We went to see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull at 12 am Wednesday night, so that it was technically May 22nd. We really liked it. I can see people's potential criticisms of the film with regard to its place among the other I.J. films, and upon hearing that Harrison was in pursuit of a "crystal skull", I thought it would be a significantly less epic pursuit in comparison to the ark or the grail. Not many people know or care much about crystal skulls in our culture- it doesn't dig as into our collective cultural background. But, I thought the movie was great, and I can hardly imagine a better ending for the series.
I can look past all the corny jokes and over-the-top action sequences due to training- I've watched all of the Star Wars movies many times, and once the new ones were released I was let down. Some stuff was just lame. Seemingly unacceptable. BUT... I watched interviews with George Lucas who reminded his audience that these movies were based on vintage action serials... complete with implausible plots, sketchy acting, and cliche moments galore. Understanding that this is the foundation grants the viewer a new-found appreciation of the resulting movie... er... at least it did for me. I can accept Jar Jar Binks. I can accept lame acting in Episodes 2 and 3. I can accept Shia Lebouf's monkey scene in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
I guess the ending of KOTCS was a little abrupt... but I thought the visuals throughout were fantastic, and the plot moved things right along. There were some great lines (even a Han Solo line misplaced) and a plot I was unable to completely predict before I walked in. Just about any mysterious lore from the 50's was satisfyingly combined into one cohesive storyline. I thought it was clever and fitting.
The movie did take Indy a lot further into the sci-fi genre than he had previously gone, but my question would be... where else would he have gone? I tried to think of some possibilities.
Indiana Jones and the Quest for that Lost Ark With the Animals- Too redundant.
I can look past all the corny jokes and over-the-top action sequences due to training- I've watched all of the Star Wars movies many times, and once the new ones were released I was let down. Some stuff was just lame. Seemingly unacceptable. BUT... I watched interviews with George Lucas who reminded his audience that these movies were based on vintage action serials... complete with implausible plots, sketchy acting, and cliche moments galore. Understanding that this is the foundation grants the viewer a new-found appreciation of the resulting movie... er... at least it did for me. I can accept Jar Jar Binks. I can accept lame acting in Episodes 2 and 3. I can accept Shia Lebouf's monkey scene in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
I guess the ending of KOTCS was a little abrupt... but I thought the visuals throughout were fantastic, and the plot moved things right along. There were some great lines (even a Han Solo line misplaced) and a plot I was unable to completely predict before I walked in. Just about any mysterious lore from the 50's was satisfyingly combined into one cohesive storyline. I thought it was clever and fitting.
The movie did take Indy a lot further into the sci-fi genre than he had previously gone, but my question would be... where else would he have gone? I tried to think of some possibilities.
Indiana Jones and the Quest for that Lost Ark With the Animals- Too redundant.
Indiana Jones and the Search for the Fountain of Youth- Appropriate and necessary at this point, but he already knows where the grail is, which essentially works the same way. And, if he followed Ponce de Leon's hunch, he would have ended up in Florida like most other people his age. The ending might only have been him retiring frustrated to a trailer community somewhere in the interior of the state. A little anticlimactic.
Indiana Jones and the Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day- George and Steven would have been sued for sure.
Indiana Jones and the Attempt to Apply for Government Healthcare- The younger generations wouldn't see it.
Indiana Jones and the Attempt to Apply for Government Healthcare- The younger generations wouldn't see it.
Indiana Jones and the Fight Against Advanced V.D.- An adventure years in the making!
Apparently, members of what exists of Russia's communist party (which apparently is still about half of their government) are furious over the movie, which has Russians as the heinous villains, due to the cold war era it is set in. They have gone so far as to make statements threatening Harrison Ford, stating that he will be beaten if he ever tries to step foot on Russian soil. Well, it's easy to make threats against Indiana Jones, but it's difficult to carry them out. Everyone who messes with him either gets shot, or thinks that they get exactly what they want, and then they get destroyed by some wacky supernatural force. Death is certain. Even that monkey (who betrayed Marion) got what was coming to it- no one is excluded. I looked online for information about what Germans thought about the first and third films, in which the Nazi party were the antagonists. What did modern Germans think if that? I'd like to know.
I think one of the things that amazes me about Indiana Jones is that he looks like a bad mamma jamma, and you don't even realize he's wearing a pair of Dockers. He's got dress pants on all the time. He wears the kind of pants a real professor or archaeologist might wear... but he takes care of business in them. When I was little and I wore dress pants, I didn't feel like I could take on jungle natives or the Nazi party. Even now I don't feel that I'd be up to the challenge in dress pants. I'd just look pathetic. They would probably have those stupid pleats in the front too... but even Indy could pull those off... maybe.
Apparently Indiana Jones' simple state of being has offended many modern archaeologists. They consider him a misrepresentation of what they do and stand for. I think I realized this before they ever decided to mention it. If political evil reared its ugly head, I doubt that I would call for the aid of one or more archaeologists- I know that they don't all have whips and guns. Some probably carry slingshots, machetes and other blades, or even light explosives. I think the real reason that modern archaeologists have beef with Indy is that they got into the field because they thought they would be leather-clad chick magnets with a devil-may-care attitude and a free pass to travel to exotic locations to meet exotic women and find "booty" (treasure). Class after class, degree after degree, they thought all of these things would eventually just fall into place... and they never came. Oops.
I liked it!
Apparently, members of what exists of Russia's communist party (which apparently is still about half of their government) are furious over the movie, which has Russians as the heinous villains, due to the cold war era it is set in. They have gone so far as to make statements threatening Harrison Ford, stating that he will be beaten if he ever tries to step foot on Russian soil. Well, it's easy to make threats against Indiana Jones, but it's difficult to carry them out. Everyone who messes with him either gets shot, or thinks that they get exactly what they want, and then they get destroyed by some wacky supernatural force. Death is certain. Even that monkey (who betrayed Marion) got what was coming to it- no one is excluded. I looked online for information about what Germans thought about the first and third films, in which the Nazi party were the antagonists. What did modern Germans think if that? I'd like to know.
I think one of the things that amazes me about Indiana Jones is that he looks like a bad mamma jamma, and you don't even realize he's wearing a pair of Dockers. He's got dress pants on all the time. He wears the kind of pants a real professor or archaeologist might wear... but he takes care of business in them. When I was little and I wore dress pants, I didn't feel like I could take on jungle natives or the Nazi party. Even now I don't feel that I'd be up to the challenge in dress pants. I'd just look pathetic. They would probably have those stupid pleats in the front too... but even Indy could pull those off... maybe.
Apparently Indiana Jones' simple state of being has offended many modern archaeologists. They consider him a misrepresentation of what they do and stand for. I think I realized this before they ever decided to mention it. If political evil reared its ugly head, I doubt that I would call for the aid of one or more archaeologists- I know that they don't all have whips and guns. Some probably carry slingshots, machetes and other blades, or even light explosives. I think the real reason that modern archaeologists have beef with Indy is that they got into the field because they thought they would be leather-clad chick magnets with a devil-may-care attitude and a free pass to travel to exotic locations to meet exotic women and find "booty" (treasure). Class after class, degree after degree, they thought all of these things would eventually just fall into place... and they never came. Oops.
I liked it!
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