Indiana Jones and The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull

[Thorolf]

I'm a little surprised that nobody has submitted a review of this one, yet... so here goes.

I admit that I'm a fan of the Indiana Jones series, and was looking forward to number four for quite some time. I did not read any of the "spoiler" rumor mill type posts on the internet, but did read a number of reviews before seeing it Friday night.

The reviews were, mostly, positive... so I was expecting an entertaining evening of nostalgia and thrills.

I got a few laughs out of it, but not so much of anything else.

Overall, I was pretty disappointed in the story. It seems as if George Lucas lost the "magic" somewhere in the 80s or 90s, and it has simply been going downhill ever since. Furthermore, the entire movie felt like a (please forgive the expression) half-assed effort on the part of Steven Spielberg. For a long time, everything Spielberg touched was gold - but Crystal is apparently not his cup of tea. It felt like he was lazy, simply expecting it to be gold because he had, indeed, touched it. Perhaps there is a film in a director's career that signals the fire has gone out... or maybe he just didn't give it much effort because it was a guaranteed money-maker. Whatever it is, I could not even tell that it was a Spielberg film.

There were so many places where the willing suspension of disbelief was completely lost. (Side note for those unfamiliar with the term: The "Willing Suspension of Disbelief" is a theatrical term that is pretty self-explanatory - the audience must willfully suspend the knowledge that some things simply are unrealistic, and it is generally necessary to achieve whether the performance is on stage or the big screen. Its standards fluctuate depending on several factors, but at some point there has to be a line drawn...) I spent more time during the movie fascinated that they would actually believe the audience would accept some ridiculous plot twist or impossible appearance of a character in some implausible place than I did locked into the action on the screen.

And there was a good bit of action, as you come to expect from an Indy film. The action was, overall, quite entertaining, when I wasn't scratching my head at the utter lack of believability...

I'm not going to spoil the theme and ending for anybody, but I will reiterate that I was extremely disappointed in the story, the logical and procedural leaps, and with the conclusion...

So call this one a thumbs-down - which is hard to say because I was really looking for things to like about it. It was overall mildly entertaining, but certainly a disappointing addition to one of my favorite movie series of all time.

[Acumen]

My brother said it sucked.  His words, not mine.

[VLinvictus]

My brother said it sucked.  His words, not mine.

Your brother is right. It not only sucked, it stank.

It wasn't as bad as the Star Wars prequels -- God preserve us from any abomination like those arising again! -- but I still think I could have used my $10 more productively as toilet paper.

Mr. Spielberg sure does like his aliens. 

[Thorolf]

My brother said it sucked.  His words, not mine.

Your brother is right. It not only sucked, it stank.

It wasn't as bad as the Star Wars prequels -- God preserve us from any abomination like those arising again! -- but I still think I could have used my $10 more productively as toilet paper.

Mr. Spielberg sure does like his aliens. 

I'm still incredulous at the positive reviews...

As more time goes by since I saw it, I get more annoyed at just how lousy it was. It was a little more entertaining than Ishtar, I guess, but lacked Ishtar's substance.

Yeah, I know... "what substance?"  Exactly.

 

[Clyde5001]

I enjoyed it. I went looking for a good Indiana Jones flick and I wasn't disappointed.

[Thorolf]

I enjoyed it. I went looking for a good Indiana Jones flick and I wasn't disappointed.

Really? Honestly, I've been a bit surprised every time someone tells me they liked it... it was entertaining enough, I guess - but I just couldn't get into it. I suppose I just was wanting it to be something it simply wasn't...

[Clyde5001]

I guess I was just so psyched for the movie after 19 years I was happy with whatever I got.

The ending was totally muddled, I'll grant you that. But I even liked Cate Blanchett as Natasha...I mean Irina Spalko - she can do anything (heck, she did Dylan!). She';s our generations Katherine Hepburn.