I apologize if this post is all over the place, but you can blame the new Indiana Jones movie for that because I can't think too good after having just sat through it.
That being said, I'll start with what works in this movie...
Harrison Ford is still Indiana Jones. He may look a lot older, but he still has it. He can still throw a solid punch and he can still crack the whip. The majority of his lines are delivered well and he makes it feel like Indy has been through the three adventures in the previous films plus everything in between including that part of history called World War 2 (which is the movie I wanted to see, but I'll get to that later).
Karen Allen was great as Marion. The second I heard she was going to be in this movie I knew that her and Indy would get back together which is what every Indy fan wants deep down. I also knew I would sit through this movie to see that happen. I would have liked to see her do a little bit more but lets face it...she was only in this movie to help develop Mutt Williams, played by
Shia LeBouf.
A lot of people have a problem with
Shia. I think hes great and that he'll probably go on to do great things as an actor. He plays a greaser in this movie complete with the motorcycle and switchblade. He partly serves as comedic relief but also compliments Indy nicely as a partner.
Cate
Blanchett was good but lets no kid anyone here, no one ever questioned whether or not she would be good. The other characters are rather forgettable.
There were a couple sections of the movie that I enjoyed very much. The whole part of the movie that takes place at Yale in New Haven, CT was very well done and was probably my favorite part of the movie. It had great action, humor and most importantly was done all with practical effects (see where I'm going here?).
I also enjoyed (for the most part) the jungle car chase which has been shown prominently in the trailers. Although there is a bunch of CG and its rather obvious it didn't really detract from the action at all. Seeing everyone fight vehicle to vehicle was rather awesome and it gave every character time to shine.
I enjoyed mostly all of the movie where there was character development happening between Indy, Mutt and Marion. There are some pretty good jokes and an excellent scene with Indy and a snake.
Now for the bad...
I said to a friend after I had watched Raiders a couple weeks ago "They don't make movies like that anymore." Even though I had no doubt about the truth in that statement it is even more firmly solidified by this movie. This is not an Indiana Jones movie. Its an effects showcase and a playground for George Lucas that happens to have Indy and some of his supporting cast in it.
When I heard how much Lucas was going to be involved in this movie I prepared for the worst. I didn't prepare enough. Without giving anything away I will these four things: nuclear refrigerator,
Tarzan, giant ants, and the third waterfall. These four things made me want to leave the theater. Some of it was worse than a rocket powered R2D2 flying around in Episode 2. Mr. T has a great word for this:
Absoluticris.
Usually I'm not a real stickler when it comes to CG in movies. Take Iron Man for example. That movie had a ton of CG in it, but it was done well and I totally ate it up. Same for transformers and even Pirates 3 which both had more CG than this movie. My complaints about the CG are generally directed toward the last act of the movie. It all just felt really unnecessary (much like the actual story which I'm getting to). The CG wasn't poorly done but it really just didn't need to be there. I know their argument for this is that they used the latest technology when filming the old movies so they were going to do the same for this movie.
That's kinda bullshit and everyone knows it. Can I blame Lucas again?
Now for the story. When I heard that this movie was going to have some kind of alien theme going on I was optimistic. I'm not into religion (or as I like to call it "the great magic show") at all, but I still sunk my teeth right into the first and third Indy movies. There really is just no story here though. The main reason for the Russians doing their bad guy stuff is fairly weak and is pretty much made completely irrelevant by the end of the movie. The climax of the movie is also really bogus and just had me thinking "why?" or "I wonder how much time
ILM wasted on that shot". I know there were a bunch of scripts for this movie that were ultimately combined together by the "great" David
Koepp. This just has me thinking that when he was combining the scripts that he forgot a lot of important things. George Lucas is also credited with the story on
imdb. That doesn't need any explaining.
In the beginning of the movie there is some talk of Indy doing some pretty heroic stuff for the OSS in World War 2. That is the movie I would have liked to have seen. Overall it is worth the money if your childhood was as invested in Indy as mine was. Seeing him and Marion on screen together again was great. The action sequence at Yale was one of the best I've ever seen as well. This movie does have redeeming qualities and depending on how much you care about
unnecessary CG and a weak story you might actually enjoy yourself. But I can guarantee that you'll still hate George Lucas.
