Well, I did not hate it. Did I like it? Tough question, I liked the nostalgic trip down memory lane with glimpses of the character I enjoyed in the first three films, but overall the film fits in its numerical position as the weakest of the four. I understand the campy serial roots, which imply unbelievable is part of the game, but the unbelievable we get does not fit with the character. For starters Indy hates the Nazi's (who doesn't), but feels torn with the whole Communist / civil rights stuff. Come on - Indy is not that complicated - unless its archeology and the unknown. Indy is the guy who always brings a gun to every fight and thinks rules just do not apply to him. The Indy I know would shoot any prairie dog for trying to look cute. Where was the romance? No not that, I am sssooo into you now that I know you carried our bastard child Indy - that I hate you because I like you romance. Oh and hello - where was the big ass-kicking throw down? Older and wiser but free of bruises and blood?! Did they blow their budget on CGI rodents, ants, monkeys and not save money for a bottle of schmirnoff so they could tempt some Eastern European tough guy to smack Indy around for a while? Yes it had all the pieces it needed to be great, its just many of the pieces did not fit Indiana Jones.
The movie needed Nazis or at the very least bad guys that embody evil, better to criogenically freeze Indy and thaw him in the 2000's to take down the Bush empire than to pick on the Reds. At least put them in context, have them rescue a russian from some camp or something. The movie needed fun romantic tension between Ravenwood and Jones, how about Indy walks out on her while she is pregnant or something. How sexist is it to turn the drinking, punching, machine gun toting Ravenwood into a friggin' soccer mom? If she can no longer act anymore they should have gotten someone else to play the part. Oh and John Hurt? Hello - super star actor plays a bumbling idiot, you could have gotten the brother from Everyone Loves Raymond to play that part, not Hurt.
Still, I had fun, the Area 51 action sequence was a great throw back. Take out the monkeys, the prairie dogs, the refrigerator, and all Lucas dialogue and it would have been much better. The film just never delivered the right laughs, or any kind of suspense. It felt, well, neutered. Oh yeah - for all that crap with the switch blade Shia should have stabbed someone or thrown the darn thing at someone.
Looking forward to the next Indy movie - Indiana Jones and The Search for the Golden Dentures.
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