IJ & KotCS

[orangerful]

Of course I saw Indiana Jones & the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull on Wednesday night at midnight, like the good little fangirl I am. I still had my cold, but I was determined to experience a midnight showing. I didn't go to the Senator, just the local theater, which I sort of regret, sort of don't (mostly because the 15 minute drive home afterwards at 2am was much better than the usual hour ride).

Anyhoo, I enjoyed the movie. As snarkel said, it wasn't on par with Crusade or Raiders but I think we all knew that would be so, but it wasn't bad. It was a fun summer movie. Yeah, the story sort of disappears about half-way through and it just turns into a never-ending action sequence until the credits roll, but what did you expect would happen when Lucas and Speilberg got together for what may be the last time? They always talk about brainstorming Raiders by saying "You know what I've always wanted to see?" "Yeah, let's do that!". That was how this film felt - like a lot of fun was being had by cast and crew and the audience can either go with it or be left behind.

Shia LeBeouf will suffer the same fate as Brandon Routh: in the context of their movies (Indy, Superman) they are hot. When not in character, I could take them or leave them.

I want to see it again when I'm 100% healthy and I can buy a big bag of popcorn (You know how sick I was? I didn't finish a medium bag! The movie was 2 hours long!)



I totally fangirled at the reference to the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. It was one of the moments I wished I was in The Senator because I'm sure the hardcore fans cheered or clapped or laughed.

Mutt and his hair was great because my brother kept flicking his hair and fixing it when we were hanging out. It made me laugh. Kids are all the same. ;-)

Mutt as Tarzan was silly, though I was expecting some sort of Johnny Weissmuller joke from his character or Indy's...

The pacing sorta went to hell once we met Marian. Up until that point there was a balance between action sequences and dialogue. After we meet up with her at the camp it just sort goes and goes until the movie is over. I think there needed to be one more slow moment. One more bit of discussion. I would have liked it to tie into Indiana's last statement, about how they thought it was going to be a city of gold but in fact they were talking about knowledge as wealth. Or to have at least questioned that guy who was like "oh I'm a double agent now" instead of having Indy just take his word for it.

Cate Blanchett's character was amusing. No Dr. Snyder but still...wish we could have had a bit more of her too. She was so Natasha from Rocky & Bullwinkle haha.

We all knew Mutt was his son from day one of shooting. I guess that is why Lucas removed all the "Old Indy" sequences - because there was no mention of Marian or Mutt.

I think the script really showed the age of Lucas and Spielberg. I mean, when they made the first Indy's, they were young men and they were all about the action ala James Bond - blow up the bad guys, get the girl for a night, and move on. You can't hold me down! Last Crusade was working through their daddy issues as adult men. And this one was them as old men - they want to settle down, they are concerned about their legacy, they miss their departed friends...

So, yeah, I liked the movie. It was a fun way to spend a couple of hours.

Comments

[bittertwee.livejournal.com]

Just got back from seeing it- nice timing on the review! I enjoyed it! I'm with you on the pacing- after it was over I commented on how short it seemed, and we were surprised that it was actually 2 hrs. I think the short feeling was due to the fact that there weren't many plot twists, and like you say, they needed at least one other slow, character-building moment to break up the blur of action in the last half. Two would have been good.

I think one problem this movie had is that when the first three came out, the big visual things they did were more interesting; you still had that "how did they do that?" feeling of awe with special effects that I at least don't have anymore in the age of cgi. With this movie, the special effects were good and all, but they didn't do anything to distinguish the movie because we've seen so much of the same stuff. I think the most intersting thng with the Indy movies are the smaller, cool things he does as part of an action sequences, like when he was fighting alongside the bad guys' car, falls into the car, beats everyone up, and climbs out the other side and back into his own car (I forget who was driving, but, you know, back into the good guys' car which is now on the other side). Ok, that was awkwardly described, but when I that happened in the movie I thought, ok, this is why I like these movies.

There were only three lamenesses that bothered me: 1) I wouldn't have minded if the car just drove off the cliff, but hitting the tree just right so that it lets them down easy and then snaps back on the bad guys? That was a little groan-worthy. 2) The obvious blue-screen in front of Harrision Ford at the end when the spaceship takes off. C'mon you guys, you're supposed to be experts at this stuff! 3) The waterfalls! The thing about Indy is he gets in impossible situations, and somehow finds a way to survive. So when they were headed to the first waterfall, I was thinking omg, how are they going to get out of this one. Answer- they go over the falls and.. survive. Um, ok. But there's a bigger one coming! Oh, so this is where they do something exciting.. Nope, they just go over and it's all cool. By the time they were headed for the third one, I was like, whatever. I'm not sure what that was all about- something more should have happened there. A rapids sequence would have been more interesting.

Oh, and this was one of the greatest examples of the bad-guys-can't-aim school of film making. Those Russinas must have taken lessons from some stormtroopers.

Anyway, those are my only complaints. Harrison Ford was great- he seemed alarmingly old at first, but then settled into the role nicely. Cate Blanchett- always awesome. It will be fun to see Shia LB in the role in the future, if that's what they're planning. Nice to see Karen Allen back.

All-in-all it was fun. I was kind of relieved in a way that it seemed like they weren't trying too hard. Everyone just seemed to be having fun.

[bittertwee.livejournal.com]

ok, the Boston Globe just said exactly the same thing as me, but much better. I should have just read their review first and quoted it:

"The emphasis in "Crystal Skull" is on old-fashioned stunt work rather than the shiny chimeras of modern digital effects. When Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) catapults from the back of a motorcycle through the window of a speeding car, out the opposite window and back onto the motorcycle - his feet nervously skitching along the roadbed - at least half the excitement is knowing that motorcycle, car, Ford, and road are real."

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

I felt the CGI effects stood out MORE because there are so many more practical effects in this movie (as opposed to Star Wars where the whole thing was CG anyway).

Yeah, the entire chase that started with the trucks and ended when the credits rolled was just too much, and the waterfalls were beyond ridiculous. Plus, we'd already done waterfalls in 'Temple of Doom'! There had to have been some other natural formation to terrorize Indy.

Also, did you hear the communists are boycotting the movie? (http://clubjade.net/?p=5208#comments)