Yesterday I had a love fest with Rocky Balboa, writing alot about how the story was what drove the good movies in the series. Not the fights. It was originally about the character of Rocky, and that’s what made the newest movie good, too.
So now we come to Indiana Jones.
Another recreation. Another movie. Another return to a great character from my childhood. And let me be clear – I love Indiana Jones. I love him. The whip, the hat, the self-deprecating grin of Harrison Ford – love it all. And through the first three movies, the development of that character, particularly in The Last Crusade, was what made it so great to me. Here are a few of my favorite lines from the third movie from Indiana and his dad:
– I’ve lost him Marcus. And I never told him anything.
– That’s for blasphemy!
– It’s an obsession, dad – I never understood it. And neither did mom.
Okay, okay, I know – Indiana Jones is an action movie. But it’s lines like these thrown in there that also make me appreciate the character development inside it. But the latest movie? What did we get?
Aliens. Monkeys. Big ants. Refrigerators in nuclear blasts.
I guess I just wanted to see my friend again, and while I did enjoy the movie, I thought it fell really short of what it might have been. Where’s the character? Where’s the heart felt moments? Not many of them in this latest one. And that, to me, is the difference between Rocky and Indiana Jones.
When I watched Rocky Balboa, I got to see the inner conflict of a guy growing older trying to find his place in the world. When I watched the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, I got to see Even Stevens swinging through trees with monkeys. Not too good.
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http://thebelmontemergent.blogspot.com/2008/06/on-indiana-jones.html
a response
I will remotely concede that I have a pretty significant blind eye to much of what George Lucas does due to my significant obsession with Star Wars. However, we must not have seen the same movie because Shia Lebeouf’s “Mutt” was one of the best parts therein. The character of Ox (short for Dr. Oxley, Mutt’s surrogate father and Indy’s old friend and colleague) was a brilliant way to connect Marion, Indy, and Mutt. I think that this movie will be remembered as the transition from Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones to Shia Lebeouf as Indiana Jones. A fantastic segway if you ask me.
I just think you’re a bitter old purest Indy fan who can’t handle the fact that Indy isn’t 30 in the movie or that they aren’t fighting Nazis.
=)
My thoughts.
http://taylorrobinson.blogspot.com/2008/05/indiana-jones-and-kingdom-of-crystal.html
Saw the movie too….had the same thoughts as you. Random thought though….just read the book “The Poisonwood Gospel” which takes place in the Congo, and they really did have ants like the ones in the movie that would swarm villages and eat anything and everything. Random, I know. I’m also probably one of the few girls that might have been just as excited as you and my husband to see this sequel, and was completely disappointed!