Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

By Mal -

6 out of 10

George bloody Lucas. Not a name you really want to see on the writing credits for a film you desperately want to be brilliant. Alas, it was the case for Indy IV. Indeed, the first couple of minutes of dialogue bore out my concerns, as the film gets off to an incredibly bad start. I don't think I've ever seen actors less comfortable with their lines.

Thankfully, after a while, things pick up and we get more into the flow of a classic Indiana Jones film. As ever, the plot is fairly incidental to the action, which is a good job given it's got fat George's paw prints all over it. I'll not spoil it too much, but bear in mind his track record and you'll get an idea of where it's going. The action, however, does its job of providing entertainment. Modern CGI might allow for a few more ludicrous sequences than before, but until the final scenes, it's not to the film's detriment.

Overall, if I blank out some of the early dialogue and the film's conclusion, it's a fair stab at keeping the series going. Given its past glories, that alone makes it worth seeing.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Downfall

By -
7 out of 10 Hitler, eh, he was crackers, wasn't he, or was he? This film sets about trying to get the bottom of this question, detailing the last few hours of his life in his bunker in Berlin as the red army approached. The film, some would say rather controversially, answers the question early on with his pie fight with Himler coming as the starting credits fade. What follows is a romp through the final desperate hours of a ridiculous regime as they all, but their leader, seem to have grasped the fact that they’re buggered. The film has many memorable and chilling scenes, such as Dr Goebbels’ wife killing her own children rather than letting them fall into Communist hands. And the bit where Hitler’s dog is given cyanide for a laugh, with some superb acting by the dog. Anyway, if you’re interested in the madness of what went on in that bunker in Hitler’s last hours, this is for you. I would, however, also recommend Das Bunker und Laughs for a very different take on matt
Read more

The Brothers Grimm

By -
5 out of 10 On the face of it The Brothers Grimm is a perfect match for the dark surrealism of Terry Gilliam . However it fails to live up to its potential. The brothers (played by Matt Damon and Heath Ledger ) are travelling con-artists who arrive in a village with a real fairy tale curse. For a Fairy tale the cinematography is very grey and brown. There is little of the Gilliam imagination that we might have expected. Most surprising of all is that the special effects ranged from the sublime (blobby gingerbread man) to the downright awful. A scene where a CGI scarf was floating down a river was particularly derisible. At times it seems that the script is a vehicle for referencing yet another fairy tale rather than to tell the tale that the viewer is actually watching. This is a shame because when the movie does get going there are moments to enjoy.
Read more