The SBP Archives - Your less than frequent dose of SBP!

There was something missing from the fourth installment of the Indiana Jones movies and I can't pinpoint what it is. When the credits rolled and the lights turned back on, I felt empty. No, I can't label Kingdom of the Crystal Skull a bad movie. It isn't. But then again, it isn't really a good movie, either. If this makes any sense: I can't recommend it, but at the same time, I'll likely see it again on DVD to see if I missed anything. If it was bad, I wouldn't bother. So it must be okay, right?

Let's talk about the good things: Harrison Ford, even at 65 years old, is still convincing as Indiana Jones. He's in tip-top shape and I could buy every fist fight and narrow escape he got himself into, and to be perfectly honest it was great seeing him again after 19 years back as Indy on the big screen. Karen Allen is fine returning as Marion Ravenwood (except for one scene with a very forced "Indieeeeeee" that will make you cringe), and I even didn't mind Shia Leboeuf's 1950s biker character. The intro scenes in Nevada (although I could have sworn they made a reference to New Mexico later on. Can someone walk from Nevada to New Mexico?) are well done in the flavour of the trilogy we all love (well, maybe not so much the red-headed step child that is Temple of Doom, although I liked it enough). The big chase scene, including a duel between Shia and Cate Blanchett is done well, complete with flesh eating ants to bookend the big chase.

But after that...I don't know. Then again, when I think of those action sequences, there isn't much tension because you really don't think for a second they won't get out of it unlike the thrilling steal-the-truck sequence in Raiders or the tank sequence in Last Crusade. I thought the story of chasing the crystal skull was convoluted and didn't make much sense. I thought the back story of the hundreds of years of people going after said skulls just added to the confusion. The ending itself, which I won't spoil, didn't really move me in any way. I mean in Last Crusade, I felt giddy. When Indy was in the room with all those grails, I was like, "Shit, one of those was touched by frickin' JESUS and Indy is gonna drink out of it!!!" But when the ending rolls around, and it's not terribly climatic in my opinion, I was like, "So what?" What was the point of this whole journey? What did ______ doing_____mean? If you go see it, maybe you can give me your two cents because I didn't get it.

Another thing that was annoying: CGI monkeys and ground hogs. Yup, you can tell Lucas had his say in this story.

I feel like a bit like a grump or something writing this. But trust me, I really really REALLY wanted to love this movie. But you know what...yeesh...I think this might be the worst of the four. You know what? Let me see it again.