"Film Review: Indiana Jones 4"

Earlier this evening, Scott and I went to see the new film, "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull". As strong fans of the Indy franchise, we were both looking forward to some of the clever fun that made the first three movies great classics. This movie, however, was not great.

My review of the film would be as follows: The special effects were fantastic... but the script was really bad. It was poorly written, full of extreme implausibility, unbelievable plot sequences, and all sorts of "what the heck!" moments. But, hey... the special effects were really cool!

And yeah, it definitely had all the classic Indiana Jones prerequisites. Trusty bullwhip? Check. Fedora? Check. Long car chase with creative fighting and leaping? Check. Dark tombs lit by torches? Check. Gross creepy crawly critters? Check. Magnificent "ancient" underground locations. Check. Indiana Jones humor. Check. Story... no check.

It was entertaining to see all these classic Indy elements on the big screen again. And Harrison Ford played the role just as well as he did in the first three movies. But what made the movie entertaining was actually the nostalgia, the in-jokes and the ever-prevalent self-parody. I had fun and I laughed often, which was a selling point, and made the the ticket price worthwhile. But I don't think I'd go see this film a second time. I question too whether I would buy this film on DVD.

I'm also a little hesitant to call this a true "Indiana Jones" movie. Indy is a little out of place in the late 1950's. As are the Soviets running around unopposed in Nevada (aka, the middle of the USA). And when George Lucas (who co-wrote the screenplay) turned the movie into a science fiction adventure (yes, "science fiction"), I lost a great deal of respect. But -- story aside -- it was a fun one-time watch... and the special effects were fantastic.

In short, this movie was entertaing, but it doesn't take itself seriously, and probably shouldn't be part of the Indiana Jones canon.

-Jon
posted by Jon at 10:17 PM  I   I  0 comments