Indiana Jones: Counterpoint

As always, I'm going to go against the grain with this review and buck what will most likely be "popular opinion".

Not to discredit what Duke said below, I can see where he's coming from, buuuutttt....

Just to get this out of the way right off the bat, how does anyone blame Lucas for this flick? He's a producer and story consultant only. Spielberg directed this flick and someone else wrote the screenplay, so if you hate it, why point a finger at Lucas? Doesn't he catch enough shit for the prequels?

Now, let's move on to the supposed disaster of an Indiana Jones flick. I went into the flick with one thing in mind. This will not live up to the classic movies. Nothing can. Ford has simply aged too much, the world has changed and I'm older and more cynical. No matter how amazing the film might've been, it hasn't had 20 years to attach itself to my favorites list.

But compare the film to what's out there today and it isn't that terrible. In fact, the first sequence of events is absolutely amazing. It's got that old school Indiana action. In fact, most of the movie moves along like a barrel rolling down a hill, with lots of good laughs and nods to the past. I think several moments in the film paid tribute to what came before it.

I could list them out, but some of you haven't seen it yet. Which also brings me to what I didn't like about the movie. The major plot device seemed a bit out of character for an Indiana Jones movie. Which would have made me hate the movie if I thought about it too much. Then I remembered that a group of Nazi's wanted the holy grail so that they could mind control the world in the last film, and I loved that at the time. So why would I judge this one so harshly?

Oh, that's right, because thanks to the internet most all of the people my age are such cynical bastards that they can't enjoy a good ride at the theater anymore. And I'll be damned if there weren't two distinct "HOLY SHIT" moments in that film that, despite my cynicism, I smiled wide.