Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Indiana Jones 4

I went to see the latest Indiana Jones with my brother last night. So I thought I’d mention the good and bad of the movie.

The Good

• Marion’s return. Seriously, I liked her character in Indiana Jones and was disappointed that the next movie didn’t have her (but to be fair, it is a prequel so she wouldn’t be in it).
• The humor moments. OK, there weren’t a lot for me, but my brother and I did laugh out loud a few times such as Mutt’s remarks about Indy being 80 or Indy’s moving from motorcycle to villain car and back. Despite being very unrealistic, I found it funny.
• The references to Marcus Brody and Indy’s father, complete with pictures (and in Marcus’ case, a statue). I loved the moment.
• Ark of the Covenant. Yeah, that was a nice moment to see the case busted open.
• Nostalgia. It was Indiana Jones. ‘Nuff said.

The Bad

• The monkeys. The only thing that would make this scene worse would have been Mutt doing a Tarzan yell. Fortunately, that didn’t happen.
• The ants. I know that they needed another insect moment, but even for Indiana Jones, that was a bit much.
• The fridge. Indy getting into a lead-lined fridge to survive a nuclear bomb test just SCREAMED off the screen as too much even for an Indy title. I think this may have made me cringe at least as much, if not more, than the mountain crash scene in Temple of Doom.
• The special effects. Maybe it was the screen I was on, but many times, I thought the special effects were no better than those from Last Crusade and not from modern times.
• No gun for Indy? We had a whip scene but I don’t remember a gun at all. What’s up with that?
• Non-careful Indy. In the first movie, Indy was a careful guy who researched things before acting and thus avoiding traps. Indy researched the Ark of the Covenant as well. He used his father’s research for the Holy Grail. For this movie, he has knowledge, but I kept thinking, “What if there’s another ancient trap? Indy would be dead.”
• The snake rescue. I know it was supposed to be funny using a large snake as a rope, but I didn’t laugh (my brother did though).
• No Sallah. I was hoping that he’d show up at the wedding but oh well.

I was afraid the whole alien stuff would bother me, but in the end, I thought it was handled pretty well.

Overall, I enjoyed this as a popcorn movie. It is better than Temple of Doom but not as good as Raiders of the Lost Ark or Last Crusade.