Sunday, May 25, 2008

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

The Wife and I went to the movies yesterday.

We don't go a lot. Which is a shame. I really enjoy going to the movies.

The thing is, there isn't often anything worth paying $9.00 to see. That both The Wife and I want to see, at least.

You see, I like going to the movies better than she does.

So, I thought it'd be okay for us to go see the new Indiana Jones movie.

Silly me.

Turns out, she'd seen all of the previous Indiana Jones flicks ... except for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

And Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

And Raiders of the Lost Ark.

But she'd seen all the others.

Yeah, its true. I didn't realize she hadn't seen the others. And she didn't bother to see them.

Me? I won't go see a sequel unless I've seen the first in the series. She's not that way.

Anyway, we saw the movie. And it was alright.

***SPOILERS FOLLOW***

As an action flick, it was just fine. As part of the Indiana Jones series, it was fine.

To me, it was much better than The Temple of Doom. And would have been in the neighborhood of The Last Crusade if it wasn't for one little thing: I don't care for any plots that involve the Roswell Incident.

Plots about the Ark of the Covenant? Fine by me. The Ark is lost to antiquity, and any movie plots involving it are fair game, if done well.

Plots about the Holy Grail? Fine by me. The Grail -- the cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper -- is lost to antiquity, and any movie plots involving it are fair game, if done well.

Plots about ... heck, I still don't know what The Temple of Doom was about. Some rocks or something. But, whatever it was, it was lost to antiquity, and any movie plots involving it are fair game, if done well. And that was the problem with that film: plot wasn't done well.

But the July 1947 incident near Roswell, NM? That's not lost to antiquity. The incident is known to have been sparked by Project Mogul, not by aliens with crystal skulls.

And that's the thing: if the truth isn't known, and won't be know, it's fair game for fiction. The truth of Roswell is known. Pretty much.

So, that bothered me about the film.

The young hero of the movie, "Mutt" Williams, being actually Henry Jones, III, Indiana's son? That was fine.

The friend being an enemy spy, then revealed to be a friend, then revealed to have really been a spy? Yes, it's been done. But, it was done well in this film.

Indy and Marion getting married was okay. Not sure about them walking out the church together being the final scene. I'd have rather had Indy and Marion driving off in one direction and Mutt riding his bike in another as a better ending, rather than the viewing of emptying church pews.

Overall, not a bad film. Temple of Doom was a bad film. This one was okay. Go see it.

But do go to the early showing. You won't feel so bad paying $6.75 as you would feel paying $9.00.

5 comments:

  1. But do go to the early showing. You won't feel so bad paying $6.75 as you would feel paying $9.00.

    How about if I pay $3.50 for the movie and Popcorn and wait for it to get into the cheap tickets? Will I feel okay, then? :)

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  2. OK. Thanks basil. The Boy saw it last night with the some friends. I LOVE Indiana Jones and caught all three, again, last weekend on the SciFi channel. Why they were on the SciFi channel I'll never know. Anyway.....I am stoked about the Sex and the City movie first!!!

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  3. Adam: Yes, waiting until it hits the discount theatre might be a good idea.

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  4. Carol: I saw them advertised. TiVo didn't think we wanted to see them, so we didn't see them.

    Why Indy on SciFi? Probably same reason they show UFO Hunters and Monster Hunters on History Channel. Some suit somewhere thought it made money, not sense.

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  5. You expressed my thoughts... scary, heh? I do want to see it again because I am certain I missed inside jokes and other movie references. My favorite? "I got a bad feeling about this!"

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