The credits rolled and I thought “I’m … not sure.” What part of me was left ambivalent by the movie, and what part of me just has an over-inflated memory of the thrill rides the first three had been?
Okay, expecting a thrill ride this time was unrealistic. (But come on, most of that truck chase through the jungle really was so slow. I wanted to tell them to throw caution to the wind and the truck into second. Indy can still drive fast, can’t he?) Even accounting for the age of the principals (Shia notwithstanding – and might I add, as soon as I heard Shia’s character was in the movie with Harrison I knew someone was just hoping they’d be able to resurrect the Indy franchise through the next generation like Captain Kirk transitioned Star Trek movies into The Next Generation. Except the Star Trek:TNG thing worked for me, by the way. But I digress) – even if the principals can’t dodge and weave as once they did (though they were pretty solid on all those Mayan staircases) the movie itself could have had more action … and jeopardy … and humour man, humour is ageless and this movie just could have been – should have been – funnier. This is Indiana Jones after all.
The climax I won’t spoil, although you probably should be able to see it coming from quite far away (from as far away as the first time you saw a trailer and caught a glimpse of what they were after, frankly). And I’d suggest anyone under 30 rent some of Spielberg’s earlier non-Indy related work to see how he did very similar climaxes better, before he had this much disposable income (and technology) to blow on the spectacle at the expense of the show. (that being said: what was this climax doing in an Indy-related work?!) When characters on the screen aren’t doing much more than watching the spectacle with you, you can’t help but wonder what you as an audience add to the equation. Verdict: (*choke*) Discount Theatre
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