Indiana Jones
I'm not really off of my hiatus, but I watched the movie last night and I wanted to note down what I thought. This is a spoiler-free review, unless you were in my GURPS Cliffhangers games of the late 90's and early 00's.
I enjoyed the movie. It was not a good movie, and there were many dumb bits where I could no longer suppress my sense of disbelief (or, as
fyrmonkey put it, take it out in the back yard and put it out of its misery). Notably, there was a scene involving multiple waterfalls, during which I checked out (
guinevere_marie suggested that the scene was included specifically so they could replace the log ride at Disneyland with an Indy-themed waterfall ride… clearly she is a genius). It was worse than Van Helsing, which is the gold standard of dumb movies that I nonetheless enjoyed. It was worse than I expected, and I wasn't expecting much. It relied way too heavily on trite plot themes. Cate Blanchett tried really hard to play her Spock-as-female-mad-scientist role, you could see her working away at it all movie long, but she makes a lousy Ukrainian. I blame the casting rather than her. It's not like they couldn't have gotten a real Ukrainian to play the role.
It was gratifying for a couple of reasons, though. First off, I liked all the good guy characters and their interactions. The kid was even fun, which surprised me. Harrison Ford has reached the age where he looks better in a wool suit than in his Indy gear, but he had some good lines and he delivered them well. I really liked the love interest angle, which was actually unlike anything I've ever seen an adventure film, now that I think about it.
The real reason I enjoyed it so much, though, is because it was like watching Lucas and Spielberg try to rip off my old GURPS Cliffhangers campaign, and fail. The Nazca lines, the Mitchell-Hedges skull getting a shout-out, and even the nature of El Dorado as it's presented in the movie, all figured in my original game. During the credits, Guinevere turned to me and said it was like my GURPS game, but not as good. For someone who's spent a lot of his life trying to get a Star Wars campaign to thrill like the first Star Wars movie (Episode IV, I mean), it was some pretty sweet payback.
I enjoyed the movie. It was not a good movie, and there were many dumb bits where I could no longer suppress my sense of disbelief (or, as
fyrmonkey put it, take it out in the back yard and put it out of its misery). Notably, there was a scene involving multiple waterfalls, during which I checked out (
guinevere_marie suggested that the scene was included specifically so they could replace the log ride at Disneyland with an Indy-themed waterfall ride… clearly she is a genius). It was worse than Van Helsing, which is the gold standard of dumb movies that I nonetheless enjoyed. It was worse than I expected, and I wasn't expecting much. It relied way too heavily on trite plot themes. Cate Blanchett tried really hard to play her Spock-as-female-mad-scientist role, you could see her working away at it all movie long, but she makes a lousy Ukrainian. I blame the casting rather than her. It's not like they couldn't have gotten a real Ukrainian to play the role.
It was gratifying for a couple of reasons, though. First off, I liked all the good guy characters and their interactions. The kid was even fun, which surprised me. Harrison Ford has reached the age where he looks better in a wool suit than in his Indy gear, but he had some good lines and he delivered them well. I really liked the love interest angle, which was actually unlike anything I've ever seen an adventure film, now that I think about it.
The real reason I enjoyed it so much, though, is because it was like watching Lucas and Spielberg try to rip off my old GURPS Cliffhangers campaign, and fail. The Nazca lines, the Mitchell-Hedges skull getting a shout-out, and even the nature of El Dorado as it's presented in the movie, all figured in my original game. During the credits, Guinevere turned to me and said it was like my GURPS game, but not as good. For someone who's spent a lot of his life trying to get a Star Wars campaign to thrill like the first Star Wars movie (Episode IV, I mean), it was some pretty sweet payback.