Indiana Jones
Oh, where to begin. First, the swordfight. I knew when junior said he was pretty good at fencing that he was going to end up fighting the Russian dominatrix. And no, not in that spooky foreshadowing way where we don't know what's going to happen... the trite "ah, yes, that's where you left your keys, right there" bludgeoning foreshadowing. What I didn't know is that it would be on the back of two speeding jeeps. No, for those of you who aren't with me on that one, that was not a cool fight scene. It was lame. Like the fight scene between a 65 year-old man and a Russian bruiser. Not only does the 65 year-old man win the fight, but he wins the fight by hitting the other guy slightly more than he gets hit--which is a lot, really; no skill here, chaps!--and then making the other guy pass out into a clump of South American army ants that drag him back to their lair to eat him. The fights were all generally at that awkward level where they don't want to make it *realistic* but they don't want to go all-out comic-book-hero either. Instead, they have an old man taking out a jeep full of Russian commandos by himself and surviving nuclear armageddon by hiding out in a fridge, which is propelled at unsurvivable speeds into the desert. Is this Indiana Jones or Iron Man?
And if you thought sports movies had a formulaic plot, be amazed at the similarities between Raiders and Crystal Skull. First, the chief antagonist is introduced just in time to take an artifact from Indy, backed by many people with weapons. Indy runs away and escapes. He just wants to go back to teaching, but the government has news that our national enemy has a much larger plot afoot, which will require Indy's expertise to thwart. He gets drawn into the plot as much out of loyalty to an old colleague as out of a sense of adventure and justice. Unexpected leads and puzzles eventually lead Indy and his acquired sidekicks to find the solution to the archaeological puzzle and uncover the relic. Just as soon as they do, the bad guys show up with their guns and use Indy's insights to gain of the relic and its powers. We oscillate between Indy being captured and escaping, and gaining and losing control of the unearthed artifact. Right before the end, it seems like Indy might pull up some miracle to steal the relic back from the bad guys... until they stop him with their guns again and Indy becomes powerless for the rest of the film. Then there are choices to be made, and the lead bad guy makes the wrong choice because of a weakness of character (e.g., Promethean curiosity, lust for riches, lust for power, etc.) and the bad guys all die because their foolishness has unleashed the wrath of the mysteeerious power upon themselves. Then, everything is tied up in the end with the possibility of a sequel dovetailing off from this movie's story.
I agree with something I have heard other people say: "This is the third best of the four."
And if you thought sports movies had a formulaic plot, be amazed at the similarities between Raiders and Crystal Skull. First, the chief antagonist is introduced just in time to take an artifact from Indy, backed by many people with weapons. Indy runs away and escapes. He just wants to go back to teaching, but the government has news that our national enemy has a much larger plot afoot, which will require Indy's expertise to thwart. He gets drawn into the plot as much out of loyalty to an old colleague as out of a sense of adventure and justice. Unexpected leads and puzzles eventually lead Indy and his acquired sidekicks to find the solution to the archaeological puzzle and uncover the relic. Just as soon as they do, the bad guys show up with their guns and use Indy's insights to gain of the relic and its powers. We oscillate between Indy being captured and escaping, and gaining and losing control of the unearthed artifact. Right before the end, it seems like Indy might pull up some miracle to steal the relic back from the bad guys... until they stop him with their guns again and Indy becomes powerless for the rest of the film. Then there are choices to be made, and the lead bad guy makes the wrong choice because of a weakness of character (e.g., Promethean curiosity, lust for riches, lust for power, etc.) and the bad guys all die because their foolishness has unleashed the wrath of the mysteeerious power upon themselves. Then, everything is tied up in the end with the possibility of a sequel dovetailing off from this movie's story.
I agree with something I have heard other people say: "This is the third best of the four."