I Call This Archaelogy!

UPDATE: Click in to read my mini-view.

This pic was taken before seeing it, but works just as well afterwards. Spoilers and real tangible thoughts will have to wait. I have to see this again.

Okay, after a night of reflection, here we go. SPOILERS!! LOTS OF SPOILERS!!!

WHAT I LIKE:
— The movie overall, my 3rd favorite of the saga.
— Indiana Jones, mostly. Sometimes he delivers a line poorly, but when he’s in action or telling a long historical fact, I’m all over it. I don’t know if I like ’50s Indy that much, but I can live with him. At first, I was worried about him, but he totally won me over… the old coot!
— Shia LeBeouf. I liked this kid going into it, and he even made Transformers watchable for me, but he’s good in this; though his entrance is a little much. Later when Mutt runs into spider webs (pre-scorpions), I wondered if he had an arachnophobia… but nothing came of it.
— The return of Marion. I wish she wasn’t on the poster, I wish she wasn’t in the opening credits, I wish she wasn’t even rumored to be in the movie. Imagine the surprise?! And imagine going in to see this NOT thinking Mutt is already Henry Jones the III! Amazing.
— Random stuff: I dug the hanger, the temples, the truck action sequence, the motorcycle chase (including the Wilhelm scream!), the quicksand scene (except where Indy asks the crazy guy to go get help, dumb) and the opening shot (as Matthew said, a gopher hasn’t had this much screentime since Caddyshack).
— There’s something satisfying about John Hurt holding an elongated alien skull
— I got my wish! Even though he’s not technically in the film, the acknowledgement of Sean Connery (and Marcus!) was a nice touch that warmed my heart. I’m still holding out for a Lao Che reference somewhere.
— The aliens angle. I’m a sci-fi nerd, so I like this. And I’m glad we saw the alien at the end, because otherwise I’d be saying I wish I saw the alien at the end.
— The last shot with the hat. Very cool fake out around the passing of the torch, but it’s going to happen. Get used to the idea. This movie is going to have a $150M opening, at least, and no one wants a franchise like that to die without a fight.

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE:
— Mac, first I can’t understand him some of the time, and even when I do, I hate him. His character makes no sense. He’s in it for the gold? Or he’s in it for the Russians? Sometimes the Russians try to kill him, sometimes they let him be one of their own. Boo.
— Mutt swinging from the vines. I liked the monkey gag, and would have loved one long vine swing into the car, but that extended Tarzan sequence was Spielberg thinking the girl in Jurassic Park 2 doing gymnastics was cool… and it wasn’t, and this wasn’t.
— The talking. I don’t mind the long history lessons, I always think that’s cool, but there’s moments that don’t need dialog. For example, Indiana Jones “Mac, when I get outta here, I’m going to break your nose.” later, punch, Mac “You broke my nose.” Indiana Jones “I told ya!”. Do we really need that “you broke my nose!” and “told ya”? There’s a few moments like this through the flick.
— The ant scene. I felt like Indy went a little Mummy here (scarab beetles and all). I liked the scene mostly except for thinking about Brendan Fraser, and the part when the ants actually try to climb on each other to get to Cate, which seemed a little much.
— The fridge scene. At first, I thought it was cool and smart, but immediately I thought, how the hell is he going to get out of there? And then when I saw the cartoonish-ness of the escape, I was like, “this isn’t Indiana Jones” Boo.
— The aliens angle. I know I said above that I like this, and I do, but I don’t know if I like it in an Indiana Jones movie. It felt just a little too much, but maybe I’m nitpicking. I love the idea of the aliens being archaelogists, really do, but I wish at the end there was none of this alien coming to life or animated skeleton thing, and that the return of the skull just meant the ship returns home.
— I’m nitpicking, but I think it’s funny. What’s with South America and people hanging around in caves or tunnels all day? I mean, Indy goes to the graveyard and suddenly, there’s two skeletal-masked guards lurking in crevices to attack him. When they go to this hidden temple that hasn’t been visited in centuries, there’s these guards that break out of the structure to attack Indy and friends! I joked with Matthew that, “oh honey, it’s my turn to get locked inside the temple tonight. “but dear, no one ever comes, we were going to play Rock Band!” “i know, maybe tomorrow night, now seal me inside.”
— And most important of all, that Indiana Jones almost got married. Are you fucking kidding me? INDIANA JONES??? I buy it at the end of this movie, but not as a consequence after everything in Raiders. F that!

OVERALL
I enjoyed it immensely, and like it third-best in the Indy quadrilogy. I need to see it again!

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