Indiana Jones and the *INSERT AGE-RELATED JOKE HERE* of Doom
**CAUTION - SOME PLOT-RELATED SPOILERS ARE CONTAINED WITHIN***
Growing up as a kid, the Indiana Jones movies were among my favourites. I'd never seen any of them in theatres - I was only 2 when Raiders came out and 5 when Temple of Doom came out - and being the eldest at 10 when The Last Crusade came out, I couldn't go to the theatre cuz no one would take me. In fact, when I finally did see them, I saw them all in reverse order for the first time, and have watched them countless times since.
As such, I was thrilled to hear that after years of development hell, the fourth installment was finally coming out this summer. In fact, this is my second-most-anticipated movie of 2008, only surpassed (obviously to those that know me) by The Dark Knight.
Bottom line...was it worth it?
Yes. I've yet to see a bad Indiana Jones movie, which is rare for someone to say about an entire series of films. That said, it's far from my favourite, too. I put it third on my list.
What did I like? Aging Indy accordingly was a good idea. I mean, considering this much time had passed, they had no choice but to do so - but seeing him deal with life in the 1950's was very interesting. I missed the run-ins with the Nazis, the classic Indy villain, but hey, the Russians were all good. I could've gone for more of a politicized storyline though - I mean, the Cold War was all politicking, and that could've added some interesting subplots.
As for the aging of Indy itself, it's good to see he can still be active. I'm also glad that any of the obvious one-liners pertaining to his age (late 50's in the context of the movie, I think) were kept to a minimum. The supporting cast was great, both old and new - and the action sequences, of which there were many, were terrific.
The nods to the past films were always great, too. The opening scenes in the warehouse from the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark was just plain fun, as were the brief homages to past characters of Marcus Brody and Indy's dad - both passed on. Now if only we got to know the fate of Short-Round after all these years. Oh yes, you KNOW you're curious.
The main plot device of the film was cool, but also the main reason I dropped this movie down a few pegs. A crystal skull...of an alien? I know this was set in the 50's, right around when the whole sci-fi thing was really taking off, and I DO believe that aliens could very well have existed - and they do treat this subject matter tastefully - but mixing Indiana Jones with alien life forms is still strange to me. I far preferred the monstrous religious artifacts from Raiders and Last Crusade; something instilled with that much history and faith in so many people gives it a certain depth, a certain gravity, that aliens can't achieve. Now I'm gonna have to read into these Incan legends and see if any of this is rooted in any sort of mythological truth, or if it was just some clever writing and altering of history (a la The Da Vinci Code).
Overall, a solid popcorn movie, and worth checking out. 3.5 stars out of 5.
-Tim
Growing up as a kid, the Indiana Jones movies were among my favourites. I'd never seen any of them in theatres - I was only 2 when Raiders came out and 5 when Temple of Doom came out - and being the eldest at 10 when The Last Crusade came out, I couldn't go to the theatre cuz no one would take me. In fact, when I finally did see them, I saw them all in reverse order for the first time, and have watched them countless times since.
As such, I was thrilled to hear that after years of development hell, the fourth installment was finally coming out this summer. In fact, this is my second-most-anticipated movie of 2008, only surpassed (obviously to those that know me) by The Dark Knight.
Bottom line...was it worth it?
Yes. I've yet to see a bad Indiana Jones movie, which is rare for someone to say about an entire series of films. That said, it's far from my favourite, too. I put it third on my list.
What did I like? Aging Indy accordingly was a good idea. I mean, considering this much time had passed, they had no choice but to do so - but seeing him deal with life in the 1950's was very interesting. I missed the run-ins with the Nazis, the classic Indy villain, but hey, the Russians were all good. I could've gone for more of a politicized storyline though - I mean, the Cold War was all politicking, and that could've added some interesting subplots.
As for the aging of Indy itself, it's good to see he can still be active. I'm also glad that any of the obvious one-liners pertaining to his age (late 50's in the context of the movie, I think) were kept to a minimum. The supporting cast was great, both old and new - and the action sequences, of which there were many, were terrific.
The nods to the past films were always great, too. The opening scenes in the warehouse from the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark was just plain fun, as were the brief homages to past characters of Marcus Brody and Indy's dad - both passed on. Now if only we got to know the fate of Short-Round after all these years. Oh yes, you KNOW you're curious.
The main plot device of the film was cool, but also the main reason I dropped this movie down a few pegs. A crystal skull...of an alien? I know this was set in the 50's, right around when the whole sci-fi thing was really taking off, and I DO believe that aliens could very well have existed - and they do treat this subject matter tastefully - but mixing Indiana Jones with alien life forms is still strange to me. I far preferred the monstrous religious artifacts from Raiders and Last Crusade; something instilled with that much history and faith in so many people gives it a certain depth, a certain gravity, that aliens can't achieve. Now I'm gonna have to read into these Incan legends and see if any of this is rooted in any sort of mythological truth, or if it was just some clever writing and altering of history (a la The Da Vinci Code).
Overall, a solid popcorn movie, and worth checking out. 3.5 stars out of 5.
-Tim