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Is Kingdom of the Crystal Skull become overly hated?
0:00 Introduction
1:36 Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Review
6:12 Nuking the Fridge
11:00 The Silliness Continues
16:20 What Went Wrong?
18:57 Outro – Subscribe and Next Week
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I watch Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull at least once a year, because despite how much this film disappoints me, It’s still an Indiana Jones film and arguably 75% of this film works well.
It’s just the other 25% that lets it down.
I’ll admit, I didn’t like this at the time of viewing. I was excited, I went to the cinema opening night, and when I first saw the transition from the Paramount logo to the small praire dog mound, I felt my heart sink, and all expectations flew out the window.
There is a lot to say about this, so I’ll start with what I like about this film, because I’d argue, there are more than not.
The opening sequence, while a far cry from Raiders, it is an adequate re-introduction to the character.
Another reveal of Jones using little more than a silhouette and it feels like we’re back. But there’s something off. No, it’s not that Indy is looking older, or that the villains aren’t goose stepping morons. No, theres something wrong with what I’m seeing and hearing.
We are back where it all started, or at least ended. The warehouse at the end of Raiders of the Lost ark, looking bigger, fuller and a little more Computer Generated.
He uses his knowledge to locate the crate, and also start disarming the bad guys. As the crate is highly magnetic, Jones insists on using gunpowder and shotgun shells to help locate the crate.
Some people have a problem with Shia LaBeouf, and they’re right to, he is awful. But I think because of that, they give Mac a pass, and they really really shouldn’t.
Overall, this sequence is fun, it has some nice call backs to Raiders, including the Ark itself. But with the inclusion of some overused CGI where it really wasn’t needed, this sequence coud have been a hel of a lot better.
Everything in this film, is basically fallout from the opening sequence, (pun intended) which works well, and gives us another change from the separate intro of the other films. He’s removed from his job at the university, he then tries to go travelling but is then brought back in by Mutt.
We get another good chase sequence at the university where Indy and Mutt are being chased by the Russians. It’s fun, and harkens back to the Last Crusade, but with Indy taking on the unimpressed older father figure that his dad was.
What I like about these scenes, is we get a good little tomb raiding scene where Indy and Mutt must fight to gain entry, there’s a creepy crawly factor and a secret tomb.
It then get’s sillier with a large CGI mess of them making their way through the forest by chopping it down. Now I know they couldn’t really go and destroy a real forest, but a mere 5 minutes later they’re having a chase through the forest on two seemingly parallel roads.
It’s a massive plot hole really, but it gets us into the pyramid and the group discover the treasures of the world where Indy proclaims, ‘They’re Archaeologists’ which is nice.
Kingdom of the Crystal Skull gives us a muddled finale, that gives us the aliens… Sorry, Interdimensional beings, give a reward for returning the skull. But to give the reward, they’re also starting a ship that will not only destroy everything there, will kill those they’re wanting to reward.
Raiders gave us one of the best quotes when discussing Jones. “it’s not the years, it’s the mileage’ but Crystal Skull doesn’t lean on any of that. Maybe when he drank from the Grail, he became untouchable and immortal.
Overall, 75% of this film is entertaining as hell. It’s an Indiana Jones film through and through. Harrison Ford IS Indiana Jones, there’s no taking that away from him.
But the other 25% of the film is scattered throughout so when you rewatch it, every time you get excited, you’re brought down to earth with something that falls flat.
The original trilogy are all 5/5 films, but this barely comes in at 3/5. I think it gets 3 because I’m overly biased towards Indiana Jones.
Let me know what you think of Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, do you think it’s better than Temple of Doom? Is it a good addition to the Indiana Jones story? Let me know in the comments.
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