car while swinging from vines and accompanied by monkeys, and there is even a chase scene with the Mayan people from Mel Gibson’s Apocalypto going after the main protagonists. There is also some fancy gunplay and some well-choreographed fisticuffs. In fact, as far as action/adventure films go, the set pieces are about as good as it gets.

But amidst the action and plot twists, there are subtle references that lead the viewer to accept a relativistic worldview.

For example, as Indy and his young off-sider Mutt (Shia LeBeouf) excavate the ancient Mayan ruins looking for this crystal skull, Mutt refers to God. Indy corrects him and explains that each culture has their own God, god or gods.

This is obviously true in one sense. In the Bible, God repeatedly refers to other gods. He recognises the real power they can have over people and warns his people, the Israelites, from being mislead into worshipping them. However, at other times, he refers to them as false gods. So, are these gods existing or not? It is not totally clear from my reading of the Scriptures. Yet real or not, they do have the ability to mislead people from the one, true God of the Bible and are therefore harmful.

I am not interpreting Indy’s comment as an advertisement for a particular religious system. However, in the context of the Indian Jones films, Mayan beliefs have been elevated to the same level as Christian beliefs. Just as Christian beliefs serve as the context for the archaeological mystery of the Holy Grail in Last Crusade, Mayan beliefs are the context for the archaeological mystery in Crystal Skull.

The Indiana Jones films essentially reduce the significance of a religion down to its ability to deliver a great mystery and an exciting adventure story. As far as the filmmakers are concerned – and the character of Indy, too – it seems you can pick whichever religion you like, but if your religion has no treasure or mystery, they aren’t interested.

The fact that aliens are shown to be beings of significant influence in the universe may throw any claims about existence being made by the filmmakers into the realm of disrepute or irrelevance in the minds of some viewers.

However, following reports in early May of the Pope’s chief astronomer saying that life on Mars cannot be ruled out and that believing aliens exist isn’t contradictory to having faith in God, perhaps the existence of aliens is an issue that many people, including Christians, may be wrestling with.

Extra-terrestrials may not figure in the theological framework of most Bible-believing evangelicals but as the Pope’s advisor says, perhaps their existence should not be regarded to a barrier to faith.

In any case, Christians can be thankful to God that has revealed the greatest and most valuable mystery of all to his believers.

As Paul writes in Colossians 1:26: “the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations…is now disclosed to the saints…the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

That is more exciting than any Indy film!