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CinemaSins Movie Reviews
Indiana Jones et cie. on the trail of another fabulous series of bad guys, special effects and snappy dialogue.
Okay, I was seriously scornful. Harrison Ford is SIXTY-FIVE, fercrissakes, doesn’t he know when enough is enough? Must he relive his glory days, a la Sylvester Stallone <boo!hiss!>, and try to recapture his lost success?
Well…yes, and no. Or more specifically, Yes, but not in a bad way. The Indiana Jones movies (aside from the second one, which has its own special Circle of Hell in which it will burn forever) are justly famous, a high point of Ford’s long (and truthfully, pretty worthwhile) career…although one cannot help but wonder if this was first considered because of the tremendous amounts of money it would make for everyone involved, or as a way for Ford to recapture his lost youth? I was voting for the second, to tell the truth, although the first was probably uppermost in the minds of Messieurs Spielberg and Lucas.
Anyway. Enough cynical ranting.
Oh, and it’s been fun watching the fannish community speculate and froth at the mouth for over a year, especially when someone stole a whole bunch of stuff including the script and tried to sell it all online for, amazingly, not so much money. And got nabbed right away.
And enough gossip.
So how was the movie? Pretty darn good, actually. I was pleased.
Firstly, they set it in 1957, which means that Ford and Raiders leading lady Karen Allen are very close to their actual ages (65 and 56) in this one, which works well, since they are not up to quite as much stunt work as they used to do (although they came pretty darn close, the stunts were great, and fun to watch). Also, that means Shia LaBoeuf gets to be a 50s motocycle tough, which suits him pretty well. He’s shaping up to be a Serious Honey one of these days, you betcha.
Secondly, they know the formula. I mean, the third movie was made in 1989, that’s ancient history (well, twenty years, same thing) so they know darn well what works and what doesn’t, and stuck to the safe stuff. Which means that every single plot point was predictable, unfortunately; I guessed all the ‘surprises’ a long time before they happened. But that wasn’t disappointing, truthfully, it was more kind of comfortable and familiar, like another episode of a TV show you really like.
Oh, and even though I didn’t see an actual librarian complete with bun, glasses and ugly shoes (or in a university in the 50s, more likely a male librarian with a bad haircut and an out-of-date suit) shushing them, they DO take a library apart pretty effectively, with motorcycles and everything. Very satisfying.
The special effects were, of course, wonderful. Everyone in the movie seemed to be having fun. The good guys and the bad guys all got what was coming to them. And a good time was had by all, including the audience.
What more do you need, really?
theotterlimits 