zwolanerd

To kick off this semi-regular feature, we’re going to use…

There’s no question this movie had a lot of terrible things in it. Ranking those terrible things would start with “surviving a nuke by getting in a fridge,” move on to “CGI gopher,” and then to “extradimensional beings,” with plenty of other stops along the way.  Too easy, I say!  More difficult: finding good things in this movie.  I found exactly two things in this movie that I really liked.

1. Indy’s back!
   Most people complained about how old Harrison Ford looked and how tired he seemed.  Me, I was glad to see him back.  Ford put the character back on just like the leather jacket, and I was only sad that he was trapped in a bad story.  World-weary?  Well, excuse me, but I think constantly fighting Nazis and then Communists might make you feel like the world wasn’t exactly Pie-In-The-Sky Land.  There’s only so much dodging traps a fellow can do before it starts affecting him.
2. Marion’s back!
   Marion and Indy in Raiders is one of the all-time great pairings. She was tough but feminine, gutsy, and no-nonsense – a perfect match for Indy. Seeing her and Indy back together brought a smile to my face, and it was great to see them banter.

If pressed for a third item, I’d probably say when Indy takes his hat back from Mutt.  There’d been a lot of talk while the movie was filming about this movie setting up Shia to take over the reigns and have a new series of Indy (Mutt?) Jones, so when Mutt picks up the hat and the camera lingers on him about to put it on, only to have Indy take it back?  Yeah, I liked that moment.

Frankly, I’d take a fifth Indy film, no problem.  The odd-numbered ones are the best ones, so #5 could be the best in the series, who knows?

Tags: GTiBS, Indiana Jones

Written by: Mark