I’ll admit, I’m not an Indiana Jones fan. Yeah, sorry about this: Raiders of the Lost Ark wasn’t really a lot of fun for me. To be brutally honest to some people, I found it kinda boring. I watched it alone, so maybe I should watch it with a bunch of friends? Maybe I was in a bad mood that day? I dunno. I feel the same way about Star Wars: I can understand the appeal, but not really enjoy it as much as others. I don’t think it’s bad at all. It just didn’t click with me. But if there’s anything that I do love, it’s Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade. That movie was AWESOME! But I do know what most people said about Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Most of them hate it.
The ones who don’t like this movie often bring up three things to back up their argument to how this film didn’t have the same feel as the original films: the fridge, the aliens and the CGI.
Let’s get to each one one at a time. First: Nuke the Fridge. Everything else is destroyed except for one freaking fridge! Yeah, because nothing’s more valuable than your left-over dinner! And if that’s the case, why doesn’t everyone in the 50s protect themselves in a fridge? Better than “duck and cover”, that’s for sure! Ok, enough. This was a very stupid moment and I don’t even know what they were thinking when they included that scene. Afterwards, they just move on with the plot and never really mention it again. Why not skip it in the first place? Maybe it’s playing tribute to the classic cliffhangers, but it really didn’t add anything to the plot. I didn’t know, and I didn’t care. It was really stupid (like anything else isn’t stupid in an Indiana Jones movie), but I just moved on. If it’s such a stupid and pointless scene, then why do people make such a huge deal out of it? People like to be nitpicky, don’t they? I guess their argument would be about the ridiculousness of the scene. Again, the whole Indiana Jones universe has a campy and silly tone to itself, so don’t take it so seriously!
If you want ridiculous and almost crazy beyond compare, try Temple of Doom where Indy and his friends are stuck on a plane without gas. The plane is about to crash into a mountain, and the only way to same themselves is to jump out of the plane while turning on a rubber raft mid-fall and landing safely on the snow… then sliding down the mountain slope… and then going over a cliff and landing the raft on a river way down below… and they survive again… that’s… IMPOSSIBLE! How could they get away with that? Yeah, you can’t survive a nuclear explosion, but how do you survive ALL THAT??? How do they get a free pass on that? Now THAT’S just beyond silly!
Then there’s the subject of the aliens. Honestly, that didn’t bother me. Each Indiana Jones film has a fantastical or supernatural element to a film, and every macguffin has to do with a religious artefact. Heck, in Last Crusade we have the Holy Grail itself! How do you top that? And the aliens were following a different kind of god, so it made sense. So no, I didn’t think aliens felt out of place. The Indy franchise played homage to classic adventure serials and B-movies, and this time they were playing homage to classic sci-fi B-movies. It’d just be better if the aliens weren’t CG (which I’ll get to in a sec) because if they’re playing homage to those kinds of movies, especially since the movie’s set during the 50s, the CG would feel out of place. It’d be better if they were done with animatronics or something.
So the CG I can definitely understand. The effects in the old films had to do with the 80s feel of the whole thing. The scene where the faces melt in Raiders was freaking amazing and still looks good today! The CGI makes it look like it’s trying to imitate the original films and failing. The scene which I found myself the most engaged was when Indy and his son were on a motorcycle and fighting guys while they were driving through the street. No CGI, just pure action! Believe me when I say that if they ever make an Indiana Jones 5 (before the events of Crystal Skull), they should use the old effects! That would be awesome!
Oh yeah, then there’s Shia LaBeouf. I don’t care. He was in Transformers. He didn’t suck. That movie sucked. He’s an ok actor and he acted ok in this one. The scene with the monkeys was stupid, but it had nothing to do with him. NEXT!
If there’s any Indiana Jones film that I didn’t like, it’s Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. I think most people love it as much as the other two movies (Raiders and Crusade), but I know some people who truly dislike it as much as Crystal Skull. Honestly, I preferred watching Crystal Skull over Temple of Doom. However, there is something I do understand. According to the review of Temple of Doom by The Nostalgia Critic, he concluded with this: “While I don’t think it’s a good movie, and I mean by ANY MEANS, you can at least make the argument that it IS an unforgettable movie, and that it at least went all the way with what it was doing. While Crystal Skull technically doesn’t have as many bad things in it, it also didn’t take as many risks and with very little of an impact on most audiences. So when you get down to it, I guess the real question is ‘What’s worse? Something horrible but at least memorable, or something average but totally forgettable?'” That’s an interesting point. So, like the Nostalgia Critic concluded: “The debate to which is the worst Indiana Jones movie is still up for arguing.”
Still, I didn’t think Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was that bad. Just not something I would watch again. It’s ok. I think that’s probably it. People want something grand and something that leaves an impact on them, just like the old movies did. After all, it’s been 20 years since our last Indy movie, so there was a lot of hype then. And with something “safe” as this, I think that’s what bothered them. When they found out that it didn’t leave such an impact, they got offended. I can get that, but come on! The old movies were classics! The people who did enjoy it realised that it tried dang hard to tribute the original films! It had Indy, it had Nazis, it tributed the old adventure serials, Marion, the music by John Williams, the Wilhelm scream, all that good stuff!
If you didn’t like the fourth Indiana Jones, fine. If you want a film that REALLY leaves an impact, that captures the essence of adventure, AND that Spielberg’s involved in as the director, watch The Adventures of Tintin! Now THAT’S something people agree with me on! They say “this should have been Indiana Jones 4”! HECK YEAH!
If you wanna check out the Nostalgia Critic’s negative review of Temple of Doom, press this link here:
And for those people who liked the franchise and its campiness, watch James Rolfe’s tribute to the franchise and defence on Crystal Skull by giving you the Top 10 Dumbest Indiana Jones Moments here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRhLa80FUSA1
For the people who liked Crystal Skull, or the ones who didn’t hate it as much, I’m with ya guys. For the people who didn’t like Crystal Skull, don’t be too harsh. It did try a decent job. It’s not as bad as others say. And you still have the original films which re-defined cinema.
In the emergence of the Hollywood Blockbusters came Raiders of the Lost Ark which was one of the films that truly defined adventure and the entertainment value of cinema. Indiana Jones will always be one of the greatest adventure figures ever created for our entertainment…
…But Tintin’s better! HA HA!
