Indiana Jones and the KOTCS (spoilers) -- Rhinotainment

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Date Posted: 20:37:37 06/09/08 Mon
Author: Flair4theGold
Subject: Indiana Jones and the KOTCS (spoilers)
In reply to: Silk 's message, "Indy IV, Narnia (Some Spoilers)." on 06:16:47 06/06/08 Fri

I think I have long since figured out that stuff I found super-cool as a kid just will not bring me the same sense of wonder that it did when it is reintroduced to me today. The new Star Wars films didn't do it. Wrestling today doesn't do it. The Van Halen concert I went to a few weeks ago didn't do it. And unfortunately (as expected), the new Indiana Jones film didn't do it.

So then I have to figure out if I now like this film because of some sort of allegiance to the series that says I should, or if I really do like it. I think ultimately though, I did end up liking the film. There were things that bugged me, but I thought the good outweighed the bad by a nice margin.

I'll just touch on my two gripes early. First, the story kind of wandered. It just didn't seem as cohesive as the others. This one seemed to jump from action scene to action scene for the sake of doing so, whereas the earlier films seemed to build toward those scenes. The Ray Winstone character just seemed to be a character of convenience which helped things along in the story, but it seemed a lazy way out as the character isn't really developed that well. Secondly, frickin' CG. Indiana Jones is ultimately based in reality. Sure, his adventures touch on supernatural, sci-fi, voodoo, whatever. But he's still a flesh and blood guy and when you see all the crazy adventurous stuff he did in the first three films, you can ultimately say, "that could happen." That's what makes the character appealing, not unlike Jason Bourne or the earlier John McClane films. But this film has a couple of absurd scenes that require that suspension of disbelief in parts where I don't think you really need to be suspending it "that much." The two that really stick out are actually Shia LeBouf moments - one is when he's sword-fighting Cate Blanchett on the back of two jeeps racing beside each other. That part didn't even bother me. It was when he was suddenly straddling both jeeps while getting continually slammed in the nads by cacti that I got annoyed. Let's be honest for a moment. They stop MMA fights when people get hit in the nuts. We know how painful that is. Zooming through the jungle on speeding jeeps while getting continually crotch shot with cacti and shrugging it off with "ouch" just isn't gonna happen. And as unbelievable as that was there is a retarded scene with Shia swinging through the jungle on vines ala Tarzan - surrounded by monkeys, ultimately catching up with jeeps that have long since left the scene. That really annoyed me. But those were the two big gripes for me. Other smaller ones are probably there, but those were the big two.

Some things I did enjoy were the "tip of the hat" to the earlier films. When the warehouse doors at Area 51 opened at the beginning of the movie and the Williams score harkened back to the Ark theme, chills went up my spine. It's a nice little bait and switch initially, but you still end up with a cute little payoff. The film is very open with the fact that Indy is old now and there are numerous jokes reminding us of that. It's funny, but it's a little sentimental too. I guess because ultimately if Indy's getting older, so are we. The character of Mutt is entertaining, before and after the "big reveal" of his true identity. The chemistry between Harrison and Shia is convincing and even though she hasn't aged as well as Harrison, Karen Allen still has that spunky attitude from Raiders. All three play well of each other as the dysfunctional family you'd expect them to be. Cate Blanchett is fine here - nothing too memorable - but she fills the role. There really have been no good villains in this series since Belloq in Raiders. He was in many ways Indy's equal. Most of the other villains in the other films have actually needed Indy to complete their own wishes, and this film is of the same vein.

The whole sci-fi aspect of the adventure did not really bother me. I'm not really sure what the problem is some people are having with that, but I thought it was an interesting idea. Legends have to come from somewhere and some of the best ones are based on other-worldly things. Despite some of the disregard for reality a few times, the action scenes are once again top notch. The cool thing that the Indy films have always done is layered their action scenes. When you think it can get much worse for Indy, it does. He's on a plane with no pilot - now he can't fly - now the fuel is gone - now there are no parachutes - now there is a mountain in the way - and on and on. This movie continues that trend. One thing that never changes and only gets better is John Williams' soundtrack. As with other franchises, he once again incorporates new themes and layers to his music while always knowing when to touch back on those classic themes.

So anyway, the new Indy flick was fine entertainment, but that's about it. I think the sad thing now is it is rather mindless fun, which is fine for many movies, but seems a little bit of a letdown for this franchise. Raiders was such a smart film underneath all the Saturday morning matinee action and the rest of the films have been pale comparisons. This one fits in fine with the last three Indy films, but really doesn't do much to stand out from them, or from a lot of the other action fare out there now.

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Replies:

Re: Indy Story (spoilers). -- Silk, 00:43:54 06/13/08 Fri