(Originally posted on Myspace on 22/May/2008. Note that the viewpoints expressed herein no longer represent the views of the author, this is only posted here for completionism)
I’m fresh from the cinema. I just saw Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
I’m 8 years old again.
I’m a huge Indy fan. I love it. The previous three are timeless classics and I’ll always hold them in the highest regard. Thus my thoughts on Indy 4 cannot be unbiased: There were only a few things they had to get right for me to love every minute of it. And In theory these few things shouldn’t be hard to do: It’s not like Indiana Jones is a deeply introspective philosophical work.
It’s with the kind of satisfaction that I haven’t had from watching a much-anticipated sequel since…well, ever, as far as I can recall, that I report that they got it right.
From the opening frames, with the Paramount Logo fading to a mountain (a trademark of Indy films few people don’t seem to pick up on), I was 8 years old again. This is an Indy film. It’s got everything it needed, and more. Nods to the previous films without being too blatant about it, that gritty, dry humour which is a hallmark of an Indy film, Situations you couldn’t possibly get out of alive if you didn’t have Indiana Jones with you, and most of all one hell of an adventure and a whole lot of fun. This is an Indy film.
Is it over the top, even for an Indy film? Possibly, but that’s another hallmark of an Indy film. Swordfighting on moving vehicles might not be exactly realistic, but neither was hanging onto a submarine for hundreds of miles in Raiders. That’s not what Indy’s about. It Needs to be over the top, or it’s not an Indy film anymore.
Is it predictable? did I pick what was going to happen at the end half way through the movie? yeah. But an Indy film isn’t about twists at the end – you always know what’s going to happen at the end – Indy will find whatever he’s looking for, and then lose it for some reason or other. An Indy film is about the fun you have on the journey to that point. and this movie is fun. Great fun.
I don’t really think I can criticise this movie, because it wasn’t the disaster i feared in my marrow. It’s not any of the thousand cliche plots you might have expected from the man who brought you The Phantom Menace (shudder). It’s not any of the terrible teeny bullshit you might expect from the star of Transformers. Before you criticise it, just think to yourself: It could have been much, much worse.
Not that I think you’l criticise it – it’s a great movie. It’s an Indy Film.
I’m relieved, and I’m 8 years old again.
I’d say I’ll probably be seeing it again.
Having said that, I’ve heard this week that George Lucas is talking about doing an Indy 5, with Harrison Ford taking on the role Sean connery took in Last Crusade. All I can say to that is: DON’T. I count my lucky stars that I got a fourth Indy movie, and I don’t expect another one. Leave it at a high point, don’t milk and pillage it like everything else. let it rest in peace, knowing that you made four great films which may never be equalled. Nobody but Harrison Ford can be Indy, and if you do that, you’re not making an Indy film, you’re making a ‘Son Of Indy’ Film. and I don’t want that, because it’s not an Indy film. It wouldn’t matter how good it was, it wouldn’t be the same, and you’d only ruin the name of Indiana Jones in the same way you’ve ruined Darth Vader.
“First view” score, given while I’m still wrapped up in the joy of having seen a new indy movie for the first time in 19 years: 4.9975 stars out of 5.
(Comment, written many years later: Seriously?!? 4.9975?!? You actually published that?!?)