Yeah, when people asked me if I liked it, I had to tell them that I did (I really did), but it wasn't Raiders of the Lost Ark, or Last Crusade, that's for sure. It was more like Temple of Doom in grandness of scope. Not that it's a horrible movie- it had a lot of good moments.
The movie plays halfway between an origin story for Mutt, Indy's new sidekick, and a comeback tale for Indiana Jones himself. I laughed in the opening shot, where the old Paramount mountain fades into... a gopher pile. I laughed less when gophers showed up later, but the opening shot make me laugh out loud.
I like Indy running through Americana-land. That made me laugh, too. Especially once I figured out what was going to happen (and what was going to have to happen). I don't think he would have survived, but incredulity is all what Dr. Jones is about, right?
I didn't really care for the over-abundance of CGI in the film- and the shots that were done completely without CGI (the motorcycle chase, the spanish tomb, running through americana) were my favorites. I didn't think the jeep-fight needed the cliff CGI, but it wasn't my movie, so what did they care.
I know Speilburg and Lucas decided that since they had moved beyond the 40s movies they were replicating with the first three (since 'ancient relics' were big in 40s serials- Solomon's Mine and such), they decided to go sci-fi for the 50s movies they were going for in this one. That being said, I thought the russian psychic was lame. I thought the crystal skull thing was a little cool, but I also thought it was lame how easily Indiana turned over and figured out puzzles for the bad guys. It's almost like any excuse to keep on this trail was good enough for him. I didn't like that.
I really did like that the writing mirrored Sean Connery's style in the third movie- phrases that Connery used as Henry Jones Sr. were used by Indiana in this movie, to reflect his age (right down to the same look Henry gave Indiana as he flipped the motorcycle to Mutt crashing the Ruski's into Marcus' statue). That I liked.
All in all, it was a fun movie. Good, not great. I'll buy the video.
-kv
