Indy: My review

[lithera]

Wow. You can really tell when this movie jumps the shark, huh?

I just....

Man.

For the first half I had hope.

And then there were monkeys and swinging from vines.

Comments

[gaaneden.livejournal.com]

I could have done without certain parts but I still enjoyed the movie. It was definitely an Indiana Jones feel to it.

[lithera.livejournal.com]

I could have done without the whole ending. Like I said, I was good until vine swinging and even then there were parts that were okay but... Man.

[archeon.livejournal.com]

I keep seeing people say that, that it has an Indy feel to it, but it totally doesn't. If you rewatch those first three movies, they are a completely different tone, they are played straight with the humor coming from the character interaction and reaction, Crystal Skull has too many slapstick joke moments inserted just to be funny

[lithera.livejournal.com]

For me there was just too much of the fantastic. There are those elements in the first three but they're firmly grounded in reailty. You buy into the fact that these things could be out there.

[arian1.livejournal.com]

See my below...

[mike-mccall.livejournal.com]

See, I found there to be far more slapstick-y or outrageous-comedy moments in Last Crusade.

Certainlt there is a difference in tone between the first three and this one, but I found I didn't mind.

[alryssa.livejournal.com]

I winced.

[lithera.livejournal.com]

Was that where is lost you too?

[alryssa.livejournal.com]

More or less, yeah. It had a moment of two after that part, but the swinging... I was squirming in my seat at the awful. The dialogue was horridly flat for the largest part, which was frustrating. The part with the nuclear bomb seemed like a really tacked on tangent to unsubtly hint that HAY GUYZ WE'RE IN THE 50's.

[lithera.livejournal.com]

Yeah. So we mostly had the same reaction.

[alryssa.livejournal.com]

More or less, yeah. Feel like they missed the boat or something. I shouldn't be wincing at something that's supposed to be funny.

[captain-slinky.livejournal.com]

See what i meant?!?!? For somebody to see it once is perfectly reasonable... but if they go and see it again ON PURPOSE? There's something wrong with that.

I suppose the same set of standards will apply to the whole "Rent It/Buy it" issue once it's released on DVD.

BTW, do you have any idea how you suddenly ended up on my FL? I'm puzzled by it...

[lithera.livejournal.com]

I have no idea. I was a volunteer at ECCC. I do a small ton of up coming movie and comics blogging. Ummmmm. Other than that, no idea.

Magic. Must be magic.

[captain-slinky.livejournal.com]

Or Aliens :)

[lithera.livejournal.com]

Nah.

That's too contrived. Or overused. Or something like that.

[mike-mccall.livejournal.com]

Well, I loved it. I'm planning on seeing it again, probably more than once, and definitely picking it up on DVD along with the original three (I'm still working off of VHS copies).

[captain-slinky.livejournal.com]

That is completely excusable; you fall under the category of "Fanboy". It's nothing to be ashamed of! I personally own videos and DVD's of the original Punisher, Captain America, Doctor Strange and Fantastic Four movies from the 70's and 80s. Unbearably cheesy to the average consumer, sure, but to me they are true cinematic treasures :)

[mike-mccall.livejournal.com]

I don't feel the need to categorize myself, personally. I like what I like, and so does everyone else. I don't really see anything in the movie that would prevent the average consumer from enjoying it any less than previous Indy movies.

[captain-slinky.livejournal.com]

Exactly! And i don't see anything in the Roger Corman Fantastic Four movie that would prevent the average consumer from enjoying *it* any less than any other movie out there. It's the true beauty of being a Fanboy... Public Opinion means very little as long as *you* enjoy the movie.

[mike-mccall.livejournal.com]

I think your entire position here is utterly idiotic.

[captain-slinky.livejournal.com]

Dude... you keep just proving my point! Maybe it's the term "Fanboy" that's throwing you off? Would you feel better if i just said "Fan"?

Fans of any particular thing (Star trek, Comic Books, Transformers, Hockey, NASCAR, Peanut Butter, etc) can't see why anyone else wouldn't enjoy the thing that they're a fan of just as much as they do. People who DON'T like the thing that you're a fan of will always be bewildered as to why you could ever enjoy such a thing.

*I* am not a fan of the new Indiana Jones. Compared to the other films in the series (including Temple of Doom) *I* don't see how anybody could see it twice on purpose. THAT'S ALL.

It seems utterly idiotic to you because YOU. ARE. A. FAN. Your position of vehemently arguing with a contrasting opinion of the movie on-line is equally idiotic to *me* as my position on the matter is to *you*. Right now you're reminding me of one of those guys who will argue for HOURS that Professional Wrestling is real. Hey, that's fine! Your opinion is that the wrestling is real! Good for you! I, personally, think it's fake and no amount of arguing that we do will make either one of us concede.

You like the movie and obviously feel that it merits multiple viewings, and that's fine. I left the theater feeling insulted, but glad I had seen it once.

[mike-mccall.livejournal.com]

When I say "it's idiotic", I'm not talking about your opinion of the movie. I'm talking about this idea that I need to be put in a category. I'm guessing there are plenty of people out there who wouldn't categorize themselves as "fans" of the film who enjoyed it, and would watch it again. In fact, my father-in-law is one of them.

I don't really care about your opinion of the movie one way or another. It's the equating of "fan" with "liked the movie enough to see it again" that baffles me. By that logic, you are a "hater" because you don't want to see it again.

I am an Indy fanboy, and proud of it! But I also have a degree in theatre, and am trained in dramatic analysis. I think that by and large, most people who liked the old Indy movies will like the new one. If they didn't like the old ones, they probably won't get much out of these ones. There are very few significant differences between them.

I'm sure there will be people who liked the old and not the new, or vice-versa. But overall, my disagreeing with your assessment of seeing them multiple times has less to do with me being a fanboy, and more to do with the content of the films themselves, how they have been received by audiences in the past, and the myth of Indy in general.

[captain-slinky.livejournal.com]

If you really don't care about my opinion of the movie, then why did you start this whole thing?

Are you lonely?

[lithera.livejournal.com]

Guys.

Can we stop now?

Please?

[mike-mccall.livejournal.com]

Sorry 'bout that. Done now.

Just got carried away.

[mike-mccall.livejournal.com]

I don't particularly care about your opinion. There were a few interesting comments in a friend's LJ, and I added my (largely dissenting) voice. You responded, and hit a nerve.

While I don't much care about your view of the movie, it really burns me when my views are categorized for no particularly good reason.

[lithera.livejournal.com]

Guys. Again.

Please.

Stop.

[mike-mccall.livejournal.com]

Again, sorry. Posted this before I saw your earlier response.

[fixerbard.livejournal.com]

From now on Joss Whedon should ghost write anything Lucas touches.

[archeon.livejournal.com]

1. prarie dogs
2. frig
3. vines & monkeys
4. snake as rope when there's an entire jungle full of tree branches and vines (LAME!)

it's like everytime I wanted to like the movie some jokey crap would appear to remind that this movie sucks

[pullthestars.livejournal.com]

Yeah. the snake. it was like they really needed to remind the audience that Indy had trouble with snakes and couldn't think of any other way to do it.

[lithera.livejournal.com]

The prairie dogs I could handle They didn't bother me. The fridge stretched my suspension of disbelief and then the snake broke it, which I didn't notice until the vines. And then the last twenty minutes were me pretty much just shaking my head.

[fireballof3.livejournal.com]

They added too much scienece into the fiction.

Indy has always been about fantastical RELIGIOUS items. Losing religion from the movie made it weak and lame.

[lithera.livejournal.com]

Well, they tried to move it into the 50s and I think it could have worked but Lucas wanted his Indy and the SpaceMen movie. Too much genre crossing.

[fireballof3.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I had no issue with the 50s, and I even thought the bomb / Russian thing was cute. Aliens tho, not so much.

[mike-mccall.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed the aliens. I enjoyed that the themes shifted from religious overtones to paranormal-science overtones with the passing of the years.

But then, I've alwayslong enjoyed Indy as a reinvention of the adventure tropes of his time, so seeing Indy take on the direct lineal descendants of the serials was cool for me.

[of-the-woods.livejournal.com]

Yeah... the monkeys. That pretty much was the shark-jumping moment wasn't it.

[lithera.livejournal.com]

It was when I gave up trying to pretend.

[obake.livejournal.com]

The only thing I could think of when I saw the monkeys was the old George of the Jungle cartoon (the one from the late 60s).

[lithera.livejournal.com]

You're not the only one who had that reaction. It wasn't mine but I've heard it mentioned a few times.

[obake.livejournal.com]

It was very difficult, but I managed to restrain myself from shouting "Watch out for that tree!" in the theater.

[lithera.livejournal.com]

*laughs*

That would have been hilarious.

[arian1.livejournal.com]

Oh come on.

Like the Ark of the Covenant, a priest ripping hearts out alive and a 800 year old knight weren't fantastical enough?

Sorry, but I think it was right in the same vein as the others. People just want to hate anything new. :)

[lithera.livejournal.com]

No. For me it is entirely a different genre. I don't hate new stuff. I like change but it was smashing two different genres together for me and it was too jarring. The other thing that bothered me is I never had to attempt to accept Indy as something other than human. A totally insane and crazy human but human. There are a few places where people do things (like the vine swinging) where it just goes outside my ability to believe that people without powers can do it.

It comes down to the first three felt like they were things that could have possibly happened in a world I live in. This one totally didn't feel that way to me at all.

[mike-mccall.livejournal.com]

Never jumped the shark for me. Heck, I enjoyed the monkeys thing.

But hey, I'm entitled to my wrong opinion.

[lithera.livejournal.com]

You're entitled to your opinion wrong or not. Just because you don't agree with me doesn't mean you're wrong.

[mike-mccall.livejournal.com]

"Everyone's entitled to their own wrong opinion" is my motto. It's meant to include a low view of another's opinion in the opinions one is entitled to.

I applied it to myself as a way of saying that a) No attack on the majority opinion in these comments is intended and b) feel free to tear my opinion to pieces, if necessary to prove a point.