Indiana Jones & The Movie That I Genuinely Enjoyed
By Nate • May 27th, 2008 • Category: Movies
So sue me.
Aside from a few shitty script detours (Mutt swinging through the jungle on vines to catch up with the car chase, certain pockets of awkward dialogue, the ants(overdone), not enough with the undead Indian warriors) it was everything I had hoped it would be. It was pure popcorn and Jujubes, pulp cinema with high production value and star power. If only they could have dumped George Lucas at some point before, well, before the script was written. I lay any deficit at his feet. His judgment on how to make a decent movie has gone out the door since the last Indy movie.
But anyway, I liked the movie. I liked seeing Harrison Ford dust off the fedora, I liked seeing Karen Allen as Marion Ravenwood one last time and I loved the not-so-subtle winks and nods at prior Indy movies and fanboys(and girls) sprinkled throughout. I’m not going to get into all of them here, because I probably didn’t catch every one, but they’re there. If you missed them, you should be ashamed of yourself. Shame!
For a movie to turn a 28 year old cynic into a giggling, giddy little kid for two hours is no small feat. But that’s exactly what Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull did. I was excited from the moment the lights went down. I was on the edge of my seat every time Indy was in danger, even though I knew he’d find a way out of it. I wanted to believe every insane plot twist and ridiculous escape sequence, even while I knew that they were utterly improbable and just plain silly. Hiding in a refrigerator to escape a nuclear blast? C’mon…
But y’know what? I don’t care. I got to see Indiana Jones kick ass and take names one last time, after 19 years of waiting. I was nine when The Last Crusade came out in 1989, so over 2/3 of my life has been spent waiting for this movie. I have to say, nine year-old Nate was not dissapointed in the least.
According to Box Office numbers, people the world over weren’t disappointed, either. $311 million, worldwide. Wow.
Click here for another Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Kingdom review
Nate is pretty sure Mark Twain said it best, "Humor is the great thing, the saving thing after all. The minute it crops up, all our hardnesses yield, all our irritations, and resentments flit away, and a sunny spirit takes their place."
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I still prefer the original planned ending, where an old and haggard Indiana Jones beats Short Round to death with a bowling pin. But of course Lucas killed it, just because it didn’t make any damn sense in comparison to the rest of the movie. Well, that never stopped you from making an entire movie about a walking, talking duck, now did it, fat boy? Yeah, I didn’t think so.
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