Director: Steven Spielberg
Writers: George Lucas, Jeff Nathanson, David Koepp
Cast: Harrison Ford, Cate Blanchett, Karen Allen, Shia LaBeouf
Tayster's Six Pack Rating:
Raiders of the Lost Ark was, to me, one of the greatest movies ever made. There are a few special effects that look cheesy by today's standards, but overall, the movie is amazing.
I have probably watched Raiders nearly 100 times. There are only a handful of movies that I have seen more than that. (Star Wars IV, Batman, The 'burbs)
Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom was not one of my favorites. In fact, I have only seen it four times. (In the theater, on video, in the theater as a trilogy and on DVD.)
Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade brought me back to the Indy world in a huge fashion and I have probably watched it 40-50 times.
Having said all that, I can't say that I'm planning on ever watching Indiana Jones & the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull again.
Don't get me wrong, there are some terrific things in this movie. I mean, just seeing Indy with his whip and hearing the John Williams theme is almost worth the price of the ticket, but there is so much about this movie that I just plain disliked.
The Good...
The first part of the movie really felt like an Indy film. It just had this old-style filming to it. Even the fear I had of Indiana Jones being older now than his father (Sean Connery) was in Last Crusade was completely forgotten when I saw him in his hat and heard the theme playing. It was like Harrison Ford was just wearing makeup to look older because he sure didn't act like he was 66-years-old.
Like I said earlier, just to see Indy and hear the awesome music of John Williams is worth the price of a ticket.
The Bad...
The biggest problem for me was the CGI. I understand that it's a lot more cost effective to make explosions and sets and even characters on a computer. And with movies like Star Wars or X-Men or even King Kong, it can help things out. But it just doesn't work in a movie like this.
See, Raiders has a feeling of a 1950's-type adventure. Like my friend Trav said, "That movie was made by people at the top of their game." The stunts were done by real stunt men, the sets were real sets.
KOTCS doesn't have that feeling. It feels more like an episode of the "X-Files", except Fox & Mulder were too busy chasing a ghost that week so they brought in a very special guest, Indiana Jones, to find the meaning of the skull.
I mean, I can suspend all belief when I watch a movie. When John McClane is on the back of a jet in Die Hard 4, it's cheesy, but I can overlook it because I enjoyed the rest of the movie. With this one, I started getting annoyed by little things (Marcus Brody's statue, vine swinging, sword fighting, multiple waterfalls) that by the time the big Señor Spielbergo moment happens, I was just looking at my watch wondering if it was almost over. (For those of you that don't watch "The Simpsons", Señor Spielbergo is the "non-union Mexican equivalent" of Steven Spielberg.)
The Ugly...
***POSSIBLE SPOILERS***
The revival of Marion Ravenwood is a great concept, but after a few minutes, I wanted to poke a pen in my ear so I didn't have to hear Indiana Jones calling someone "honey" and actually meaning it as something more than deragotory.
Also, there are just too many people with Indy all the time. Even with Marion in Raiders or Short Round and Mrs. Spielberg in Temple of Doom and Connery in Last Crusade, there was plenty of time when Indiana Jones was on screen by himself and eventually saving the world on his own. There's really none of that here. It's almost like the Scooby Doo gang all came to solve the mystery of the crystal skull.
Before you take my word for it, remember that it is currently sitting at 81% on Rotten Tomatoes, which means that most of the critics love this movie and out of my friends who saw the movie last night, most of them enjoyed it.
I guess I just expected a better story after 19 years of waiting.
Writers: George Lucas, Jeff Nathanson, David Koepp
Cast: Harrison Ford, Cate Blanchett, Karen Allen, Shia LaBeouf
Tayster's Six Pack Rating:
Raiders of the Lost Ark was, to me, one of the greatest movies ever made. There are a few special effects that look cheesy by today's standards, but overall, the movie is amazing.
I have probably watched Raiders nearly 100 times. There are only a handful of movies that I have seen more than that. (Star Wars IV, Batman, The 'burbs)
Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom was not one of my favorites. In fact, I have only seen it four times. (In the theater, on video, in the theater as a trilogy and on DVD.)
Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade brought me back to the Indy world in a huge fashion and I have probably watched it 40-50 times.
Having said all that, I can't say that I'm planning on ever watching Indiana Jones & the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull again.
Don't get me wrong, there are some terrific things in this movie. I mean, just seeing Indy with his whip and hearing the John Williams theme is almost worth the price of the ticket, but there is so much about this movie that I just plain disliked.
The Good...
The first part of the movie really felt like an Indy film. It just had this old-style filming to it. Even the fear I had of Indiana Jones being older now than his father (Sean Connery) was in Last Crusade was completely forgotten when I saw him in his hat and heard the theme playing. It was like Harrison Ford was just wearing makeup to look older because he sure didn't act like he was 66-years-old.
Like I said earlier, just to see Indy and hear the awesome music of John Williams is worth the price of a ticket.
The Bad...
The biggest problem for me was the CGI. I understand that it's a lot more cost effective to make explosions and sets and even characters on a computer. And with movies like Star Wars or X-Men or even King Kong, it can help things out. But it just doesn't work in a movie like this.
See, Raiders has a feeling of a 1950's-type adventure. Like my friend Trav said, "That movie was made by people at the top of their game." The stunts were done by real stunt men, the sets were real sets.
KOTCS doesn't have that feeling. It feels more like an episode of the "X-Files", except Fox & Mulder were too busy chasing a ghost that week so they brought in a very special guest, Indiana Jones, to find the meaning of the skull.
I mean, I can suspend all belief when I watch a movie. When John McClane is on the back of a jet in Die Hard 4, it's cheesy, but I can overlook it because I enjoyed the rest of the movie. With this one, I started getting annoyed by little things (Marcus Brody's statue, vine swinging, sword fighting, multiple waterfalls) that by the time the big Señor Spielbergo moment happens, I was just looking at my watch wondering if it was almost over. (For those of you that don't watch "The Simpsons", Señor Spielbergo is the "non-union Mexican equivalent" of Steven Spielberg.)
The Ugly...
***POSSIBLE SPOILERS***
The revival of Marion Ravenwood is a great concept, but after a few minutes, I wanted to poke a pen in my ear so I didn't have to hear Indiana Jones calling someone "honey" and actually meaning it as something more than deragotory.
Also, there are just too many people with Indy all the time. Even with Marion in Raiders or Short Round and Mrs. Spielberg in Temple of Doom and Connery in Last Crusade, there was plenty of time when Indiana Jones was on screen by himself and eventually saving the world on his own. There's really none of that here. It's almost like the Scooby Doo gang all came to solve the mystery of the crystal skull.
Before you take my word for it, remember that it is currently sitting at 81% on Rotten Tomatoes, which means that most of the critics love this movie and out of my friends who saw the movie last night, most of them enjoyed it.
I guess I just expected a better story after 19 years of waiting.
2 comments:
Somehow missed this review before.
I agree about the Brody statue (would have been fine if not for the head thing) and too many characters at the end (what was the point of Mac past the first 10 minutes, anyway?)
The CGI only bothered me to the extent that it was attached to stunts which were too over the top to begin with (Monkey Army, Nuking the Fridge, etc.) If they had restricted its use to background plates and the big alien splooshy stuff, the movie would have benefited, IMO.
But Ford showed up to play, and that was the main thing. Funny, ass-kicking, eminently believable. Some nice character work, too-quick "honey"-ing notwithstanding. And I enjoyed seeing Indy doing a lot of his day job, instead of just being Action Man the whole time.
From someone who was firmly in the "They Should Absolutely NOT Make This Movie" camp a little over a year before release, I can honestly say there was more good than bad.
Now where's that TDK review, already?
Amen Tayster
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