Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

1957, the height of the Cold War. After the events of the first film, 21 years pass, 19 years-after the events of the third film (1938). A group of Soviet soldiers, led by a fanatical scientist Irina Spalko, disguised as soldiers of the US army, are sent to a secret storage base located in the Nevada desert, in "Zone 51", near which Indiana Jones and his friend Mack conducted an archaeological study. Breaking into the base, Irina forces Jones to find some mummified remains there – after all, he was once part of a group of scientists who studied the wreckage found at the crash site of an unusual aircraft that occurred 10 years before the events described in Roswell, New Mexico. Jones himself, however, does not quite understand the nature of the artifact he once saw and its significance, but at the muzzle of a dozen machine guns, using the magnetic properties of the artifact and the shot extracted from the cartridges, finds the desired box.

As Spalko and her men enthusiastically examine the sarcophagus found with the body emitting a startling magnetic pulse, Jones comes to the conclusion that it's time to run away. During the escape, he is confronted by the treachery of Mack, who turns out to be working for Spalko, and, further, miraculously escapes during a nuclear test conducted at a nearby test site, hiding in a refrigerator with lead cladding.

Indiana suddenly finds itself under heavy pressure from FBI agents who suspect an archaeology professor, a hero of several wars, and a former intelligence agent, Henry Jones Jr., of spying for the Soviet Union. These suspicions turn out to be so serious that Jones, who was returning to teaching, has to voluntarily leave the college, where he worked for more than 25 years, in order to avoid an ignominious dismissal.

Indiana intends to go on a trip and look for a new place somewhere where there is no "witch hunt", but at the last moment he is literally taken off the train by a grizzly guy who calls himself Matt "Dog" Williams. Matt asks Professor Jones for help: a friend of his mother, an old colleague and once a close friend of Jones himself, Harold Oxley, aka "old Ox", disappeared somewhere in Peru, having managed to send Matt a letter containing puzzles in the form of some unknown hieroglyphs. Indiana, who knew that all his life Ochs was searching for the mysterious golden city of Acator (which is better known as El Dorado), presumably located in Peru, also connects the phenomenon of crystal skulls – mysterious artifacts associated with the pre – Columbian civilizations of South America-the Maya, Aztecs and Nazca with the disappearance of Oxley.

Indiana and Matt go to Peru, where in one of the cities located on the famous Nazca geoglyphs, they find traces of Oxus. As they learn, Ochs was picked up in a semi-insane state by nuns who run a local asylum for the mentally ill. However, after a while, some people came and took Oxley from the shelter. Examining the cell where Oxley was held, Jones and Matt discover many inscriptions "return" and several drawings of a skull with huge eye sockets and a bizarre elongated shape. This is the shape that the ancient Nazca artificially gave to their heads, from childhood squeezing the skull with ropes: in this way, the people of the Nazca civilization wanted to become like the gods. Under a layer of dust and sand on the floor of the cell, Professor Jones also discovers a map.

This map leads him and Matt to the tomb of Francisco de Orellana, an associate of Francisco Pissarro, who once went in search of El Dorado and, as it was believed until that moment, disappeared without a trace with his companions in the Amazon jungle. Amazed by the discovery, Indiana, however, is forced to admit that it was Oxley who first discovered the tomb, and moreover, he managed to visit it twice, but it is unclear for what purpose. The answer lies next to de Orellano's mummy: Professor Jones discovers an elongated crystal skull. The unique find is clearly not man-made, and it also has strange properties – for example, quite strong magnetic radiation. Remembering the "return" signs in Oxley's cell, Indiana comes to the conclusion that Ochs took the skull, but after a while returned it to its place.

Jones decides to take the mysterious find with him, but at the exit from the tomb of de Orellano, he and Matt are met by the traitor Mac and the Soviet military. Soon, the captured Jones and Matt, who were escorted to the Russian camp set up in the jungle, are again confronted by Spalko. Irina shows Jones the body of a creature that, in her opinion, is of extraterrestrial origin. These are the very remains that Jones had recently helped her find in a secret warehouse. A skeleton was removed from the body, and Irina believes that this skeleton was crystal. Agent Spalko is obsessed with everything paranormal, she is sure that the creatures who built the mysterious Akator 7 thousand years ago, using technologies that appeared much later, are of extraterrestrial origin. However, Irina is looking for Akator-Eldorado not for the gold, but for the secret knowledge of these creatures, which is hidden in the main temple. According to legend, the one who returns the crystal skull to the sanctuary will gain great power.

In the hands of Irina is not only Jones and Matt, but also the missing Oxley, distraught after a long interaction with the crystal skull. Spalko intends to use Jones to pry partly from "old Ox", partly from the skull, who speaks only to a select few, how to find the way to Akator. In case Jones is stubborn, Agent Spalko has another argument: Marion Ravenwood. Marion is the woman that Indiana once loved, who accompanied him in the search for the Ark more than 20 years ago, and turned out to be the mother of Matt "The Dog" Williams.

Professor Jones is forced to submit to Irina and gets the information she needs. But the research excitement of Irina is once again interrupted by an escape attempt – this time the escape is spontaneously organized by young Matt. And it would have worked if Indiana and Marion hadn't been trapped in the quicksand. While Matt and mad Ox are organizing the rescue, Marion, who is afraid that she and Indy are finished, suddenly confesses to Jones that Matt's real name is Henry. Marion named her son after his father – Henry Jones, Jr.! He is perplexed. Indiana is only roused from her stupor by the appearance of Irina and her men, whom Oxley brought to save Jones. And now, bound, Professor Jones, Marion, Matt, and Oxley are being driven along the jungle road in the direction where Akator should be.

Barely recovered from the news of his fatherhood, Jones, however, enters into a violent altercation with Marion, who can not forgive Indiana for the fact that after the story with the Ark, he ran away from her just a few days before the scheduled wedding. In addition, Henry Jones Jr. claims his paternal rights to Henry Jones-"even more junior" and proceeds to raise him, which the latter is not particularly happy about.

The parental lectures and the almost marital scene can only be prevented by another escape – this time successful: as a result of a mad race through the jungle, Jones and company break away from Spalko, who has lost most of her people, including her loyal henchman Colonel Dovchenko (he is eaten alive by ants).

"Old Ox" is beginning to partially recover. He leads Indiana and the others to Akator. However, in fact, there is no gold in the Golden City – only dilapidated pyramids and other buildings. But Indiana discovers the very temple where the skull is supposed to be kept. And the temple, to the surprise of the whole company, is filled with treasures and monuments of ancient civilizations located in various parts of the world – Ancient Greece, Ancient China, Ancient India, Ancient Egypt... How could objects created by such different and so distant cultures end up in one place? But the most important treasure is still a crystal skull. Indiana Jones and his friends enter the golden hall, where 13 crystal skeletons of strange creatures with elongated skulls and huge eye sockets sit on golden thrones. And only one skeleton is devoid of a head. However, the honor of returning the crystal skull to him is taken from Indiana Jones by Irina Spalko, who tirelessly followed his trail and finally caught up with him (Agent Mac, who followed with the heroes, threw special beacons on the ground). As soon as Irina puts the skull back in place, Oxley, who has once again fallen into insanity, begins to speak in the ancient dialect of the Maya Indians – he hears the thoughts of these creatures: they want to thank for the return of the skull. Irina Spalko asks for secret knowledge. After that, the crystal skeletons seem to come to life, and the golden hall begins to rotate, opening a channel into the space between the worlds.

The temple begins to collapse. Indiana Jones and his companions are slowly retreating. But Mac, because of his excessive greed and craving for wealth and treasures, does not have time to leave, and he and the remaining handful of Soviet soldiers are taken to another dimension. As a result of the rotation, 13 crystal skeletons form one extraterrestrial being, which begins to transmit to Irina the knowledge that she so passionately desired. However, the burden of knowledge is too much for a person. As a result, the ambitious and selfish adventurer is burned alive in the light that flows from the eyes of the alien.

After escaping from the temple, Indiana, Matt, Marion, and Oxley see a giant flying saucer rise from the depths, whose frenzied rotation destroys the ancient city of Akator. The plate rises above the ground and drags the boulders with it, creating something like a tornado. Suddenly, the plate disappears, and along with its disappearance, the violent tornado stops. Everything that was lifted into the air falls to the ground again, and water from the Amazon flows into the funnel formed in the place of the Acator, destroying all traces of what happened.

Oxley finally regains his sanity, Marion and Indiana embrace each other, and Matt begins to get used to being called "junior". At the end of the film, Indiana does lead Marion down the aisle.