Post "Indiana Jones" coma

O.K. I've finally come out of the coma "Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull" put me in and am ready to write a proper review.

Since going to the midnight show on May 21st I've gone back and seen the movie a second time this past Saturday. I've spoken with most of you reading this blog so there's no need to go into an insane amount of detail again. Needless to say, it was great to see Harrison Ford and Karen Allen back in action. Even though there were a number of things I had a really hard time accepting as plausible in the story and effects. In fact there were at least three times I was shaking my head repeatedly at some of the dumb stuff they were trying to put over on the audience.

As we moved into the week after Memorial Day I began reading the bad reviews I tried to stay away from before. Only two really brought home the same kind of disappointment I was feeling. One actually mentioned the head shaking I'd experienced. Others were stating this was far from the best or even a good Indy movie and how it all seemed to fall apart at the halfway mark. However they were still turning around and claiming it was "a great ride!", "a lot of fun!", and "sheer joy!". O.K. I didn't get where the previous blasting of the movie turned into "oh but you gotta see it!!!"

Then I started seeing the TV promos that included critics from Time and Entertainment Weekly saying things like "it's spectacular!", "The biggest and best movie of the summer!", "best of the series!". "STOP IT!!! IT WASN'T THAT GOOD!!!", I'd say with frustration as I saw these flash by.

Even though I went right to the box office (disappointingly) to turn in my Saturday tickets (a show two days after the premiere), the next week had me processing what I saw in a slightly different light. There were parts of this movie I wanted to enjoy more. GOOD PARTS that, in small ways, held the magic of "Raiders" and even "Last Crusade". So I finally decided to give this thing one more shot. And in those small ways I'm glad I did. Sure there were sequences I still disliked or felt were unnecessarily or cringingly over the top. It's still hard to raise this above "Last Crusade", but at least I hold it over "Temple Of Doom" now. I definitely appreciated those moments in a more well rounded way and even had a few plot devices clarified, like how Mutt learned sword fighting. And I wasn't bothered as much this time by the student asking Professor Indy a question right at the end of the motorcycle chase. However on the whole it's still flawed. "Raiders" and "Last Crusade" are still the very best.

Check out my post second viewing review to your right.