The Force Fed Sci-Fi Movie Podcast

The Force Fed Sci-Fi Movie Podcast


Indian Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

February 02, 2020

This time, we 'Nuke the Fridge' on Force Fed Sci-Fi with Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and take a look at the film's cast, the inclusion of an alien / inter-dimensional being, and the film's ending along with other topics! So strap in and let's whip away!
The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Cast and Crew
Steven Spielberg - Director: The legendary Steven Spielberg returned for another directorial project within the Indiana Jones franchise with this film. We have to ask though, was this film the start of the downfall of Spielberg. Really since this film was released in 2008, we feel he's only directed 'good' films and not any 'great' films, like The Adventures of Tintin, Lincoln, and Bridge of Spies. Where did films like Catch Me If You Can, Saving Private Ryan, Jurassic Park, and the original Indiana Jones films go? Our podcast host Chris almost thinks he just can't outdo himself anymore and that other filmmakers have caught up with him. This is entirely possible, but we hope we get a film soon from Spielberg that once again blows us away.

Harrison Ford - Indiana Jones: Ford was in his 60's at the time of the making and release of this film. It was obviously exciting to see him return to one of his roles that shot him up to the top of the list of A-list actors. We really don't have issues with Ford's performance in this film, but there are issues we will get to eventually later on. It was impressive to find out Ford performed most of his stunts considering his age, but not surprising since he really does cherish this role, and supposedly want this role to die with him ... let's be honest Harrison, Hollywood will eventually reboot the character because that's the name of the game these days.

Cate Blanchett - Irina Spalko: We realized as we were recording our podcast episode, that Blanchett is an extremely talented actress and has the ability to play a wide range of different types of characters. She delivers a great performance as a Soviet agent and antagonist of the story with Spielberg, Labeouf, and Ford praising her performance and embodying such a unique character with unique characteristics.

Shia Labeouf - Mutt Williams: He was high on the actors-wanted list at the time due to his success with the Transformers franchise, but were his negative comments about this film what got him fired from the Transformers films? We don't know for sure, but we speculate it probably was. In any case, Labeouf takes on this role as Mutt Williams, which we later find out is Jones' son. A decent character in our eyes, but by no means an out-of-this-world character.

Karen Allen as Marion Ravenswood: It was admittedly exciting to see her take on the role again of Indy's past love interest and mother to Labeouf's character. However, we felt she was underutilized. Our podcast show host Sean felt she was just there to tell Indy he had a son, and then ended up just driving the boats and cars during the chase scenes ... not much else as far as the purpose of her character goes though.

Ray Winstone as George "Mac" Michale: Winstone plays a character who used to work alongside Indy, but has allied himself with the Soviets. We'll go into his fate during the film a little later, but not a very complex character who is blinded by greed and money, not to mention that he "tricks" the protagonists by saying he really is an agent infiltrating the Soviets, but pretty much says 'just kidding' later - was that part of his story really necessary?

John Hurt as Harold "Ox" Osley: Hurt plays an old friend to Indy and surrogate father to Mutt who, for pretty much the whole film, has gone 'Coo-Coo for Co-Co Puffs' after staring into the crystal skull.