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All Movie Info
Starring:
Harrison Ford, Shia LaBeouf, Cate Blanchett, Ray Winstone, Jim Broadbent, John Hurt, Karen Allen, Andrew Divoff, Alan Dale, Andrew Divoff, Pavel Lychnikoff, David LaVera, Igor Jijikine, Joel Stoffer
Directed By:
Steven Spielberg
Written By:
David Koepp, George Lucas, Jeff Nathanson, Philip Kaufman
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Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)
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Movie Review by Zara 
May 22nd, 2008
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Don't Read if You Don't Like Spoilers
I might end up being the lone dissenting voice in this, I'm curious to figure that out. To say that I wasn't impressed with this new Indiana movie is putting it lightly/nicely. There are actually large chunks of the movie that I frankly outright hated.
Let's start off with the casting of Shia. For those who might read this and not know my opinion of him, I adore the kid. He's got talent, he's got personality, he's naturally funny and despite being of age, he makes me feel like a pervert for thinking he's hot. But Shia is flat, unfunny and just WRONG in his role as Indiana's long lost son (had with Karen Allen's Marion from RAIDERS). He and Harrison are supposed to be interacting on a love/hate kind of angle, somewhat similar to how Indie would be with the females in his previous installments. The two obviously got along too well to pull this off. It looks like Shia is holding back and waiting for Harrison most of the time.
And Indiana isn't supposed to look like he's perpetually catching up. There are some very obvious seams that you can see where stunt doubles are used. The other, non-fighting moments in the movie have Ford looking like he's out of wind just standing up. I loved Indiana. Why did they have to kill him by dragging out Ford, who while he might "look good" for 66, doesn't hold up at all at being an action star?
Ray Winstone is an awful creep in the film, Cate Blanchett chews through scenery faster than her razor sharp bob would cut someone's fingers off, and John Hurt is reduced to being a babbling idiot. The storyline (the Mayans worshiped aliens whose bodies were constructed of some kind of crystal bone structure) is pathetic and uninspiring.
The saving grace is having the 56 year old Karen Allen return as Marion. She looks like she's barely aged and hasn't skipped a beat since drinking full grown men under the table in RAIDERS. There's some glue in her character, holding together the minimal scraps that they tried to build this mess out of. Her smile is genuine and sincere, her feisty nature is instantly received as being sorely missed, by not only Indie but by the audience as well.
I really can't say that I went into the movie with high expectations. I didn't rewatch the other films before traipsing off to this one. I just had the nostalgia for the younger Ford and an open mind to having the filmmakers deliver me a movie that could possibly stand on its own. But it doesn't. This was sheerly a move to get in the last opportunity to capitalize on the character's ability to earn money at the box office. And you can see right through it for that. Which is pretty f*cking sad.
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 | Krissy
May 23, 2008 8:58 PM
also wrote a review of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull 
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| I can't believe I'm going to say this...but, I agree with Zara. (quick someone hand me a shot of whiskey). I'm a big fan of Shia and my kids still watch the Even Stevens show on Sat...but really, not so good in this film. Harrison for that matter wasn't that great in this movie....and every time that fat guy called out Jonesie I wanted to puke. |
 | Fernando
May 23, 2008 5:28 PM
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"The storyline (the Mayans worshiped aliens whose bodies were constructed of some kind of crystal bone structure) is pathetic and uninspiring."
I must add INACCURATE!
The story is supposed to happen in Perú where the INCA empire ruled, not the mayan, mayas are from Mexico.
Indi tells his son he speaks Quechua because he was kidnapped by Pancho Villa once. That can't be, because Pancho is from Mexico, and they don't speak quechua over there.
Just a little data for everyone. |
 | Jesse
Jul 4, 2008 4:40 PM
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I must agree here. It wasn't all that impressive, and some of the scenes I downright hated, also.
It's too bad, Indiana Jones has been one of my favourite trilogies ever and now that there's a fourth, it just sticks out like a sore thumb. |
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