Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

[Nick]

Is anyone else as pumped about this as I am? I grew up on the original trilogy and I'm excited to see the hat and whip on the big screen in a new adventure. I've tried to stay as spoiler free as possible, but the reviews I've read have generally been positive to an extent. I'll be attending our local midnight showing Wednesday in full costume - fedora, jacket, satchel, whip, you name it. Been looking forward to this one for a while!

[UtterBlitz]

Originally Posted by Nick

Is anyone else as pumped about this as I am? I grew up on the original trilogy and I'm excited to see the hat and whip on the big screen in a new adventure. I've tried to stay as spoiler free as possible, but the reviews I've read have generally been positive to an extent. I'll be attending our local midnight showing Wednesday in full costume - fedora, jacket, satchel, whip, you name it. Been looking forward to this one for a while!

I am excited about this movie as well. I have not seen many spoilers, but I did hear a radio guy who was talking about seeing a pre-showing and he was really pumped up. I might have to make it to opening night as well, all though I don't have any costume items to wear. Nick sometimes you make me wonder.....

[AvengerRam]

Originally Posted by Nick

I grew up on the original trilogy

Quite literally, as Raiders of the Lost Ark was released in 1981, before you were born!

A bit of trivia that matters only to me... on my first "car date" (at age 16), I went to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

[Nick]

Originally Posted by UtterBlitz

I might have to make it to opening night as well, all though I don't have any costume items to wear. Nick sometimes you make me wonder.....

Admit it, you're intrigued about the whip...

Originally Posted by AvengerRam

Quite literally, as Raiders of the Lost Ark was released in 1981, before you were born!

Indeed, a year before I was born. I remember when I was eight years old or so, I'd go over to my friend's house to play and I'd climb to the top of her playhouse, point down to the ground, and say, "Ten! X marks the spot.." ala the Last Crusade library scene, and she'd just look at me like I was an idiot.

Originally Posted by AvengerRam

A bit of trivia that matters only to me... on my first "car date" (at age 16), I went to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

Looking back, would you describe the date as a "temple of doom" as well?

[AvengerRam]

Originally Posted by Nick

Looking back, would you describe the date as a "temple of doom" as well?

No, but it was certainly rated "G."

[RamWraith]

Am pumped and ready! I love some of the new movies coming out this summer. Also looking forward to Hell Boy II, Wall-E, Narnia, Happening, Dark Knight, and Harry Potter.

In the near future...GI Joe, The Mummy, The Wolfman, Wolverine, Terminator, Transformers, Land of the Lost, Superman

[UtterBlitz]

Originally Posted by Nick

Admit it, you're intrigued about the whip...

I have to admit it.....I am intrigued

I sent an invite out to see if anyone is interested in the midnight movie for tomorrow. It could be fun to be up late during the week for opening night.

[general counsel]

Av, you are far too modest (as usual). At age 16, you were a well known stud in development. I am confident that when your date reached into your lap for the popcorn but instead brushed up against your inner thigh, her immediate response was "....it is not of this earth!"

ramming speed to all

general counsel

[AvengerRam]

Originally Posted by general counsel

Av, you are far too modest (as usual). At age 16, you were a well known stud in development. I am confident that when your date reached into your lap for the popcorn but instead brushed up against your inner thigh, her immediate response was "....it is not of this earth!"

ramming speed to all

general counsel

gc... I honestly don't know whether I should be flattered or just really, really creeped out by that post.

[Nick]

Went to see it last night at the midnight showing. I'll try to keep this spoiler free, definitely won't give away any big plot details, but it's tough to write a review without some references to location or scene or characters so read at your own risk.


*****


Okay, it's not a bad movie, but it's not a classic either. It's a fun, rather enjoyable summer movie. I don't know if it will stand the test of time as easily as the trilogy, but I had fun in the theater.

It would be easy to nitpick this thing to death, and I'm sure many will. I have a feeling this is going to be a divisive movie for fans.

It wouldn't have hurt the script to go through a couple more drafts; at times, especially during the opening sequence, I felt like they were writing with the specific goal to give Indy some memorable one-liners rather than just write the best scene possible and let the quotes just happen naturally. That's not to say there aren't some well written scenes in the movie, though. I thought the scene at Indy's home with he and the dean of his college was well done, as well as the two main scenes where Indy and Marion are going back and forth.

The plot itself... they put themselves out there and went in a different direction than the previous movies. Some will be okay with that, and some won't. If you've seen pictures of the Crystal Skull, you probably have an inkling of what I'm talking about. If you saw the SciFi special on the crystal skulls from this weekend, then you definitely know. Personally I was okay with it, because I think when you think back to the other adventures and treasures in the first three, they're pretty outlandish as well - an ark that releases ghost demons and kills Nazis, three magic rocks filled with diamonds sought after by the leader of a cult that pulls beating hearts from chests, a knight that's hundreds of years old guarding the Holy Grail, etc. On a scale of the fantastic, this fits with previous stuff when you stop to think about it IMO.

The interesting thing is going to be how people respond to the climax of the movie. I'm kind of indifferent about how that played out. On one hand, given the way the plot was going, what they did works. On the other hand, I probably wouldn't have lost any sleep if they did something else and didn't go to the extreme that they did. That sounds confusing, but I suspect once you see the movie you'll know what I'm talking about. Some have complained that Indy is more of an observer at the end than an actual participant, but I think the same could be said for the climax of Raiders so I don't really see that as a problem here. Again, I don't think what happens is much more "out there" than what we've seen in the past, but let's just say Spielburg and Lucas went for the whole enchilada at the end of this one and I think the reaction will be mixed.

What it boiled down to for me though was that I was watching an Indiana Jones movie, and it was exciting and enjoyable. The action sequences are entertaining and, though they've been modernized to compete with other recent movies, still have that Indy feel to them. The 50's bar/motorcycle sequence and the jungle truck sequence stood out as being very exciting and fun to watch, though there was a brief Shia moment in the latter one that I could have done without (again, you'll know it when you see it). There's probably less overall action and fighting than in previous movies, but with an older Indy maybe that's to be expected. He certainly takes a pounding though.

Character-wise, I didn't have too many complaints. Ford would have benefited from better writing for his character but it doesn't take him long at all to get back into the swing of things here (no pun intended). Shia LaBeouf has been the target of pre-movie fanboy attacks but I thought he did well in this. He has good chemistry with Ford on screen (great moment between the two about borrowing his knife) and does a good job from a character standpoint of playing that young kid of the 50s. Karen Allen isn't quite as sassy as she was in Raiders, and she's not out there throwing punches around either. But it's good to see her back in an Indy movie, and as I mentioned earlier she and Ford have some good back and forth. Ray Winstone and John Hurt did well within their roles; the nature of Hurt's role didn't give him a whole lot to do early on but he served his purpose. Winstone's character probably would have been better with a bit more backstory but it was fine. Blanchett didn't have quite the depth of previous Indy villains like Rene Belloq but was probably on pace with Mola Ram or maybe even Donovan from Crusade.

All in all, it was fun. It wasn't Raiders, but it wasn't exactly a Star Wars prequel either IMO. I don't know if it's going to be thought of as a worthy addition to the series or if it's going to be the Indiana Jones trilogy and then this other movie. Time will tell, but I enjoyed the experience last night after making the decision to leave the nitpicking critic part of myself at home.

[HUbison]

Originally Posted by AvengerRam

A bit of trivia that matters only to me... on my first "car date" (at age 16), I went to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

At the age of 10, I was the movie critic (tied with food critic for the most useless profession on the planet, btw) for my 5th Grade newspaper. My first assignment...........Temple of Doom.

[AvengerRam]

Originally Posted by HUbison

At the age of 10, I was the movie critic (tied with food critic for the most useless profession on the planet, btw) for my 5th Grade newspaper. My first assignment...........Temple of Doom.

To avoid any unfortunate misunderstandings, let me note for the record that HUbison was NOT the date I was referring to.

[HUbison]

Originally Posted by AvengerRam

To avoid any unfortunate misunderstandings, let me note for the record that HUbison was NOT the date I was referring to.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.