Saturday, May 24, 2008

**SPOILERS** INDY IS BACK...**SPOLIERS**

And I loved it. My full review will be posted soon (with many spoilers so don't read if you haven't seen the film yet), but I will say that while not perfect, INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL did the precise thing I wanted it to: make me smile and have fun.

**Note: do not read the comments to this entry if you don't want the movie spoiled.**

3 comments:

Breedlove said...

Glad you liked it. I thought you very well might. Reactions seem very mixed, with some hating it and others perfectly satisfied. I thought the first half of the movie was awesome. Lots of good jokes. The introduction of Indy was great, and I thought they did a great job with transitioning the setting to the late 50s, with the Elvis music and the greasers and the crowded ice cream shop and everything. The whole set piece with the nuclear test was great, as was the motorcycle chase through New Haven. Then I thought the movie pretty much fell off the rails. Some long, boring expository scenes about the crystal skull. The boring scene in the graveyard. The endless chase through the forest, with lousy, fake CGI and Shia getting whacked in the balls and swinging on vines and monkeys joining into the fight. And then the whole ending in the pyramid or whatever with the aliens - confusing, boring, no action, more bad CGI. I really thought the whole ending sucked. It was like halfway through the movie it switched from a Spielberg movie to a Lucas movie. I thought the whole crystal skull/aliens angle was a flop. Didn't work. I also thought the film really, really suffered from not being shot in cool, real-world locations. remember Cairo, and India, and all the cool locations in the first three movies? This entire film looked like it was shot on a soundstage in Santa Monica or something. Karen Allen was given nothing to do. Completely wasted. Speaking of which, I'm gonna go get completely wasted myself.

Breedlove said...

Good job putting up that spoiler warning. Hope I didn't screw any one.

Actionman said...

There were a few things I could have done without (Shia as Tarzan being my biggest gripe) but overall I loved it. It had me smiling for two hours and I loved the alien mythology angle. The chase in the jungle with the sword-fighting was pretty f'ing awesome as well. All the stuff in Area 51 was cool and geeky B-movie and I loved Cate Blanchett. Karen Allen, while nice to see in the role, felt very awkward. However, it felt like a treat to see Harrison Ford as Indy again. My full review will be up soon.