When Harrison Ford, George Lucas, and Steven Spielberg got together to make a fourth chapter in the Indiana Jones storyline, they knew the gravity of the task they had been given. After all, they endeavored to add to one of the best film trilogies of all time, hence the pressure was on.

And in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, there are many likable qualities, creating a very agreeable action/adventure movie. The problem is, they definitely didn’t recapture the upper-echelon of greatness contained within Raiders of the Lost Ark, Temple of Doom, or Last Crusade.

The film opens with a convoy of Russian military officers disguised as American soldiers heading into the mythical Area 51 base. Jones has been captured to help the Russians, under the command of Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett), find the alien that has been hidden in the base.

After he finds the alien and subsequently escapes, Indy makes his way onto a nuclear bomb testing site, and narrowly survives a blast courtesy of a lead-lined refrigerator. And upon his return to society, he finds he’s being hunted by the KGB.

As the plot continues, eventually taking Dr. Jones to South America in search of a mythical crystal skull, many of the trappings of the first three films are used to season the storyline. But they never quite grasp the original charm and magic from twenty years ago.

The introduction of Shia LaBoeuf as Indy’s sidekick (who we eventually learn is his son) was a positive addition to the dimension of the film. But it wasn’t enough to quench the longing for Sean Connery’s character (Indy’s father), who was absent from this installment.

The bottom line is that on its own, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is a very entertaining, edge-of-your-seat thriller that makes the prospect of alien existence seem more plausible than ever. But when compared with the other Indy films, it leaves something to be desired.