Comments are closed.
Friday’s Watch it or Whine: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
May 23rd, 2008
Alternate Title: I should have taken my suspension of disbelief booster shot before we went.
Warning: if you have not seen it, and you don’t like spoilers then move to the next post!
Seriously, keep reading and you will find out why I was disappointed.
Okay, you can’t say I didn’t warn you!
I have always loved Indy, I love everything about all three of the other movies, especially his whip yielding. Has it really been 19 years since I saw The Last Crusade with my parents? I tried to find a picture of myself as Indiana Jones for Halloween when I was eleven but no such luck. I was super jazzed to go see Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, even if the title did sound like a J.K. Rowling reject. It started out good, I rolled my eyes at him surviving a nuclear blast, I giggled at the smashed up box of the Ark of the Covenant ( a good foreshadow of the return of Marian), I instantly loved Cate Blanchett as an evil communist. I found Shia Labeouf labeoutiful, even if he is seven years my junior. The setting in Peru was stunning, I thought the whole concept with the Mayans, and the skulls, and natives and everything were spot on. I loved the return of Marian and the whole family aspect of the movie (An adventuring family? Rock on Incredible style.) So I am only pointing out good things right? I liked the movie right? Wrong.
Why not? ALIENS!! Not like from across the border, but from like outer-space. I do not like Sci Fi! I have tried it with a mouse, in a house, with a goat, on a boat, and I STILL DO NOT LIKE ALIEN MOVIES Sam I Am. And this movie was chock full of them. They even had a space ship. Gah! Me no likey. Stupid George Lucas, doesn’t Star Wars have enough Aliens for you? Could you not have left my Indy alone? Anyway, it had good points, but it is definitely my fourth favorite Indiana Jones movie.
Filed under Time Suckers, Watch it or Whine |7 Responses to “Friday’s Watch it or Whine: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”
Yeah, I have to agree that the movie was pretty much ruined for me in the first 10 minutes when he survives a nuclear blast by hiding in a lead-lined refrigerator…..COME ON!!!!
This is one movie that, much like the Star Wars prequels, had too much thought and planning put into trying to revive a tried and true trilogy and make a few more bucks for the children’s trust fund. Almost 20 years of planning, and this is the best you could come up with? That is just sad and disappointing.
It’s starting to feel like perhaps he was lucky with the original Star Wars and Indy films, not a cinematic genius, just lucky.
So go ahead, hate me if you want but I said what I felt to be true.
We don’t care what you think. Joe and I saw it and we liked it…a lot. Meh.
Oh, and he may be old(er), but Harrison Ford is still smokin’ hot!!
Will you be going to see the Sex & the City movie this weekend? I’ll most likely see it Saturday, either with a work-friend or by myself (while my husband watches Iron Man). Please don’t review it until Sunday, because I love your blog and I check it everyday and I would hate to find a spoiler before I see the movie. Ok.
Ang, after you go see it, why don’t you write a review and email it to me? It will be next week before I can go see it at the earliest. I will have to go alone, because I don’t know anyone to go with here. The Husband is a big NO. Oh, and I agree that Harrison is still smokin hot. So is Sean Connery even though he’s ew like 98. I do think Shia is Lebeoutiful though.
Yay, a guest blogger gig!! Sounds like a challenge, but I think I’m up for it. And yes, Shia is Lebeoutiful. I know you don’t like sci-fi, but did you see him in Transformers? Yum!
OK, this will make an impression of just how old I am, but I’m sharing it anyway.
I first saw Harrison Ford in 1973 in American Graffiti. Frankly I recall no impression one way or the other from that appearance, though it was a fun movie.
Next would have been 1977 with the premier of Star Wars, which I saw opening weekend in Tulsa, OK. However, it wasn’t Hans Solo that I loved, it was Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill). Again I saw him in 1980 in the Empire Strikes Back and maybe by then I was becoming a fan.
By the time I saw him in the first Indiana Jones movie, Raiders of the Lost Ark, in 1981, I was on board and have seen nearly every movie he’s made since. But my favorite roles are unquestionably Indy and Jack Ryan. I would agree with Ang that he was “smokin’ hot” in the first three Indy movies as well as later. But, I thought he was looking a little tired in this one.
The difference in him at sixty and Sean Connery at sixty plus is polish. He doesn’t seem to have it. I also may be influenced now by his divorce from a long term marriage several years ago, as these things do cloud my attraction.
Regarding the movie, I liked it! Of the four in the series my least favorite was Temple of Doom. I had a bit of a hard time getting there with all the enslaved children working in the mine and the beating heart in the fist scenes. I also thought Temple of Doom ended poorly. Raiders and the Last Crusade would tie for first in this series.
The action scenes in Crystal Skull were equally as good I thought. And I did love that he and Marian found each other again, as she was always my favorite of his love interests. Had no problem with the lead refrigerator or the aliens personally.
There were a few things that were not time relevant to 1957 though. I’m not sure that flag at the beginning had only 48 stars on it. Certainly the cedar, dog-earred privacy fence was not right in the bomb test scene. It would have been a chain-linked fence in the 50’s. Seems as though there was another one, but can’t think of what it would be.
Also, the two lead women’s clothing was not time appropriate, though I can see it was necessary. Skirts would have been the uniform of the day. And certainly slack suits with jackets were not seen until the seventies.
Regardless these glitches, I thought it was a fun, action packed movie with characters that I have always loved. Thanks for the tickets!