review by Silent J
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull 2008
Watched Aug 27, 2012
Silent J’s review:
So this is the film people claim is one of the worst to come out in not only the last decade, but ever? The film that shit on it's entire franchise?
It's actually not that bad.
Yeah, yeah, I know. It gets a bad rep for doing some stupid shit and it indeed does do some stupid shit. The thing with the aliens was fucking stupid. I think we can all agree aliens have no place in an Indiana Jones film. But really, when you think about it, is it really THAT bad? Not the aliens, that is THAT bad, but the whole film. If this film had no aliens, do you think you may have enjoyed this a little more? Going into it, you know it's not gonna be nearly as good as past films. For starters, as cool as Indiana Jones was back in the day, he's too fucking old today. Half the stuff that looked cool in the 80's looks ridiculous when he does it now so you have to at least have fun with it and I had loads of fun with this.
You know, there is no way I can even try to defend Indy 4 without discussing how it "Nuked the Fridge" which is equivalent to jumping the shark apparently. To be honest, I think that scene was hilarious. Yes, it's silly but with all of the silly and stupid shit that happened in Temple of Doom get a pass? I mean can you really tell me that THIS is dumber than THIS. Why does the latter get a pass while this gets shit on? Both are dumb and silly films. The latter just happens to have aliens.
Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is that this is stupid and silly but it's entertaining as hell, at least for me. The performances are fine. Harrison Ford and Karen Allen don't have the same charm or the twinkle in their eyes they had in the first film, but they both do well. Shia LaBeouf isn't half as annoying as previous films. Look at it this way, his character could have been handled a lot worse. They could have had Indy pass the torch (hat) to LaBeouf and we all know NO ONE WANTS TO SEE THAT. Cate Blanchett makes for a solid villain, John Hurt is pretty good, and Ray Winstone damn good, even if it gets repetitive how many times his character double crosses Indy.
The action scenes are not only fun but really creative. That chase in the jungle especially was fantastic and pretty original. The story is of course convuluted but I think it could have been worse. It kept me interested and entertained and that's the important thing right? No matter how dumb, stupid, convuluted, and flawed a film is (and this one is all of the above) you just have to be entertained. Would that make this a guilty pleasure? I guess so, but I honestly don't think this is as bad as people make it out to be. Then again, the way I see it, there are no good or bad films. Just films you like and films you don't like. It all matters on what YOU like and I like this film. Hell, I like this a lot more than Temple of Doom to be honest.
So please folks, calm down. It's not that bad. If it is, I like it a lot anyway.
I never thought this film, shit on it's entire franchise, but, it drag quite a bit for me.
I never understood the hate. I consider this to be on par, at the very least only mildly worse than it's predecessors. It had its autism, but had some pretty nice scenes as well.
I can understand that. It's definitely flawed in places but I found it to be fun which are what the Indy films were about: just having fun with and being entertained by them.
@Richard I agree.
that's the thing this doesn't feel like an Indy film, feels like an adventure of Indiana Jones but is not an indy film at least not like the other three, and I'am someone that doesn't adore the other three by any means.
like I said before this film doesn't take away anything from the other ones what so ever, but, is not something I will re-watch any time soon.
BTW, great review, you explain your points well...
@Javier Thanks. I see where your coming from. It definitely doesn't contain the same elements of what an Indy film is supposed to be, but for the most part, I thought it kept that nostalgic feel of not only the Indy films but classic adventure films while also doing something creative. It had some fuck ups here and there but I like it.
I was never a FULL hater of this film either ... but like I said a while back. I'm "split-straight-down-the-middle" on it. Lots of things I enjoyed, but just as much things I thought was corny and cheesy.
A great review there, I entirely agree with you. I really enjoyed the movie myself (apart from the aliens and the 'space between spaces' bollocks)
I got the feeling a lot of the Star Wars prequel hating fanboys were down on the movie before they even saw it, it wasn't given a fair chance.
TBF I can take or leave all the Indy films apart from Raiders which is a firm top 10 of all time for me.
The aliens was actually something that didn't bother me that much. The only difference from the other Indy movies was that it was scientific and not paranormal. But the thing that did bother me was that the violence and humor was dumbed down. Just like in the Star Wars prequels.
I agree. It's not so horribly bad as everyone says. I too thought the fridge was funny. There are some terribly cheesy parts and it's to effects focused rather than story and character focused at times (ie the monkeys...), but it's silly pulp fun, which is what they were going for if I'm not mistaken. There are odd uneven tones throughout the film which may have not happened with the other Indy films, but it's just fun entertainment, it's not claiming to be high art.
I prefer most of this one to Last Crusade which never really hit for me like it did for everyone else, I think it suffered from the bad late 80's clean bland cinematography and trying to cram to much into one film.
But I'm a Temple of Doom kind of guy so maybe I'm in the wrong ;)
@John Maybe, but when you think about it, he does a lot of things in the past films that you can call implausible or would of killed him (like the raft thing in Temple or the tank think in Crusade) yet those get a pass.
The first 15-20 minutes are the best, they're near enough on a par with the other movies - yes, including the fridge, which is beautifully bonkers.
Sadly it goes downhill once we're on the road to Akator, but it's nowhere near the wreck people say. It's simply only as good as the movies that spent 30 years aping Indy, which itself is bound to be a let down.
@John Yeah, true. Either way, it's a silly scene and even if you can't suspend disbelief, you can find some humor in it. I just think it's hilarious not only because he survived in the fridge, but Indy's first thought was to hide in a fridge to protect himself from a nuclear bomb. I think it's the funniest thing to happen in the franchise.
@John Yep, pure Indiana.
Just completed rewatching the series (except for this one, which isn't a rewatch as I had never seen it before), and you're right: it's not that bad. I agree that aliens have no place in the Idiana Jones mythos, but this was fun.
My sentiments exactly.