indiana jones and the kingdom of the crystal skull is a 2008 american adventure movie directed by steven spielberg. the story of the movie was written by spielberg and executive producer george lucas. set in 1957, this fourth movie in the indiana jones movie series is based around an older and wiser indiana jones (played by harrison ford) against agents of the soviet union–led by spalko (cate blanchett)–for the crystal skull. indy is helped by his former lover marion ravenwood (played by karen allen), mutt (played by shia labeouf) and friend mac (played by ray winstone). john hurt, jim broadbent, and ian mcdiarmid also play fellow academics.