Friday, May 23, 2008

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull


(2008) ****

(No Spoilers)

So Zack decided to stay put long enough for us to catch this summer's big fish, and I must say I enjoyed myself. Perfect? No. You'll need to suspend some disbelief here and there, both in regards to things you can live through and how fast you can resolve long-standing personal conflicts. And there's a bit of a sag in the action between the two instances of characters traveling via red line on a map.

But it was great to see Indy in action again, tumbling through wild crazy crap while giving and taking punch after punch. His references to what he'd been up to in the intervening years made me wish there were movies about those times too. As the earlier Indy movies revamped the old 30's adventure serials, this was a slick new take on 50's sci-fi flicks, and the 50's in general. They mostly kept the goof factor toned down -- and Shia LaBeouf, who I used to hate until I realized it was futile, did an okay job.

I'd say better than Temple of Doom, as good or a bit better than Last Crusade.

15 comments:

miko564 said...

Man that's great to hear. "Better than Temple of Doom" was all I needed to know.

Now let the baby arrive!!

JPX said...

Awesome, that's what I wanted to hear! Thanks for the review, Octo.

Landshark said...

Cool. Like to hear that the goofiness is toned down a bit. That was distracting in Last Crusade.

Octopunk said...

There is some goofiness, but it never made me cringe like, say, Kate Capshaw watching Indy feel up a statue and pointing out where her boobs are.

Julie said...

Great pic--which Octo composed and shot! I gave him that pink skull as a bday present. It's a giant candle.

I agree 100% with this review, but I think I'm a little more dismayed at having to suspend so much disbelief with regards to "things you can live through and how fast you can resolve long-standing personal conflicts" (which is extremely well put). I kind of think movies should have higher standards regarding that stuff. But that's more a general comment. I still enjoyed this movie, because I'm used to just saying, "Ah well--I'll just let that silly realistic crap go." But should we have to get used to doing that? In a larger sense, it bothers me that we lower our standards for the sake of enjoying ourselves.

On a lighter note, we got giant bags of candy for this movie. Near this theater is one of my favorite places ever. It's a candy store with giant, towering bins of multi colored sugary treats, and you get bags and buy by the pound. So I got my big favorites--malt balls, sour stuff, Hot Tamales, and some chocolate raisins--and ate the entire bag. This helped me suspend my disbelief.

Octopunk said...

I had: Reese's Pieces, those pumpkin candies that are made of the same stuff as candy corn, some chocolate-covered pretzels, and four vanilla Tootsie Rolls that I had to go digging for in the Tootsie Roll bin as the flavors were all integrated (and chocolate dominated, natch).

DKC said...

Mmmm, this just reminded me that I have some Reese's Pieces stashed in my house.

Excellent - As Temple was naturally the least favorite I am also psyched to hear about this. We actually may be able to go Monday night, fingers crossed!!

miko564 said...

DCD you reminded me. We are actually going to see a movie this weekend! Spending it with Dad, stepmom, brother and his wife, at the lakehouse, so we figure 4 adults can handle the 8 month old alone (almost positive they will call halfway through the movie and offer us money to come back). I think we will take in IronMan unless Octo says we HAVE to see Indy.

Octopunk said...

That's a tough enough call that I don't want to take any responsibility for it. View as thou wilt!

Johnny Sweatpants said...

What a relief to hear that it's great! Awesome, we're going tomorrow, hopefully IMAX!

Jordan said...

Julie's comment could have used a spoiler warning!

Julie said...

Huh? Why? Just quoting Octo. Was it the candy?

Anonymous said...

yeah jules - thanksalot!

Julie said...

I keep rereading my comment to try to figure out what plot details I gave away. Um...huh? Just quoted the review and made a general comment about movies.

And candy.

Octopunk said...

I think it's because you let on that the giant pink skull is a candle.

It's not a candle in the movie. Oh, crap! I just spoiled that possibility!

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