5.24.2008

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

WARNING:
THIS POST MIGHT BE A SPOILER IF YOU'RE REALLY BAD AT GUESSING THE PLOT OF FORMULAIC MOVIES.

I saw Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull last night, and I was not disappointed. On the way out of the movie I overheard a group discussing it. One guy was complaining that the movie was terribly cheesy. Excuse me? Had he not seen at least one of the other three Indiana Jones movies? Because if he had, he would have realized that this movie fell into step with the 'cheesy' schtick of every other Indiana Jones. Of course, using a 66-year-old film star and reviving an almost 20-year-old movie legend made the movie a little more aware of itself, but the lame jokes and impossible feats were nothing more extraordinary than the past films.

This movie was fun, but I wouldn't recommend paying cinema prices to go and see it unless, like me, your parents are treating you to a night out on the town. If you enjoyed the other Indiana Jones movies I'd suggest renting Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Shia LeBeouf stars as Mutt Williams alongside Harrison Ford which might deter you from seeing this film. Something has bothered me about LeBeouf ever since the days of Even Stevens, but I can't quite put my finger on it. Oh yeah, it's his acting. He's actually tolerable in the film, playing a 1950s greaser who needs Indy's help to save his mom. LeBeouf's only special acting move, though, is to get tears in his eyes and that became rather tiresome.

There's a hint that LeBeouf might be the new Indiana Jones, or rather the new Mutt Jones (oops!). If I learned anything from the movie A.I., it's that Steven Spielberg does not know when to let a story end. I hope he lets the Indiana Jones series lie after Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and lets the original trilogy live on eternally through re-runs on the TNT channel.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure why Shia has been in so many movies lately. He fills the role of goofy sidekick, but he doesn't seem to have any other qualities (attractiveness, ability to deliver lines). He's aptly named Mutt.

Caitlin said...

I think I read that he's Steven Spielberg's new muse or something. That's why he's been in so many movies. I don't get it either. He was on the cover of GQ this week, and he looked decent, but I agree that he's not leading man material and isn't too good at anything but the goofball role.