D:I've just come back from seeing "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull", and while it will surely stand it's place in what movie nerds everywhere are calling the "Indy canon" (*rolls eyes*) from my first impressions, I would place this an inch behind Temple of Doom. If you're reading this, you've probably heard of some of the plot elements or even seen the movie already so I won't go over the plot in detail. I will however, go over some things that I found worked, and things I thought went wrong.
*YA-HARR, HERE BE SPOILERS, M'YAR"
The opening: for some reason, I found this to be the weakest part of the film. After the interesting sequence with the fun-riding teens, the introduction to the major characters seemed stilted and uninteresting. The whole thing of Indy helping out the bad guys was weird to say the least. One of my only problems with this film is the script. The whole opening sequence, even the entire movie is incredibly clunky. Only the visuals and the enthusiastic actors manage to tie it together. Which brings me to Shia, playing the character of Mutt Williams.
I think that "Da Beef" is a great addition to the cast. He held his own and showed he has the chops to be an action star. Harrison is, of course, great as Indiana Jones, although his age is indeed starting to show through. This 4th film marks the return of Marion, our favorite Indy girl from the 1st and best film of the series, "Raiders of the Lost Ark". I felt the best and funniest scenes were those where Marion, Indy and Mutt interacting and bantering, however few and far between these scenes are. Also here is Cate Blanchett, doing commendably with what she's given as Russian spy Irina Spalko.
The pace of the film is often clunky, with long eerie cave explorations interspersed with bouts of heavy-handed exposition, but this is all part of the Indy M.O. At least John Williams' competent score gives all these drawn out segment the necessary sense of awe and wonder. The action scenes are well done, especially a chase through a college town and the truck chase through the jungle, which is the equivalent of the tank chase in "Last Crusade".
In the end, I enjoyed it, but I thought it could have been much better. I have no inclination to see it again soon, although I wouldn't mind ;)
*YA-HARR, HERE BE SPOILERS, M'YAR"
The opening: for some reason, I found this to be the weakest part of the film. After the interesting sequence with the fun-riding teens, the introduction to the major characters seemed stilted and uninteresting. The whole thing of Indy helping out the bad guys was weird to say the least. One of my only problems with this film is the script. The whole opening sequence, even the entire movie is incredibly clunky. Only the visuals and the enthusiastic actors manage to tie it together. Which brings me to Shia, playing the character of Mutt Williams.
I think that "Da Beef" is a great addition to the cast. He held his own and showed he has the chops to be an action star. Harrison is, of course, great as Indiana Jones, although his age is indeed starting to show through. This 4th film marks the return of Marion, our favorite Indy girl from the 1st and best film of the series, "Raiders of the Lost Ark". I felt the best and funniest scenes were those where Marion, Indy and Mutt interacting and bantering, however few and far between these scenes are. Also here is Cate Blanchett, doing commendably with what she's given as Russian spy Irina Spalko.
The pace of the film is often clunky, with long eerie cave explorations interspersed with bouts of heavy-handed exposition, but this is all part of the Indy M.O. At least John Williams' competent score gives all these drawn out segment the necessary sense of awe and wonder. The action scenes are well done, especially a chase through a college town and the truck chase through the jungle, which is the equivalent of the tank chase in "Last Crusade".
In the end, I enjoyed it, but I thought it could have been much better. I have no inclination to see it again soon, although I wouldn't mind ;)
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