It's been 19 years since the last one. No doubt, many an Indy fan has been eagerly anticipating this fourth installment. Unfortunately, I really wish I could say that Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull lives up to expectations. I really do, but sadly, it doesn't even come close.
George Lucas proves once again he is the expert when it comes to killing a classic franchise. Although, I wasn't expecting much from Lucas, and besides, he wasn't the director. It's mostly Spielberg who disappoints me. The only ones who come through for us are the actors, especially Harrison Ford, who after having many doubters, proves he can still crack a whip and pack a punch almost as well as he did 20 years ago. Seeing Karen Allen again is a delight, and even Shia LaBoeuf comes through in this film. The problem lies mostly with the script; basically a rehash of every other Spielberg film ever made, filled in with cliché after cliché, and constantly littered with little gags and jokes that fall flat most of the time. Even the dialogue itself seems to be strongly lacking. Anyone who loves to quote Indiana Jones movies is going to find a shortage of memorable lines in this one. The story also doesn't hold itself together particularly well, and tends to become overshadowed with scenes of spectacle that have little to know purpose in the film.
The action has its moments of excitement and creativity, but hindered by the constant use of CGI. It's obvious that the film's key action sequence was filmed entirely with a green screen. Film critic Joe Morgenstern says in his review, "sure, computers can do anything these days, but do we really want them to?" And I wholeheartedly agree. Crystal Skull does indeed accomplish visuals that would have been impossible 20 years ago. The irony is, these "special" effects completely fail to live up to what we saw in Indy's previous adventures, like that mine car chase in Temple of Doom, that was filmed with a model.
What breaks my heart the most is that the film doesn't seem to be taken the least bit seriously. Any hint of reality that was apparent in the other Indy films is thrown completely out the window in this one. The fantasy is stretched beyond this world (literally) and there is a complete disregard of physics, that has audiences laughing hysterically, but not for the right reasons.
If had to sum up this film's flaws, I would boil it down to the filmmakers trying too hard to make an Indiana Jones movie, rather than focusing on just making a good, decent film, period. Rather than be creative and daring, they repackage what was popular in other films and sell it under the presumption of what they think people want to see, and as everyone knows, that only leads to disaster.
I admit, my expectations for this movie were not extremely high, but I did not think it could possibly be as bad as it was.
George Lucas proves once again he is the expert when it comes to killing a classic franchise. Although, I wasn't expecting much from Lucas, and besides, he wasn't the director. It's mostly Spielberg who disappoints me. The only ones who come through for us are the actors, especially Harrison Ford, who after having many doubters, proves he can still crack a whip and pack a punch almost as well as he did 20 years ago. Seeing Karen Allen again is a delight, and even Shia LaBoeuf comes through in this film. The problem lies mostly with the script; basically a rehash of every other Spielberg film ever made, filled in with cliché after cliché, and constantly littered with little gags and jokes that fall flat most of the time. Even the dialogue itself seems to be strongly lacking. Anyone who loves to quote Indiana Jones movies is going to find a shortage of memorable lines in this one. The story also doesn't hold itself together particularly well, and tends to become overshadowed with scenes of spectacle that have little to know purpose in the film.
The action has its moments of excitement and creativity, but hindered by the constant use of CGI. It's obvious that the film's key action sequence was filmed entirely with a green screen. Film critic Joe Morgenstern says in his review, "sure, computers can do anything these days, but do we really want them to?" And I wholeheartedly agree. Crystal Skull does indeed accomplish visuals that would have been impossible 20 years ago. The irony is, these "special" effects completely fail to live up to what we saw in Indy's previous adventures, like that mine car chase in Temple of Doom, that was filmed with a model.
What breaks my heart the most is that the film doesn't seem to be taken the least bit seriously. Any hint of reality that was apparent in the other Indy films is thrown completely out the window in this one. The fantasy is stretched beyond this world (literally) and there is a complete disregard of physics, that has audiences laughing hysterically, but not for the right reasons.
If had to sum up this film's flaws, I would boil it down to the filmmakers trying too hard to make an Indiana Jones movie, rather than focusing on just making a good, decent film, period. Rather than be creative and daring, they repackage what was popular in other films and sell it under the presumption of what they think people want to see, and as everyone knows, that only leads to disaster.
I admit, my expectations for this movie were not extremely high, but I did not think it could possibly be as bad as it was.