I saw the much-anticipated Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull last night.I had been waiting for this film for years.
While it kept the swashbuckling spirit of the previous Jones films, I did take issue with several other aspects of the film.
For one, none of the characters seemed larger-than-life. Every single one seemed to be a minor player within the framework of the movie--including Indiana Jones himself. The closest Skull came to producing an epic persona was the psychic commie femme fatale, Irina Spalko.
The new Indy flick also failed to produce any quotable dialogue. I can recite at length the other three movies--but I can't recall a single witty line from this one. It did give us one iconic scene--that of Indiana stumbling upon an artificial suburbia soon to be exposed to a nuclear weapons test and surviving by jumping into a lead-lined refrigerator. But that was done sans dialogue.
John William's score wasn't particularly memorable either. None of his new themes or orchestral arrangements stuck with me afterwards. That's also a stark contrast from the old movies.
The oldies are, as always, the goodies.
