Movie Review: Indiana Jones & The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Last night I had the pleasure of seeing the new Indiana Jones. I was both excited and anxious, wondering if it would live up to 20 years of wait.
And I guess on the whole, I was kind of disappointed. Don't get me wrong, I loved it. It felt great seeing Indy on the screen again, but the revelation at the end felt somewhat like an easy way out. I loved it until that point that kind of just made me wonder what they were thinking. The stunts were spectacular, and I think some of the best stunts in the series are from this movie. The humour was classic Indy humour and I laughed loudly in a lot of places. Some lines and actions were downright hilarious. I thought some parts were definite classics. And then there are the others that kind of feel like a whole new low in the series: CGI Monkeys and vine swinging. All in all though, it was a great fun romp.

When seeing it, you have to realize that it's been 20 years since The Last Crusade came out, and things have changed, not only for Harrison Ford, but in the world of Indy, so the tone is sort of different from the last three, and I think that's what a lot of people seeing it have failed to realize. Things have changed too much. It's not going to be the same Indy you saw him in The Last Crusade. The world of Indy has just gone through WWII, when last, it was on the brink of war. Nothing is the same after a war.

Some minor quibbles, however, and I'll try to explain without spoiling anything. These are mostly technical.
The movie starts off with Rock & Roll music, not the Indy Theme. I knew they were trying to set the tone of the movie that way, but I felt it kind of took away from the majesty of it all; it felt kind of dry. Cracking Whips. What cracking whips? There was none, other than one scene at the beginning. And the score felt almost like it wasn't even there. The Indy theme only appeared from time to time, as if to remind us that what we were watching was an Indy movie since the tone was quite different. There was nothing like an epic score, with variations on the Indy theme throughout like the other movies. So yeah, some of it felt lacking in certain areas.

So if you want a fun romp, turn off your brain for a few hours, stop nitpicking, and just enjoy the movie for what it is. Just realize that what you're seeing is different because there are obvious changes that have happened in the world of Indy. It's now a world of Intrigue, a world of discovery, obsession with Sci-Fi, and just a decade down the road, men will be setting foot on the Moon.