sixstud-9-376449
I was extremely excited to hear about this film, as The Indiana Jones series had been such a massive part of my childhood, and then I went to the theatre to see it.........Well, first of all Indy just is getting on isn't he? Harrison Ford is no longer quite as swashbuckling as we remember, and although it's good to know the best of us all get old eventually, it was a tad disconcerting to see him in such a way.As for the film itself, the plot was a bit harder to swallow than previous Indy films, as most of them had a degree of reality to them, so the suspension of disbelief was not so hard to come by, but this one might have pushed the limits a wee bit too far for me personally.There were some terrific action sequences, some amazing effects and scenes, but to try and compare this film to the other three in the series, it just doesn't hold up! Thanks for reading!
jackdennos
The frustrating part about Indiana Jones 4 is that it feels like it was written by someone who created a genius trifecta of revolutionary action classics that changed the course of film history, and then completely forgot what made people like them when it came time to do the next film. Was this written by George Lucas? Oh, it was (real surprise). He is credited as coming up with the story, and, yeah, the basic framework of the script really is the worst part. The original film was inspired by 30's adventure serials, and although it doesn't parody or satire them, it creates a world in which the events of the story can be taken with a grain of salt, so to speak. This world was successfully recreated in two masterful sequels, but the fourth movie had no idea how to do so. It results in an overly emotional and sentimental movie that occasionally devolves into self deprecation, making jokes about Harrison Ford's age. And the idea to base it off of 50's sci-fis while still retaining the 1930's action edge makes no sense. I mean, what? However, Spielberg, the other half of the duo of series creators, absolutely knows what he is doing. I imagine Lucas as Spielberg's drunk friend who makes dumb choices, and then Spielberg half-reluctantly supports him. If George is going to come up with a stupid story line, Steven is going to direct the sh*t out of it. He creates a visually appealing, tonally satisfying (even though the script tries not to be) experience, filled with fun performances, great dialogue and spectacular action. Janusz Kaminski is the perfect cinematographer for an action movie like this, because he is great at pulling off one of Spielberg's signatures: really long takes that seamlessly move from focal point to focal point without the use of cuts. The camera kind of floats around and is almost always moving, reminiscent of many Robert Zemeckis movies. The action is always striking, even the oft-panned fencing duel between Shia LaBoeuf and Cate Blanchett. I actually like that scene, and I think it would have totally fit in one of the originals. Another thing that I like about Kingdom that most don't is Shia himself. He gives a very natural and funny performance. I don't even have an "except" or "but" to counter that statement with. I just think he is great, and probably gives the best performance in the movie. I like his character a lot, actually, and his interactions with Indy, who is once again pure gold. The characters are all well developed, but the only one I can't stand is Mac. He is the most utterly confusing character I have ever bared witness to. He is revealed to be working for the Russians, and is a secondary villain for well over half the movie. Suddenly, after a short encounter with Jones, where he pathetically begs him for sympathy, he is allowed into their vehicle and completes the journey back on their side. What the heck? There is pretty much no reason for this to happen, and then he turns evil again at the end! He is then sucked into a vortex and Indy tries to save him (I don't know why), to which he says "I'm gonna be alright." What? No you're f*cking not! He then flies into the vortex, screaming, and dies. This is one of the most baffling characters in film history. He doesn't have an arc, he has more of a loop-de-loop. While on the topic of baffling, awful things in Kingdom, I should touch on the monkey sequence and the nuketown sequence. They are both completely pointless to the story, they both defy all logic, and one of them (the monkey one) is absolutely awful looking. I'm really ragging on this movie, but I don't hate it, not at all. I would actually recommend it, at least for Spielberg. There's a couple bad scenes, as well as a somewhat confusing story line. They don't ruin this extremely well directed, acted and put-together movie, although they certainly don't help.
Eric Harvey
The movie was okay until about halfway through, but it became progressively more stupid by the scene until, finally, it really jumped the shark at the end. Who could possibly have thought this movie was worth a rating above "5"? Maybe 12-year olds will like it, or people with the intelligence of a 12- year old.
