Yep you guessed it dear readers. Last night my wife and I took in the late night showing of Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull. I try not to offer spoilers in my occasional movie reviews and I will attempt to do the same here.
Let me start off by saying that I could easily be categorized as an “Indiana Jones Fanboy” which is to say I love the series in its entirety. Now, with that caveat in mind I offer you my thoughts on the new movie.
First of all, this movie does not ’suck ass’ or anything of the kind. It is NOT good mind you, not when viewed against its predecessors. From the very beginning it just did not draw me in as the other movies have and I attribute that to the script more than the Actors.
It just had no flow to it. All through the movie I kept asking myself if I had missed something or just not understood the crossover to the next scene. Most of the supporting cast did not seem to be on quite the same page at any particular time. My wife suggested that it very nearly seemed as if they had all filmed their roles separately and then had them tied together with special effects to knit the movie together.
On that note the special effects were just not up to snuff. In this day and age I should not be saying, “That’s all CG.” every single time I see an effect. At one point there is a scene where they are showing an overview of a cemetery and I actually said, “I hope that’s a model on a table…because that’s a model on a table.” and it was supposed to be an actual place sadly enough.
Something I found quite annoying was the Script itself. Many times in the past I have seen interviews with Harrison Ford where he would be asked the eternal “While there be another Indiana Jones?” question and always he would say, “I’m hoping so, we’re just waiting for a good script to come along.”. This script is not that script if you catch my drift.
All of the prerequisite things are there, the one-liners from Indy, the outrageous allies and villains, over the top action sequences and everything else I have come to expect from a good Indiana Jones time. So very little of it works though that it made the whole move sad to watch.
That’s not to say I did not laugh when a one-liner was offered or when a comical scene happened but it was the sort of laugh you get from a sitcom these days. You know what I mean, the “Haha!” and then you stop laughing a moment later because it was amusing…but not really funny or hilarious.
Truly this movie would have been much better served with more work in the Editing Room because at two hours and four minutes it was just a chore to watch. It nearly broke my heart to be honest. At Midnight when we got home I stayed up and watched The Last Crusade again just to see if maybe I was being too harsh in my thoughts but seeing Last Crusade just made Crystal Skull seem that much more pale in comparison.
On a scale of 5 I give Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull a 2.
