REVIEW: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Greatest. Sequel. Ever? Uh, no. Best Indy flick? No. Best action/adventure movie in recent memory? Still no. Best Harrison Ford movie since Air Force One? Okay, I'll give you that one.
Unfortunately, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull didn't live up to any expectations I had going into Sunday's media screenings (save that one about it being the best Ford movie since Air Force One, though that line-up includes duds like Firewall and Hollywood Homicide, so …).
Admission: I didn't grow up loving the Indy flicks, but I was excited to see the new movie, based on the cast, Steven Spielberg directing and the assumption that the Ford/Spielberg/producer George Lucas trio wouldn't keep fans waiting nearly 20 years for another Indy adventure and then deliver, well, this.
The movie starts off with a bang, reintroducing an older Indiana (there's even a age joke by the character to let the audience know that he knows that we know he's older and a bit less spry) as he has to escape the clutches of the evil Agent Spalko (Cate Blanchett), who wants him to help her unearth some secret U.S. government artifacts from the famous Area 51. There's bullwhip swinging from warehouse ceilings, gunfights, crashing through military vehicles, surviving a nuclear test explosion and blasting off on some sort of experimental rocket. Yes, Indy's older, but he's still a man of action, and Ford doesn't miss a step.
Fallout from Indy's encounter with Spalko leads to him temporarily losing his college professor gig, and when Spalko's minions show up just as a greaser Mutt Williams (Shia LaBeouf) comes to Indy asking for help to save his mom and an old college pal of Indy's, Indy and Mutt are off to Peru and the beginning of an adventure that will see more action sequences (including one jungle scene that should be spectacular, but leaves you feeling like most of it was just impossible), some stilted dialogue (I won't spoil whether or not Mutt is Indy's son, as has been rumored, but I will say that the discussion between Marion Ravenwood, Mutt's mama, and Indy re: Mutt's parentage, is super lame) and, worst of all, an alien plot element that includes a flying saucer. Yes, an actual flying saucer.
In fact, that flying saucer comes towards the end of the movie, and its appearance pretty much ruined for me everything fun that had come before it. Really, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg? A flying saucer? I know, the movie's got a retro vibe, it's a nod to the old movie serials, but that flying saucer, the alien body and the "portal to another dimension" bits made what could have been a fun, if underwhelming, movie into a movie that felt, in the end, like a bit of a mess.
Of course, not everyone sees it my way, and Moviehole.net has a round-up of some early Indy reviews, including some from critics who loved the flick.
Either way, box office tracking is predicting the movie will enjoy a five-day opening weekend that could rake in more than $170 million, which would beat the old five-day opening record of Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, which tallied a $172.8 million five-day debut in May 2005.
What do you think? Are you excited to see the movie? Are you a long-time Indy fan? And do pre-release reviews matter to you if you are really excited to see a new release?
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it seems like the recipe of a good Indiana Jones film would be 1 part Nazis and 1 part biblical artifact... the Soviet army does a pretty good job of replacing the Nazis, but the other ingredient...
Seen the film great to see Harison Ford can still cut the mustard.
If you people think the ending is crap then you seriously have concentration issues.
The clues with regards to the Roswell "incident" always lead you to believe that a ufo/flying saucer was going to feature prominently in the ending.
Also there is no feasible way that the oddly shaped skull was ever of earthly origin anyway.
Indiana gets married at the end and this film introduces Henry Jones the third (Indiana's son!).
The wedding scene ends with the chapel door opening in a strong wind and Indy's trademark hat blows up the aisle.
As the kid goes to put the hat on Indy relieves him of it with a rather wry grin thus suggesting that he's not ready to pass the torch yet.
Marcus and Indy's father are now both dead and this sets the mind guessing that any future instalment will see Ford playing the father role although not neccessarily in the background role.
A fun way to spend two hours!!!