Saw this today. It is a good popcorn summer movie. I would say a 6 out of 10.
The movie pays homage to the previous movies. And has several strong points. But it also has some weak ones. Mainly in the effects department. Obvious CGI all over the place. Plus certain types of action that are just too wild even for the Indy-verse. If you are an Indy fan, then definitely go see it. It also mentions items from the Young Indiana Jones series – putting that into Canon.
I will go into more details below. Warning. There will be spoilers.
The movie starts out fun enough. Indy’s introduction is good. We’re facing Russians in the 50s this time. No more Nazis. I will not go into a detailed synopsis. But there are some parts I have to go over. These are the parts that just totally took me out of the movie. They just seemed to bizarre and unreal for the reality portrayed in the previous movies.
Indy survives an atomic explosion at a test facility. How does he do this? He jumps into a lead-lined fridge in a test house. The atomic explosion does everything you see in the films, incinerates and destroys everything in its path. Except this refrigerator. It knocks it up into the sky and it comes down a few miles later. Hard. Bouncing and rolling like crazy. Indy gets out a little dizzy. But with no broken bones or bruises.
There is a car chase in the Amazon. I can take Mutt, Indy’s son, and the Psychic fencing on the hood of two moving vehicles. But Mutt swinging through the treetops like Tarzan…just ridiculous. It is not like he swings on one vine. He does the whole bit….for quite a distance.
Now in previous films, the artifacts always seem to have a religious significance. Now, regardless of your own personal beliefs, let’s say that the artifacts in the Indy movies do show something greater out there. (Insert your own deity here). This movie, aliens. That’s right aliens. First, the Russians steal a body that Indy helped look at 10 years ago…from Roswell. Then the crystal skull is oddly shaped and shows no tool marks. It is hinted that it is an actual skull. A crystal with magnetic properties. Which it is. Now these aliens are not from outerspace. No, they are from another dimension. They do have a flying saucer, however. It comes out of the ground, hovers and disappears at the end.
I can’t help but think that a lot of the character development scenes were cut from the movie. The action just keeps going and going. It is almost completely action with hardly any of the archaeological research/methods shown in previous films.
Again, this may come off as me hating it, but I did not. These are elements that kept this from being a great film. It is a good film. And I do recommend you see it. If you are not an Indy fan, then wait and rent it.
