Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull

This is actually a post from awhile ago. I have a few others that are scattered around that I will be collecting and reposting over the next few days, along with reviews of any movies I waste my vacation on during the next week.



**SPOILER WARNING****

Plot:
Ok, all I have to say is; flying saucer? What has our darling Indi come to? We watch Indiana Jones for the thrill of wondering if maybe, just maybe, those legends that lace our planet with mystery about our past and origins have some merit. That, and we like seeing a guy's heart being torn from his chest by another guy's bare hand, but that's beside the point.

The plot was jumpy, like a car trying to start with a cylinder not firing properly, and there were a lot of things in this movie not firing properly, plot being the biggest one. The saucer needed to go, period. Everything else was forgivable, but still seemed like someone tried to merge Alien, Stargate, and the Mummy with very little success.

Now, I am not a script writer, nor do I claim to be, but it seemed to me the biggest stumbling blocks included Cate Blanchett's character's...telepathy? Psi power? It was never terribly clear exactly what it was she was doing, and while I'm a lover of mystery, there's veiled hints and downright cloudy, ill-delivered information.


Dialogue:
Acceptable, if not quite up to par with the original Indiana Jones movies, it was a respectable attempt.


Cast:
While still not thrilled with the casting of Shia LaBeouf, he did better than I expected. And c'mon, anyone who didn't cheer to see Karen Allen needs to be shot; that was a great move on the casting peoples part, or whoever made that call. And Kate Blanchett continues to be a goddess, despite the awkward writing of her character, she pulled it off nicely.


Special Effects:
Some were cheesy, but they did a good job of making it obvious that it was deliberately cheesy to pay homage to the originals, so it was acceptable, even a bonus point in my opinion. They did an excellent job of mixing the acceptable cheesy affects (car plowing through wooden boxes like they were paper) with the more modern ones (an entire bowled out mountain top swirling around a saucer).


Editing:
Pretty standard. As always, good editing is editing you don't notice. They did a good job of not doing anything too flashy that would have contradicted the old school feel they were attempting, without making the movie look like they'd skimped on the editor's paycheck. My only critique (and this would have been more something for the camera crew/cinemetographer/DP, but still) is the shots of Harrison Ford; he's old, guys, we get and we're willing to overlook it to a point and yes make up and lighting can do wonders, but I've seen what wonders angles can do, too, and I didn't really see any attempt to be clever about utilizing those fancy cameras and lighting rigs they had at their disposal.


Overall:
Disappointed. Love Harrison Ford, and it was a decent attempt at giving him one last ride of glory, but come on guys... Spielberg and Lucas both are allowed to and have been known to have their own stumbles, but please...why'd you BOTH have to stumble on something as precious to us as Indiana Jones? I say again...aliens? Why? Just...why?

G'night all. :-)


-Cat